Banshee is an anglicized spelling of the Gaelic phrases bean sidhe, which means "Fairy Woman" or "Barrow Woman" in English.
- Barrows are ancient burial mounds that dot the Asian and European landscapes, occasionally containing wealth.
- The Hollywood version of the banshee is a terrifying female creature with a lethal wail, a twist on the Irish tradition of personal psychopomps.
- Fairy banshees are discussed as FAIRIES: A Solitary Sidhe, although the term has also been applied to denote real women in the past.
One of the first mentions to a banshee was in medieval Scotland, when a mortal lady, a prophetess, predicted King James I's death in 1437.
Similar allusions to human banshees may be found in Scottish and Welsh Romany legend; the term seems to have been meant to be a synonym for wise-women, fortune tellers, witches, and healers.
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