Moroi
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A moroi (sometimes moroii in modern fiction; pl. moroi) is a type of vampire or ghost in Romanian folklore. A female moroi is called a moroaică (pl. moroaice). In some versions, a moroi is a phantom of a dead person which leaves the grave to draw energy from the living.
Moroi are often synonymous with these other figures in Romanian folklore: strigoi (another type of vampire), vârcolac (werewolf or goblin), or pricolici (werewolf).
They are also sometimes referred to in modern myth as the live-born offspring of two strigoi.
[edit] Fiction
In fiction, based on the folklore though with a number of modifications, the name moroi is sometimes spelled as moroii. Fictional treatments in general make a clear and consistent distinction between a strigoi and a moroi (or "moroii"), the former being an undead vampire, the latter a living vampire. However, in Romanian folklore the distinction is not always clear, and a moroi may also refer to a phantom-like figure.
[edit] References
- moroi in Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii Române, Academia Românǎ, 1998.
- Noul dicţionar explicativ al limbii Române, Editura Litera Internaţional, 2002.
