Folklore
cultural expressions of a particular group of people, manifested in verbal form (proverbs, jokes, legends, songs), material form (objects of art), customs (beliefs and ways of doing things)
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs, poems, and jokes. This also includes material culture, such as traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also encompasses customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, including folk religion, and the forms and rituals of celebrations such as festivals, weddings, folk dances, and initiation rites.
Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact or traditional cultural expression. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain from a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another, either through verbal instruction or demonstration.
The academic study of folklore is called folklore studies or folkloristics, and it can be explored at the undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. levels.
Overview
The word folklore, a compound of folk and lore, was coined in 1846 by the Englishman William Thoms, who devised the term as a replacement for the contemporary terminology of "popular antiquities" or "popular literature".
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Folklore” as cultural expressions of a particular group of people, manifested in verbal form (proverbs, jokes, legends, songs), material form (objects of art), customs (beliefs and ways of doing things). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as cultural expressions of a particular group of people, manifested in verbal form (proverbs, jokes, legends, songs), material form (objects of art), customs (beliefs and ways of doing things). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q36192. The Library of Congress control number is sh85050104. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1846.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Folklore”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Folklore primary sources, Folklore archive and Folklore research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Folklore”?
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- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Folklore” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.