Etymograph

English

wraith

Wraith comes from Middle Scots wraith.

  1. Middle Scotsmodernwraith
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1912same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Scotsmodernwraith
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1912same form

Earliest quotation: 1912, –July, Under the Moons of Mars: “We might indeed have been the wraiths of the…”

first attested Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 in a translation of the Aeneid (as stated in the etymology)

The story

Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 in a translation of the Aeneid. The word has no certain etymology; it may be a transferred use of Middle Scots wraith, wrath (nominally "anger, rage", adjectivally "angry, wrathful"), thus connecting it to writhe and making it a doublet of wrath and wroth. The old Century Dictionary compares Old Norse vǫrðr (‘guardian’).

Every English word from Middle Scots wraith

Today it means

noun A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Middle Scots wraith / wraith

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