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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">===========================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 14 September 2009 - Volume 03<br></font><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font color="#999999"><a href="mailto:lowlands@lowlands-l.net">lowlands@lowlands-l.net</a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/">http://lowlands-l.net/</a><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Subject: Etymology<br><br>Lowlanders,<br><br>And the “wraith” story continues …<br>
<br>“Wraith”, now practically obsolete in English, is considered mostly northern British, especially Scottish. (Is it still used in Scots?)<br><br>Its primary meaning is “ghost” or “specter” of a dead person. It has also been used to refer to ghost-like beings, including water-sprites, that haunt certain places or objects.<br>
<br>The earliest extant written occurrence of “wraith” is from 1513 (Late Middle English):<br style="mso-special-character: line-break"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break"></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><font size="3"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN">Nor </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; mso-ansi-language: EN">ƺ</span></i></font></font><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="3">it</font><font face="times new roman,serif" size="3"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> na vane wrathis nor gaistis quent Thi char constrenyt for to went.<br>
</font><…></font></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><br></span></i><font size="3"><font face="times new roman,serif"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN">In diuers placis The wraithis walkis of goistis that ar deyd.</span></i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><br><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Now the interesting thing is that the etymology of “wraith” is unknown or unclear. Does any of you have a hunch?<br>
<br>If we assume that the word is originally Northumbrian ~ Scots, we ought to bear in mind frequent correspondence between the northern [EI] > [E:] sound (e.g. Scots <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">ghaist</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">stane</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">bane</i>) and the southern [oU] sound (e.g. “ghost”, “stone”, “bone”). “Wraith” could thus be related to southern “wroth” ~ “wrath” with meanings like “anger”, “fury”, “angry”, “vengeful”, “to be(come) angry”. If so, there would be a semantic link between haunting spirits and anger or vengefulness. <br>
<br>Wondering …<br><br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br>Seattle, USA</font></span></p>
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