Editing Will-o'-the-wisp (section)

===Etymology===
The term ''will-o'-the-wisp'' comes from ''wisp'', a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch and the name '[[Will (given name)|Will]]', thus meaning 'Will of the torch'. The term ''[[jack-o'-lantern]]'' ('Jack of the lantern') originally referred to a will-o'-the-wisp.<ref>{{cite web|last=Harper|first=Douglas|title=Jack-o'-lantern (n.)|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Jack-o'-lantern|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019235119/https://www.etymonline.com/word/Jack-o'-lantern|archive-date=2017-10-19|work=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=9 May 2013}}</ref> In the United States, they are often called ''spook-lights'', ''ghost-lights'', or ''orbs'' by folklorists.<ref name="Wagner">{{cite web|title=Spooklights: Where to Find Them|first=Stephen|last=Wagner|url=http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa080601a.htm|work=About.com|access-date=2007-12-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022153333/http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa080601a.htm|archive-date=2007-10-22}}</ref><ref name="Floyd">{{cite web|title=Historical Mysteries: Ghostly lights as common as dew in Dixie|first=Randall|last=Floyd|url=http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/060897/fea_floyd.html|work=[[The Augusta Chronicle]]|year=1997|access-date=December 8, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moonslipper.com/ghostlightsandorbs.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311080723/http://www.moonslipper.com/ghostlightsandorbs.html|archive-date=March 11, 2007|title=Ghost Lights and Orbs|website=Moonslipper.com|access-date=November 18, 2011}}</ref>

The Latin name {{lang|la|ignis fatuus}} is composed of {{lang|la|[[wikt:ignis#Latin|ignis]]}}, meaning 'fire' and {{lang|la|[[wikt:fatuus|fatuus]]}}, an adjective meaning 'foolish', 'silly' or 'simple'; it can thus be literally translated into English as 'foolish fire' or more idiomatically as 'giddy flame'.<ref name="Bergovia" /> Despite its [[Latin]] origins, the term {{lang|la|ignis fatuus}} is not attested in antiquity, and the name for the will-o'-the-wisp used by the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] is uncertain.<ref name="Bergovia" /> The term is not attested in the Middle Ages either. Instead, the Latin {{lang|la|ignis fatuus}} is documented no earlier than the 16th century in Germany, where it was coined by a German [[humanist]], and appears to be a free translation of the long-existing German name {{lang|de|[[wikt:Irrlicht|Irrlicht]]}} ('wandering light' or 'deceiving light') conceived of in [[German folklore]] as a mischievous spirit of nature; the Latin translation was made to lend the German name intellectual credibility.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Jane K. |title=Irrlichtelieren |journal=Goethe Yearbook |volume=27 |year=2020 |pages=337–344 |doi=10.1353/gyr.2020.0017 |s2cid=240765012 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/762257/summary}}</ref><ref name="HdA-Olbrich-irrlicht"/>

Beside {{lang|de|Irrlicht}}, the will-o'-the-wisp has also been called in German {{lang|de|Irrwisch}} (where {{lang|de|[[wikt:Wisch|Wisch]]}} translates to 'wisp'), as found in e.g. [[Martin Luther]]'s writings of the same 16th century.<ref name="HdA-Olbrich-irrlicht"/>