A wight is a being or thing. This general meaning is shared by cognate terms in Germanic languages, however the usage of the term varies greatly over time and between regions. In Old English, it could refer to anything in existence, with more specific usages arising in Middle English, perhaps due to the term of similar meaning in Anglo-Norman, creature. The term is widely used in modern fantasy, often to mean specifically a being which is undead.
Etymology
Modern English "wight" is descended from Middle English: wight or Middle English: wiȝt, from Old English: wiht, from Proto-West Germanic '*wihti' from Proto-Germanic: *wihtiz from Proto-Indo-European: '*wekti' ("cause, sake, thing"), from Proto-Indo-European "*wekʷ-" ("to say, tell"). "Wight" is further cognate with Scots: wicht, German: Wicht, Dutch: Wicht, Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 and Old Norse: vættr, the ancestor of Swedish: vätte, Danish: vætte and Icelandic: vættur. A dialect form in Swedish is vätter, which, similar to the other form, is descended from Old Swedish: vætter.
Medieval period
Old English
In Old English, wiht has been variously translated as "wight", "creature" and "being". The term is found in the compound words eall-wihta ("all beings") and á-wiht ("aught", "anything"). Wiht is often used as the subject of riddles, such as riddle 86 from the Exeter Book, in which it has been interpreted as referring to a person selling vegetables, likely garlics. The term is also used to refer to beings such as the dwarf which is the focus of the XCIIIB charm, and the eoten Grendel and the dragon in Beowulf.
The word began to acquire the sense of supernatural or unearthly beings, included in the 8th century Lindisfarne Gospels.
Middle English
Connotations and scope
When creature was borrowed from Anglo-Norman around 1300 CE, it was possibly wholly synonymous with Middle English: wight, however over time the words became differentiated by speakers. The exact usage of the term varies between works but it broadly is used in one of five loose categories that blur between themselves:
- a "living creature", an element of the earthly world
- a generic being, with few connotations
- an enemy or social inferior that is seen as other
- as beloved, often gendered
- a being connected to the spiritual realm, either good or bad
The term is used to refer to a range of positive beings with supernatural aspects such as saints, Jesus, and his mother, Mary. It has been argued that the term could be used for anything other than the God the Father, as he himself was not created in Christian theology. It has been noted, however, that it is stated in the Man of Law that Daniel in the lion's den was saved by "No wight but God", showing it was possible to use the term to refer to a class of beings that includes both man and the Christian god. Though there are no extant texts in Middle English that refer to God the Father directly as a wight.
The most common use of the term, however, is to refer to everyday corporeal beings as these are much more represented in normal conversation. Wight is commonly found with adjectives, such as curside, wikkede, or worldly. The phrase "sweet wight" is notable, occurring frequently and often in gendered and romantic contexts.
Examples
- The Reeve's Tale, (1387–1400), line 4236:
- "For had swonken al the longe nyght,
- And seyde, 'Fare weel, Malyne, sweete wight!'"
- The Monk's Tale, (1387–1400), line 380:
- "She kept her maidenhood from every wight
- To no man deigned she for to be bond."
- The Book of the Duchess, (1387–1400), line 579:
- "Worste of alle wightes."
- Prologue of The Knight, (1387–1400), line 72–73:
- "Ne neuere yet no vileynye he sayde
- In al his lyf vnto no manere wight.
- He was a verray parfit gentil knyght."
- The House of Fame, (1379–1380), line 1830–1831:
- "We ben shrewes, every wight,
- And han delyt in wikkednes."
Old Norse
As with "wight", Old Norse: vættr (pl. vættir) means a being, especially a supernatural being. It occurs in compound nouns such as mein-vættr ("evil wight"), land-vættr ("guardian spirit of a country"), vitta vettr ("witch wight" or "sorceress") and bjargvættr ("helping sprite").
Modern period
Modern English
Modern Fantasy
Wights feature in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, especially in The Lord of the Rings, and in George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO television series Game of Thrones. Since its 1974 inclusion in the RPG Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), it has become a recurring form of undead in other fantasy games and mods, such as Vampire: The Masquerade. and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Examples of usage
- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, (1590–1596), I.i.6.8–9:
- "That every wight to shrowd it did constrain,
- And this fair couple eke to shroud themselues were fain."
- William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, (c. 1602), Act I, Sc. III:
- "O base Hungarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield?"
- William Shakespeare, Othello, (c. 1603), Act II, Sc. I:
- "She was a wight, if ever such wight were"
- John Milton, On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough, (1626), verse vi:
- "Oh say me true if thou wert mortal wight..."
- Church of Scotland, Scots Metrical Psalter, (1650), Psalm 18 verse xxvi:
- "froward thou kythst unto the froward wight..."
- William Wordsworth, "To the Daisy" (1802) line 28:
- Whole Summer-fields are thine by right;
- And Autumn, melancholy wight!
- Doth in thy crimson head delight
- When rains are on thee.
- John Keats, "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", (1820):
- Ah what can ail thee, wretched wight,
- Alone and palely loitering;
- Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820):
- "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."
