The Ghoul in Arabic folklore

Record summary

The ghul is an Arabic legendary being associated with wilderness, graves, deception, shape-shifting and attacks on travelers. Early Arabic lexicographical and literary sources describe the term in varied ways, while later translations helped turn it into the relatively standardized English “ghoul.” Some accounts connect the being with female forms, deserts or corpse-eating, but no single folkloric profile applies everywhere. The lead can support comparison of boundary beings, dangerous landscapes and the movement of Arabic vocabulary into European literature. Evidence is textual and literary; it does not establish a zoological species or modern encounter report.