- published: 12 Feb 2013
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Fenodyree (also: phynodderee, phynnodderee, fynnoderee or fenoderee (pronunciation: fŭn-ṓ-đŭr-ĭ or fŭn-ṓđ-rĭ; funótheree).
(etymology: Manx: fynney "hair, fur" + Manx: oashyree "stockings" (Cregeen's dict. ; Rhys suggests influenced by a cognate of Swedish: fjun "down")).
Sometimes used as a proper name and sometimes as the name of a class of beings, the fenodyree is a hairy little creature, a sort of sprite or fairy (Manx: ferrishyn) in the folklore around the Isle of Man.
He can be a helpful creature (see examples), comparable to the Scottish brownie , performing arduous tasks, such as transporting great blocks of white stone (marble?) too heavy for men to lift or, clipping the grass from the meadow with stupendous speed. For his talent in the latter skill, he has earned the nickname yn foldyr gastey or 'the nimble mower', and is sung in a Manx ballad by that very title.
He is covered with copious body hair, particularly around the legs, and is glossed as being a "satyr", though smaller in stature. He frolicks thus without wearing any clothing. In fact, when a gift of clothing was made to him, he recited a strain in Manx stating that caps and so forth are nothing but discomfort, and it caused him to balefully depart from the area (see #Stone mover example of the tale). In one version of the tale, the clothing was not good enough and the fenodyree left in a huff[citation needed]; in another, it transpired that the brownie believed clothing unhealthy and a cause of disease so, again, left in a huff[citation needed].