- George Gordon, Lord Byron (1812–1816), Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Canto 1, verse :
- Ah, me! in sooth he was a shamles wight ...".
- Edwin Greenslade Murphy, "Wot Won the Larst?", in Dryblower’s Verses, (1926):
- From weedy little wights whose cigarettes
- Recall a badly-disinfected drain
- W.S. Gilbert, "Princess Ida", (1883), a song sung by the character King Gama:
- "Now when a wight sits up all night, ill natured jokes devising,
and all his wiles are met with smiles, it's hard, there's no disguising!"
- "Now when a wight sits up all night, ill natured jokes devising,
German
A similar change of meaning can be seen in the German cognate Wicht, meaning a living human being, generally rather small, poor or miserable man (not woman). The word is somewhat old-fashioned in today's language, but it is still used and readily recognized in everyday speech.
The diminutive Wichtel refers to beings in folklore and fantasy, generally small, and often helpful, dwelling in or near human settlements, secretly doing work and helping the humans, somewhat similar to the more specific Heinzelmännchen. Wichtel in this sense is recorded since the Middle Ages. Today, Wichtel is more often used than Wicht.
Dutch
The word wicht can be used to refer, to any woman, often with negative connotations. It is not used to refer to men.
Booswicht (literally evil-being) matching 'villain', can be used to describe both men and women.
North Germanic languages
In Danish, the term vætte and the Norwegian cognate vette typically refer to supernatural beings from folklore or a lesser god, especially those that live underground or near the home, such as dwarfs and nisser. In Swedish, vätte similarly typically refers to supernatural beings, often those that are small and resembling humans.
See also
- Rå, spirits that protect natural features in later Scandinavian folklore
References
- ^ Hines 2019, pp. 38–39.
- wight.
- *wihtiz.
- "Vättern". Runeberg.org. Svensk etymologisk ordbok.
- Slade, Line 120.
- ^ BT-wiht.
- BT-eall-wihta.
- BT-á-wiht.
- Wilcox 1996, p. 180.
- Slade, Lines 120, 3038.
- Reinders, Eric (2024). Reading Tolkien in Chinese: Religion, Fantasy, and Translation. Perspectives on Fantasy series. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 110. ISBN 9781350374645.
- Farrell 2015, p. 182.
- Farrell 2015, p. 184.
- Farrell 2015, p. 186.
- Farrell 2015, pp. 180–182, 193.
- Farrell 2015, pp. 184–186.
- CV-Vættr.
- OID-Landvættr.
- OID-Bjargvættr.
- Martin, pp. 533–536, 545–548.
- Sins of the blood. McCoy, Angel., White Wolf Publishing. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Pub. 2001. pp. 9, 17–24. ISBN 158846217X. OCLC 62150117.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - vætte.
- vette.
- vätte.
Bibliography
Primary
- Martin. "Chapter 52: Jon". A Game of Thrones.
- Slade, Benjamin. "Beowulf". heorot.dk. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
Secondary
- Farrell, Thomas J. (2015). "The Meanings of Middle English Wight". The Chaucer Review. 50 (1–2): 178–197. doi:10.5325/chaucerrev.50.1-2.0178. ISSN 0009-2002. JSTOR 10.5325/chaucerrev.50.1-2.0178.
- Hines, John (2019). "Anglo-Saxon Micro-Texts - Practical Runic Literacy in the Late Anglo-Saxon Period: Inscriptions on Lead Sheet". Anglia Book Series. 63 (1): 29–59. doi:10.1515/9783110630961-003. S2CID 165389048.
- Wilcox, Jonathan (1996). "Mock-Riddles in Old English: Exeter Riddles 86 and 19". Studies in Philology. 93 (2): 180–187. ISSN 0039-3738. JSTOR 4174544.
- Sins of the blood. McCoy, Angel., White Wolf Publishing. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Pub. 2001. pp. 9, 17–24. ISBN 158846217X. OCLC 62150117.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - Tichy, Martin Rocek, Ondrej. "wiht". Bosworth-Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Tichy, Martin Rocek, Ondrej. "eall-wihta". Bosworth-Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Tichy, Martin Rocek, Ondrej. "wiht". Bosworth-Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - "Old Icelandic Dictionary - Bjargvættr". Old Icelandic Dictionary. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- "Old Icelandic Dictionary - Landvættr". Old Icelandic Dictionary. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- "Old Norse Dictionary - Vættr". Cleasby & Vigfusson - Old Norse Dictionary. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- "wight". Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/wihtiz". Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 9 April 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- "vätte | SAOB". SAOB (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- "vætte". Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
- "vette". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
- Kvideland, Reimund; Sehmsdorf, Hemming K. (2010). Scandinavian folk belief and legend (10. print ed.). Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0816619672.
- Reidar Th. Christiansen (1964) Folktales of Norway (University of Chicago Press) ISBN 978-0226105109
- “Norske Folkeeventyr.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Norske-folkeeventyr.
Further reading
- Norske Folke-Eventyr (Norwegian Folktales), by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen & Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, 1843, 1844, 1871, 1876.
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