What does "mononoke" mean?


I would like to know what the meaning of the word _mononoke_ is? Of course
it's the name of the princess in Miyazaki's wonderful film _Mononoke-hime_ ,
but what is the deeper and actual meaning of the word itself and what does it
mean to the ordinary Japanese? Does it have any positive/or negative
connotations?

In Japanese I think it's either 物の怪 or もののけ. I obviously don't read Japanese
so I have no idea.

I have read the Wikipedia material concerning the word, but that left me
unsatisfied.




from here: <http://hyakumonogatari.com/2013/11/15/whats-the-difference-
between-yurei-and-yokai/>

> [the Chinese loan-word] Yokai described an unseen world of mysterious,
> supernatural phenomena. The term represented something invisible, without
> form or identity; a mysterious energy that pervaded the deep forests,
> oceans, and mountains.
>
> In truth, the word “yokai” was barely used at all. Ancient Japan had a more
> common name for this invisible, mysterious energy—mononoke. The idea of
> mononoke was something to fear—a mysterious, natural force that could come
> out any time and kill you, like a lightning strike or a tidal wave. It took
> the artists of the Heian period to give form to this mysterious energy, and
> transform the mononoke into bakemono, changing things. And then it took the
> writers of the Edo period to take these shapes and give them stories.

Japanese mythical creatures doesn't really fit the same categories as ones in
Western mythology, so the appropriate English translation would vary from case
to case. But monster, spirit or spectre would all be possibilities.

As to the modern meaning of the word; just going from what I've read in manga
it's a much more uncommonly used term than oni, bakemono, youkai or a dozen
different words for monsters of various stripes. As such, I would have expect
that it has retained more of its original meaning than the newer terms, but
you'd need a native speaker - and probably a folklore buff at that - to really
answer your question.

