wight

See also: Wight

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wīt, IPA^(key): /waɪt/
• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophones: wite; white (wine–whine merger)

Etymology 1

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

wight (plural wights)

1. (archaic) A living creature, especially a human being.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare,  […] [T]he Merrie Wiues of Windsor. […] (First Quarto), London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Arthur Ihonson, […], published 1602, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature B, verso:

     O bace gongarian wight, wilt thou the ſpicket willd?

   • 1624 (date written), John Milton, “On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], published 1673, →OCLC, stanza VI, page 19:

     Oh ſay me true if thou wert mortal wight
     And why from us ſo quickly thou didſt take thy flight.

   • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza XXV, page 157:

     But woe betide the wandering wight, / That treads its circle in the night.

   • 1820 March 5, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VI, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 57:

     In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Nantucket”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 69:

     Some gamesome wights will tell you that they have to plant weeds there, they don’t grow naturally; [...]

   • c. 1855, Charlotte Brontë, “Emma. (A Fragment of a Story by the Late Charlotte Brontë.)”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume I, number 4, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published April 1860, →OCLC, chapter I, page 491:

     "Who is the miserable little wight?" he asked. He was told her name and dignity.

   • c. 1872, a Knight's tour cryptotour poem, possibly by Howard Staunton, lines 1 and 2:

     "The man that hath no love of chess/Is truth to say a sorry wight."

   • 1887, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Alaeddin; or, The Wonderful Lamp. [Night 532.]”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume III, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, page 82:

     […] Alaeddin ate and drank and was cheered and after he had rested and had recovered spirits he cried, "Ah, O my mother, I have a sore grievance against thee for leaving me to that accursed wight who strave to compass my destruction and designed to take my life. Know thou that I beheld Death with mine own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom thou didst certify to be my uncle; […]

   • 1939 December, E[dward] E[lmer] Smith, “Gray Lensman”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume XXIV, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith Publications, Inc., part III, chapter XVIII, page 159, column 2:

     He called Worsel, and, upon being informed that the recorders were ready, he started in. Characteristically, he began with Prellin of Bronseca, and memorized the data covering that wight as he transmitted it.

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

a living creature, a human being

• Bulgarian: същество (bg) n (sǎštestvo), създание (bg) n (sǎzdanie)
• Danish: væsen (da) n, menneske (da) n, vætte c
• Finnish: olento (fi), olio (fi), ihminen (fi)
• Polish: istota (pl) f
• Portuguese: ente (pt)
• Romanian: individ (ro) m, creatură (ro) f, vietate (ro) f
• Russian: существо́ (ru) n (suščestvó), челове́к (ru) m (čelovék)
• Swedish: varelse (sv) c

Etymology 2

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.

Adjective

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

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

Middle English

FWOTD – 22 July 2024

Etymology 1

From Old English wiht.

Alternative forms

• wighte, wyghȝt, wiȝt, wiȝte, whiȝt, whytt, whighte, wyght, whyȝt, wyt, wiht, wihht, whiȝt, weiȝtt, wyȝt, wyȝte, wyhte, wyte, wicht

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wixt/, /hwixt/
• Rhymes: -ixt

Noun

wight (plural wightes or wighten)

1. A creature, a being.
   • c. 1370–1390, [William Langland], “Passus primus de visione”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...], London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC, folio v, verso:

     Therin wonneth a wyght that Wronge is Ihote / Father of falſhead, and founded it him ſelfe / Adam and Eue he egged to yll, / Councelled Cayne to kyll his brother

     Therein dwells a creature that Wrong is named, / Father of falsehood, and founded it himself. / Adam and Eve he egged to ill, / Counselled Cain to kill his brother

2. A person, a human being.
   • 1368-1372, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, line 579:

     "Worste of alle wightes."

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1379-1380, Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame, line 1830-1831:

     "We ben shrewes, every wight,
     And han delyt in wikkednes."

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. A demon, monster
4. A small amount (of a quantity, length, distance or time); a whit.

Descendants

• English: wight, whit
• Scots: wicht, wycht

References

• “wight, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

• wihte, wict, wiȝht, wyȝte, wyght, whyȝt, wyȝt, white, vight, wiȝhte, weight, vit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wixt/, /wikt/

Adjective

wight (comparative wighter, superlative wightest)

1. brave, bold
2. powerful, strong, vigorous
3. quick, speedy

Descendants

• English: wight (obsolete or dialectal)

References

• “wight, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Adverb

wight

1. immediately
2. vigorously

References

• “wight, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.