plat-eye

English

From plat, a term of unknown origin, plus eye. Attested from the 19th century. Originally African-American, especially South Carolina.

plat-eye (plural plat-eyes)

A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc).
- 1985, Charles Joyner, quoting Maum Addie, interviewed by Genevieve Willcox Chandler c. 1938, Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community, page 152:
  De ole folks is talk bout Plat-eye. Dey say dey takes shape ob all kind de critter

“plat-eye”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
“plat-eye, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2006.

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