I was reading about Dungeon Meshi and Kuro, the “kobold”.
Kobolds are usually depicted as canine humanoids in Japanese media compared to the more reptilian humanoids that kobolds are depicted as in western media[4] such as Dungeons and Dragons. The reason for this is credited as either a mistranslation of the first Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual[5] or because of the lack of reference art in said Monster Manual, but a picture of a jackalwere being present on the opposite page[6], which was then used as reference art for the anime, The Record of the Lodoss War. That anime is credited for solidifying the trope of canine kobolds in Japanese media.
From https://delicious-in-dungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Kobolds#cite_note-5
And the supporting youtube video https://m.youtube.com/shorts/rUntTZ6spOc
Bonus fact: piglike orcs.
Where I live (a German speaking country) a kobold is more like a small humanoid being, more like a gnome
Pretty sure they are germanic in origin, but I would have to double check.
Originally, in the middle ages miners experienced toxic gasses and other weird effects while mining iron, such as ore exploding when smelting. They attributed some of the problems to mischievous creatures they would call Kobolds hiding in the mines.
It was eventually discovered that these problems were caused by another whole element creating impurities in the ore, when separated and identified, it came to be known as Cobalt.
Isn’t Kobold basically just German for goblins and gremlins and the like?
American, but I also think of them as like blue, spiky icy imps. I’m not sure where I got it, but seems like a Nintendo era RPG, maybe Final Fantasy