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Genii

© Virginia Marin

In Roman mythology, a man was always under the protection of a guardian spirit known as a genius...

Genius is from the Latin. Its plural form is genii which may sound more familiar. A genius was present from a man's birth to his death and responsible for overseeing all aspects of one's life--including wealth and character formation. A common belief held that man actually had two genii, one good and one evil.

Genius in its plural spelling, genii, is often confused with the jinni of Persian folklore, where the spelling genii is also found. To further confuse the genii is not difficult. In fact, the genii have already confused you, which is a function of the jinn. Oh, my. Where in the world did that one come from? The word may be more readily recognized with our modern spelling of genie.

Well, what is a jeannie? Actually, nothing. Just remove the article a and the common noun becomes a proper noun--like Jeannie, in the long-running television sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie, who was, or would it be which was, a female genie which, or who, was Persian and not Roman! Are you there? Or, are you here?

Bad luck was attributed to the evil genius. Good fortune came from the other which, according to some comparisons, was similar to a Christian's guardian angel.

Only Roman males were fortunate enough to have genii. Females had beings known as a Juno.

In Arabic and Islamic folklore, the jinni (genie in the English form) was a spirit or demon lower in hierarchy than an angel. Genies were popular characters in the folklore of Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and North Africa. You know, the ones that live in a bottle, as compared to the others who don't.

The most well known genie bottle tale is Aladdin. Others are Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, all separate tales from A Thousand and One Nights which depict jinns and sorcerers.

The tales were told by Scheherezade, one of the wives of the king, who devised a new story each night to prevent the king from killing her the next morning.

Tales from A Thousand and One Nights can contain bawdiness. One of the best books for children age six and up is by a Canadian writer, Ludmila Zeman. An excerpt from her book appears in the first link below.

Oriental folklore also entertained genies. Tales from the Orient came full-force into France in the 1800's and were immediately popular, being inspired by the tales from A Thousand and One Nights.

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