Mooncalf

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Mooncalf was a term formerly ascribed to the abortive fetus of a cow or other farm animal, and also occasionally to that of a human.

The term arose from the formerly widespread belief, present in many European folk traditions, that such malformed creatures were the product of the sinister influence of the moon on fetal development.

The term came to be used to refer to any monstrous or grotesque thing. Shakespeare, for instance, used the term to describe Caliban, the deformed servant of Prospero, in The Tempest.

The term is also used as a name for a character in Discworld Noir, head of the cult of Anu Anu, and as a nickname for Seoman Snowlock from the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn books.