wight

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See also: Wight

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English wight, wiȝt, from Old English wiht (thing, creature), from Proto-West Germanic *wihti, from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz (thing, creature, literally being), from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- (cause, sake, thing), from *wekʷ- (to say, tell).

Cognate with Scots wicht (creature, being, human), Dutch wicht (child, baby, girl), German Low German Wicht (girl; wight), German Wicht (wretch, wight, little creature, scoundrel), Danish vætte (underground creature, gnome), Norwegian Bokmål vette (underground creature, gnome), Swedish vätte (underground creature, gnome), Icelandic vættur (imp, elf). Doublet of whit.

Noun

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wight (plural wights)

  1. (archaic) A living creature, especially a human being.
  2. (paganism) A being of one of the Nine Worlds of Heathen belief, especially a nature spirit, elf or ancestor.
  3. (poetic) A ghost, deity or other supernatural entity.
    • 1789, William Blake, A Dream, lines 14–16:
      But I saw a glow-worm near, / Who replied: ‘What wailing wight / Calls the watchman of the night?
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 10:
      “In judging of that tempestuous wind called Euroclydon,” says an old writer—of whose works I possess the only copy extant—“it maketh a marvellous difference, whether thou lookest out at it from a glass window where the frost is all on the outside, or whether thou observest it from that sashless window, where the frost is on both sides, and of which the wight Death is the only glazier.”
    • 1869, William Morris, Eiríkr Magnússon, transl., Grettis Saga: The Story of Grettir the Strong, F. S. Ellis, page 49:
      Everything in their way was kicked out of place, the barrow-wight setting on with hideous eagerness; Grettir gave back before him for a long time, till at last it came to this, that he saw it would not do to hoard his strength any more; now neither spared the other, and they were brought to where the horse-bones were, and thereabout they wrestled long.
  4. (fantasy) A wraith-like creature.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English wight, from Old Norse vígt, neuter of vígr (skilled in fighting, of age), from Proto-Germanic *wīgaz (fighting), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (to fight). Cognate with Old English wīġ.[1]

Adjective

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wight

  1. (archaic, except in dialects) Brave, valorous, strong.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter IX, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:
      I haue two sones that were but late made knyghtes / and the eldest hyghte sir Tirre / [] / and my yongest sone hyght Lauayne / and yf hit please yow / he shalle ryde with yow vnto that Iustes / and he is of his age x stronge and wyght
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (UK dialectal, obsolete) Strong; stout; active.
    • a. 1450, “Robin Hood and the Monk”, in Frank Sidgwick, editor, Ballads of Robin Hood and other Outlaws, published 1912, page 98, lines 29–34:
      Then spake Much the milner son, / Ever more well him betide! / ‘Take twelve of thy wight yeomen, / Well weapon’d by thy side. / Such one would thyselfë slon, / That twelve dare not abide.’
    • a. 1828, “Leesome Brand”, in Peter Buchan, editor, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland, volume 1, published 1828, page 39, lines 21–24:
      Ye do you to my father's stable, / Where steeds do stand baith wight and able; / Strike ane o' them upo' the back, / The swiftest will gie his head a wap.

References

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  1. ^ Merriam-Webster, 1974.
  • “wight” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English wiht.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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wight (plural wightes or wighten)

  1. A creature, a being.
  2. A person, a human being.
  3. A demon, monster
  4. A small amount (of a quantity, length, distance or time); a whit.
Descendants
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  • English: wight, whit
  • Scots: wicht, wycht
References
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Etymology 2

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From Old Norse vígt. See vígr (ready to fight).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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wight (comparative wighter, superlative wightest)

  1. brave, bold
  2. powerful, strong, vigorous
  3. quick, speedy
Descendants
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  • English: wight (obsolete or dialectal)
References
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Adverb

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wight

  1. immediately
  2. vigorously
References
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