[5] According to an opposing theory the name is delivered from Latin planeta and is relatively new,[6] in opposition to the Slavic terms chmurnik and obłocznik.
In the South Slavic countries, because of the similarity of their functions, płanetniks, which there are called zduhaći, are identified with żmijs.
Płanetniks were also identified with snake oil salesmen, the shepherds of the Carpathian Mountains and Podhale, who were local healers.
It was also believed that their bodies were cursed to be a żmij until the fate of the płanetnik would end, which as a suicide had an aspiration to return from the realm of the dead and to again oppose the vampires.
[10] Benevolent płanetniks descended to earth and warned people about storms or protected them against droughts.