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Alraune

Supernatural
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A magical root spirit shaped like a small human figure. It is associated with prophecy, dangerous knowledge, and uncanny fertility.

Detailed Definition
In European folklore, the alraune is a spirit bound to the mandrake root, often imagined as a tiny human form that cries when pulled from the earth. In poetry, it can represent forbidden insight growing beneath ordinary soil, or a voice of nature made grotesquely intimate. Its medicinal and magical associations suit poems about obsession, inherited superstition, desire, and the peril of seeking answers from the dead or buried.
Example
Example in poetry:
An alraune, the uncanny spirit said to inhabit a mandrake root, can make a garden poem feel both medicinal and haunted; The speaker digs an alraune from the moonlit field and hears it cry like a buried child; A poet may use the alraune's human-shaped root as an image for desire growing beneath domestic order; In a gothic lyric, the alraune becomes a dangerous familiar that advises the herb-gatherer at night
Additional Notes
In poetry, Alraune can symbolize forbidden knowledge, fertility, or a perilous bond between human and plant life. Related to the mandrake legend.
Also Known As
Alraun Mandrake Spirit Mandrake
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