Talk:Vampire

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Hello,

I suggest clarifying the Albanian perspective on the etymology of vampire. In northern Albanian (Gheg), dhampir comes from dhëmb (“tooth”) + pir (“to drink”), literally meaning “tooth-drinker,” which clearly describes the creature’s feeding behavior. Albanian folklore also includes shtrigë and lugat, preexisting vampire-like beings. This shows a clear native etymology and suggests Albanian oral tradition may have influenced the later Slavic term vampir. Adding this would improve accuracy and credit Albanian folklore.

Thank you. Kelvinshd (talk) 10:36, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

"shtrigë" That is Shtriga, the vampiric witch of Albanian folklore which has her own article. The name derives from the Latin term "striga" for witches, and it has cognates in the Italian: strega, Romanian: strigă and Polish: strzyga. The concept seems to derive from the strix, the ominous birds of classical mythology which fed on flesh and blood. "The striges also came to mean "witches".^[1] One paper speculates that this meaning is as old as the 4th century BC, on the basis that in the origin myth of Boios, various names^[a] can be connected to the Macedonia-Thrace region well known for witches.^[1] But more concrete examples occur in Ovid's Fasti (early 1st century AD) where the striges as transformations of hags is offered as one possible explanation, and Sextus Pompeius Festus (fl. late 2nd century) glossed as "women who practice witchcraft" "(maleficis mulieribus)" or "flying women" ("witches" by transference)^[2][3] Dimadick (talk) 12:07, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. If you would like content to be added to the article, please provide the exact text of your proposed addition. Day Creature (talk) 16:34, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

I started a discussion at Talk:Upiór about what to do with that article. I have doubts that the Polish title is the common name for the topic and it seems problematic to have etymologically related Slavic words/synonyms redirect to different articles. eg. South Slavic Vampir redirects here, but East Slavic Upyr redirects to Upiór. This article, Vampire, already discusses both etymology and folk beliefs, so one possible solution might be to merge, but the difference in quality (Vampire is a featured article) means that would have to be done carefully, preferably by experienced editors.

I suggested a few possible solutions over at Talk:Upiór and I'm unsure how to proceed. If anyone's interested, I'd appreciate help/input. – Scyrme (talk) 19:45, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

Update: I've decided to move this forward as a proposed merge, though I'm still open to other solutions. Please see Talk:Upiór § Merge proposal into Vampire if you are interested. – Scyrme (talk) 03:04, 7 February 2026 (UTC)