Wild Hunt

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “this must be a calque”)

Wild Hunt (plural Wild Hunts)

1. A ghostly hunt that rides across the sky, common to English, German and Scandinavian folklore.
   • 1990, Michael Howard, Understanding Runes, →ISBN, page 35:

     In Germanic myth Woden, in common with his Nordic counterpart, was the leader of the spooky Wild Hunt which rides through the midwinter sky collecting the souls of the dead.

   • 1993, Ed Fitch, The rites of Odin, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 320:

     Throughout the Continent it was originally she who led the dread and awesome Wild Hunt through the thick forest and the mid-night snows, leading ghosts, wolves, witches and elves.

   • 1998, “The Raven's Call”, in Heartland, volume 1, number 3:

     The night grew lighter as we welcomed the Aelfkin and Frey to join us, the Mothers we honoured and speeches made on Woden and the Wild Hunt.