"Folk & the idea of Tradition is a totally modern contrivance"

,..,.,

Not usually lost for words, as some might have noticed; but I scarcely know where to begin with so nonsensical a statement as that.
The word 'folklore' is indeed relatively 'modern', indeed, having a traceable origin only 168 years ago. But the concept of "Tradition", with proleptic recognition of the "folklore" concept, is surely subsumed in terms like Scott's "Minstrelsy" 1802; the Grimm Bros "Hausmärchen (Household Tales)" 1812; Percy's "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry" 1765; Sir Philp Sidney's "the old song of Percy and Douglas" 1581.....

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