Wight
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2008-06-16T04:48:49Z
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/* Usage */
{{otheruses2|Wight}}
'''''Wight''''' is a Middle English word for a [[creature]] or a living being, especially a [[human being]].<ref>''Wight'', in the ''Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary'', Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.</ref> In modern English today, it is also used in fiction for human-like creatures. ''Wight'' derives from the same root as forms of ''to be'', such as ''was'' and ''were''. Modern [[German language|German]] "Wicht" is a cognate, meaning "small person, dwarf", and also "unpleasant person"; in [[Low German]] it means "girl". It is not related to the English word "witch". The ''Wicht, Wichte''l or ''Wichtelchen'' of Germanic folklore is most commonly translated into English as an [[imp]], a small, shy character who often does helpful domestic chores when nobody is looking (as in the Tale of the Cobbler's Shoes).
==Etymology==
''[[:wikt:wight|Wight]]'' comes from Old English word ''wiht'', akin to Old High German ''wiht'', meaning a [[creature]] or thing.<ref>Merriam-Webster, 1974.</ref> The word is a [[cognate]] with Dutch ''wicht'', German ''Wicht'', Old Norse [[vættir]] and Swedish ''vätte''.
==Usage==
Examples of the word used in classic English literature and poetry:
* [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] (1368-1372), ''[[s:The Book of the Duchess|The Book of the Duchess]]'', line 579:
*:"Worste of alle wightes."
* [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] (1368-1372), ''[[s:The Canterbury Tales|Prologue of The Knight]]'', line 72-73:
*:"In all his life, to whatsoever wight.
*: He was a truly perfect, gentle knight."
* [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] (circa 1379-1380), ''[[s:The House of Fame|The House of Fame]]'', line 1830-1831:
*:"We ben shrewes, every wight,
*: And han delyt in wikkednes."
*[[William Shakespeare]] (circa 1602), ''[[s:The Merry Wives of Windsor|The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'', Act I, Sc. III:
*:"O base Hungarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield?"
* [[John Milton]] (1626), ''[[s:On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough|On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough]]'', verse vi
*:"Oh say me true if thou wert mortal wight..."
Wight has been used comparatively recently to give an impression of archaism and mystery in literature, for example in the fiction of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], where wights are corpses with a part of their decayed soul. Probably inspired by [[Scandinavian folklore]] (of [[vættir]]), Tolkien also used the word to denote human-like creatures, such as [[elf|elves]] or [[ghost]]s ("wraiths")—most notably the [[undead]] [[Barrow-Wights]]. Some subsequent writers seem to have been unaware that the word did not actually mean ghost or wraith, and so many works of [[fantasy]] fiction, [[role-playing game|role-playing games]] and [[Video game|computer and video games]] use the term as the name of spectral creatures very similar to Tolkien's Barrow-wights, such as [[Dungeons & Dragons]]' [[Wight (Dungeons & Dragons)|wights]].
Recently used in "[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]" series by [[George R. R. Martin]], book IV "[[A Feast for Crows]]" (2005),
*:''"Who has been beyond the wall of death to see? Only the '''wights''', and we know what they are like. We know."''
==See also==
* [[Wraith]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon paganism]]
[[Category:English legendary creatures]]
[[Category:German and Scandinavian legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Scandinavian folklore]]
[[Category:Undead]]
[[ang:Wiht]]
[[cs:Wight]]
[[da:Vætte]]
[[de:Wicht]]
[[es:Alma en pena]]
[[fr:Lutin]]
[[nl:Wicht]]
[[no:Vættir]]
[[nn:Vættir]]
[[ru:Рэйф]]
[[simple:Wight]]
[[sv:vätte]]