Editing Ghost (section)

==Terminology==
{{Further|Soul|Genius (mythology)|Geist}}

=== Etymology ===
The English word [[:wikt:ghost|''ghost'']] comes from [[Old English]] ''[[:wikt:gast#Old English|gāst]]'' ("breath, spirit, soul, ghost"), which can be traced back to [[Proto-Germanic]] ''[[:wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/gaistaz|*gaistaz]]'' ("spirit, ghost"). It is [[cognate]] (linguistic sibling from a common origin) with [[Old Frisian]] ''gāst'' ("spirit, ghost, demon"), [[Old Saxon]] ''gēst'' ("soul, vitality, spirit, demon"), [[Old Dutch]] ''gēst'' ("spirit"), and [[Old High German]] {{Lang|goh|geist}} ("spirit")''.'' Although recorded descendants do not appear in [[North Germanic languages|North]] and [[East Germanic languages|East Germanic]] sources (where Gothic uses ''ahma'' and Old Norse uses {{lang|non|andi}} m. or {{lang|non|önd}} f.), linguists reconstruct ''*gaistaz'' as stemming from [[Germanic parent language|pre-Germanic]] *''ghois-t-oz'' ("fury, anger"). This reconstruction is supported by its connection to [[Sanskrit]] ''hīḍ-'' ("to be angry") and ''héḍa'' ("anger"), and to [[Avestan]] ''zōižda-'' ("terrible"; in ''zōiždišta'' "most terrible").{{sfn|Orel|2003|p=123}}{{Sfn|Kroonen|2013|p=163}}<ref name="OED-ghost">{{Harvnb|Oxford English Dictionary|2021}}, s.v. ghost, n.</ref>

The common [[Proto-Indo-European]] form is posited as *''ǵʰoys-d-os'', a [[Dental consonant|dental]] suffix derivative of the root ''ǵʰéys-''. This root also appears Proto-Germanic ''*gaistjan'' ("to terrify"; compare Old English ''gǽstan'' and Gothic ''usgaisjan''), in Old Norse *''geiski'' ("fear"; implied in ''geiskafullr'', "full of fear"), and in Avestan ''zōiš-'' (in ''zōišnu'', "shivering, trembling").{{Sfn|Kroonen|2013|p=163}}<ref name="OED-ghost" />

Besides denoting a "person's spirit or soul" (as "the life force" or "breath of life" that gives life to the body, in contrast to its purely material being), the Old English word is also used as a synonym of Latin ''spīritus'' in the meaning of "the breath of God or a god" from the earliest attestations (9th century). It could also denote any good or evil spirit, such as angels and demons (the [[Anglo-Saxon]] gospel refers to the [[demonic possession]] of Matthew 12:43 as ''se unclæna gast''). Also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, the "[[Holy Ghost]]" (''halgan gaste''), after post-classical Latin ''spiritus sanctus'' .<ref name="OED-ghost" />

=== Usage and synonyms ===
The now-prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" only emerges in [[Middle English]] (14th century). The modern noun does, however, retain a wider field of application, extending on one hand to "soul", "spirit", "[[vital principle]]", "[[mind]]", or "[[psyche (psychology)|psyche]]", the seat of feeling, thought, and moral judgement; on the other hand used figuratively of any shadowy outline, or fuzzy or unsubstantial image; in optics, [[Spirit photography|photography]], and cinematography especially, a flare, secondary image, or spurious signal.<ref name="OED-ghost" />

The synonym ''[[:wikt:spook|spook]]'' is a [[Dutch language|Dutch]] loanword, akin to [[Low German]] {{Lang|nds|spôk}} (of uncertain etymology); it entered the English language via [[American English]] in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|title=spook|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/187392|website=Oxford English Dictionary|access-date=27 August 2013|archive-date=6 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106194718/http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/187392|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Mencken, H. L. (1936, repr. 1980). The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States (4th edition). New York: Knopf, p. 108.</ref><ref>''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'', Merriam-Webster, ''spook''.</ref><ref>''Webster's New World College Dictionary'' (4th edition), Wiley, ''spook''.</ref> Alternative words in modern usage include ''spectre'' (altn. ''specter''; from Latin {{Lang|la|spectrum}}), the Scottish ''wraith'' (of obscure origin), ''phantom'' (via French ultimately from Greek ''phantasma'', compare ''[[:wikt:fantasy|fantasy]]'') and ''apparition''. The term ''[[shade (mythology)|shade]]'' in [[classical mythology]] translates Greek σκιά,<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=ou(=tos οὗτος] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504012005/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dou(%3Dtos |date=2021-05-04 }}. Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon''.</ref> or Latin {{Lang|la|umbra}},<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=umbra&fromdoc=Perseus%253Atext%253A1999.04.0059 umbra] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825235729/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=umbra&fromdoc=Perseus%253Atext%253A1999.04.0059 |date=2021-08-25 }}. Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, ''A Latin Dictionary''</ref> in reference to the notion of spirits in the [[Greek underworld]]. The term ''[[poltergeist]]'' is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects.<ref name="Cohen1984">{{cite book
|author=Cohen, Daniel
|title=The encyclopedia of ghosts
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lcMRQryEQMC
|year=1984
|publisher=Dodd, Mead
|isbn=978-0-396-08308-5
|pages=137–156
|access-date=2016-03-14
|archive-date=2023-08-14
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814112355/https://books.google.com/books?id=5lcMRQryEQMC
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

''[[:wikt:wraith|Wraith]]'' is a [[Scots language|Scots]] word for ''ghost'', ''spectre'', or ''apparition''. It appeared in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the more general or figurative sense of ''portent'' or ''[[omen]]''. In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it also applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology; the ''[[OED]]'' notes "of obscure origin" only.<ref>{{cite web|title=wraith|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/230504|website=Oxford English Dictionary|access-date=27 August 2013|archive-date=27 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027041249/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/230504|url-status=live}}</ref> An association with the verb ''[[:wikt:writhe|writhe]]'' was the etymology favored by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_shippey_tolkien.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125012432/http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_shippey_tolkien.html |archive-date=2013-01-25 |title=Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001) |author=Milner, Liz |website=greenmanreview.com |access-date=2009-01-04 }}</ref> Tolkien's use of the word in the naming of the creatures known as the [[Nazgûl|Ringwraiths]] has influenced later usage in fantasy literature. [[Bogeyman|Bogey]]<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bogey bogey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127025540/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bogey |date=2013-01-27 }}. Merriam-Webster (2012-08-31). Retrieved on 2013-03-21.</ref> or ''[[:wikt:bogie|bogy/bogie]]'' is a term for a ghost, and appears in Scottish poet [[John Mayne]]'s ''Hallowe'en'' in 1780.<ref>Robert Chambers [https://books.google.com/books?id=sdVkAAAAMAAJ&dq=halloween+poem+%28burns%29&pg=PA154 The life and works of Robert Burns, Volume 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024084903/https://books.google.com/books?id=sdVkAAAAMAAJ&dq=halloween+poem+%28burns%29&pg=PA154#v=onepage&q=halloween%20poem%20(burns)&f=false |date=2023-10-24 }} Lippincott, Grambo & co., 1854</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/words/bogie Ulster Scots – Words and Phrases:"Bogie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106100538/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/words/bogie |date=2015-11-06 }} [[BBC]] Retrieved December 18, 2010</ref>

A ''[[revenant]]'' is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied ghost or alternatively as an animated ("[[undead]]") corpse. Also related is the concept of a [[fetch (folklore)|fetch]], the visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive.