Editing Ghost (section)

=== 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" />