A wight (
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
: ''wiht'') is a mythical sentient being, often
undead.
In its original use the word ''wight'' described a living human being, but has come to be used in fictional works in the
fantasy genre to describe certain immortal
beings
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ...
. An example of this use occurs in
William Morris's translation of the ''
Grettis Saga'', where ''
haugbui'' is translated as "
barrow-wight
Barrow-wights are wraith-like creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. In ''The Lord of the Rings'', the four hobbits are trapped by a barrow-wight, and are lucky to escape with their lives; but they gain ancient swords of Western ...
". Wights also 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
''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who init ...
'' and
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
television series ''
Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
''. 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''.
Examples in classic English literature and poetry
*
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
: ''
The Reeve's Tale'', (1387–1400), line 4236:
:: "For
leyn
Torah reading (; ') is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark, chanting the ...
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."
*
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
, ''
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
''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...
'', (c. 1602), Act I, Sc. III:
*: "O base Hungarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield?
*
William Shakespeare, ''
Othello
''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...
'', (c. 1603), Act II, Sc. I:
*: "She was a wight, if ever such wight were"
*
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
, ''
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
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
, "
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
''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'' is a long narrative poem in four parts written by Lord Byron. The poem was published between 1812 and 1818. Dedicated to " Ianthe", it describes the travels and reflections of a world-weary young man, who is dis ...
''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
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most ...
, "
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!"
German ''Wicht''
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 ''wicht''
The word ''wicht'' can be used to refer, in a neutral way, to any woman. It is not used to refer to men.
''Booswicht'' (literally Evil – Being) matching 'villain', can be used to describe both men and women.
See also
*
Jiangshi
*
Vættir
References
{{Anglo-SaxonPaganism
Anglo-Saxon paganism
English legendary creatures
Scandinavian folklore
Corporeal undead