Ghostly Etymologies
It seems the right season
to consider some ghostly etymologies.
Ghost was spelled gast in Old English, and meant soul, spirit, life, breath, angel or demon (yes,
both good & bad spirits). It made it to English through various Germanic
languages, all beginning with the Proto-Indo-European root gheis-, to be excited, amazed or frightened.
Spook showed up in the language in 1801 from the Dutch
word, spooc, meaning spook or
ghost. Its sister words include: from Danish, spØg, meaning joke, from
German, spuk, meaning ghost or apparition, from Swedish spoc, meaning scarecrow. It may have
relatives in Lithuanian, Lettish, & Prussian, where the root words in
question meant respectively to shine,
dragon or witch, & spark. Spook didn’t move into the world of
verbs (meaning to unnerve) until1935.
Spirit showed up in English in the 1200s, meaning animating principle in man & animals. It came from the Latin word spiritus,
meaning soul, courage, vigor, or breath,
from the verb spirare, which meant to
breathe, to blow, or to play the flute. By the 1300s, spirit also referred to supernatural beings, by 1610 it picked up the meaning volatile substance, by the 1670s it began to mean strong alcoholic liquor, & by the
1690s spirit also meant the
essential principle of something.
The Scots gave us the word
wraith.
Its roots may be in the Old Norse word vorðr,
meaning guardian, or the
Gaelic word arrach, meaning
apparition or spirit. Even as I type, intrepid & dedicated etymologists
are duking it out over wraith’s
true origin.
Good followers, what have
you to say about flute-playing spirits, angelic ghosts,
Scottish wraiths, or other topics in this ghostly vein?
That's the spirit, Mr. P!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that breath is so much a part of these definitions. An unexpected breath on ones neck is a pretty spooky thing. Raspy breathing, breathing heard in the dark. All these things make the hair rise. I think sounds are scarier than sights any day.
ReplyDeleteHi Christine,
ReplyDeleteBreathing is a fascinating study. The word INSPIRATION, for instance, & I love the flute-playing connection. Wouldn't you think our scarier words would be associated with some instrument like the bagpipes or the accordion instead of something light & airy like the flute?