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On October 31 2016, Kevin Stroud wrote The connection between “ghost” and “guest/host” is mentioned on page 303 of ‘The Horse, The Wheel and Language” by David W. Anthony [quoted on English Stac...
#3: Post edited
by
PSTH
·
2022-10-06T03:21:20Z (about 2 years ago)
- >On October 31 2016, Kevin Stroud wrote
- >
- >The connection between “ghost” and “guest/host” is mentioned on page 303 of ‘The Horse, The Wheel and Language” by David W. Anthony **[quoted on [English Stack Exchange](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/395580)]**. As I noted in the early episodes of the podcast, that book was one of my primary sources for the Indo-European material. However, you are correct that most etymology sources suggest that “ghost” has a different PIE root. I would probably remove the reference to “ghost” in the “guest/host” discussion if I was preparing that episode today.
Undoubtedly, 'ghost' relates to ["the notions of excitement, amazement, or fear"](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ghost) in _*gheis-_. Historically, vengeful spirits from ‘the other side’ have been an enormous source of fear, and ghost stories are scary stories this connection is obvious.- Regarding the spelling, there is no single standard for how PIE is transcribed. Etymonline generally does a very bad job, ignoring all diacritics and thus conflating distinct phonemes; Wiktionary uses _y_ and _w_ for the semi-vowels that most transcription schemes would write as _i̯ _ and _u̯ _ or even just _i_ and _u_. The palatal g is commonly either _ǵ_ (as here), _ĝ_ or _g̑_.
- But how does 'ghost' semantically appertain to ["_*ǵʰéysd-_ (“anger, agitation”)"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ghost#Etymology)? How do ghosts anger, or are angered? And I've never heard humans being angered, or getting angry, at ghosts?
- >On October 31 2016, Kevin Stroud wrote
- >
- >The connection between “ghost” and “guest/host” is mentioned on page 303 of ‘The Horse, The Wheel and Language” by David W. Anthony **[quoted on [English Stack Exchange](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/395580)]**. As I noted in the early episodes of the podcast, that book was one of my primary sources for the Indo-European material. However, you are correct that most etymology sources suggest that “ghost” has a different PIE root. I would probably remove the reference to “ghost” in the “guest/host” discussion if I was preparing that episode today.
- Undoubtedly, 'ghost' relates to ["the notions of excitement, amazement, or fear"](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ghost) in _*gheis-_. Historically, vengeful spirits from ‘the other side’ have been an enormous source of fear, and ghost stories are scary stories — this connection is obvious.
- Regarding the spelling, there is no single standard for how PIE is transcribed. Etymonline generally does a very bad job, ignoring all diacritics and thus conflating distinct phonemes; Wiktionary uses _y_ and _w_ for the semi-vowels that most transcription schemes would write as _i̯ _ and _u̯ _ or even just _i_ and _u_. The palatal g is commonly either _ǵ_ (as here), _ĝ_ or _g̑_.
- But how does 'ghost' semantically appertain to ["_*ǵʰéysd-_ (“anger, agitation”)"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ghost#Etymology)? How do ghosts anger, or are angered? And I've never heard humans being angered, or getting angry, at ghosts?
#2: Post edited
by
PSTH
·
2022-10-06T03:20:56Z (about 2 years ago)
What semantic notions underlie 'anger, agitation' (PIE *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”)) 🡺 'ghost'?
- What semantic notions underlie 'anger, agitation' (PIE *ǵʰéysd-) 🡺 'ghost'?
#1: Initial revision
by
PSTH
·
2022-10-06T03:20:42Z (about 2 years ago)
What semantic notions underlie 'anger, agitation' (PIE *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”)) 🡺 'ghost'?
>On October 31 2016, Kevin Stroud wrote > >The connection between “ghost” and “guest/host” is mentioned on page 303 of ‘The Horse, The Wheel and Language” by David W. Anthony **[quoted on [English Stack Exchange](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/395580)]**. As I noted in the early episodes of the podcast, that book was one of my primary sources for the Indo-European material. However, you are correct that most etymology sources suggest that “ghost” has a different PIE root. I would probably remove the reference to “ghost” in the “guest/host” discussion if I was preparing that episode today. Undoubtedly, 'ghost' relates to ["the notions of excitement, amazement, or fear"](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ghost) in _*gheis-_. Historically, vengeful spirits from ‘the other side’ have been an enormous source of fear, and ghost stories are scary stories this connection is obvious. Regarding the spelling, there is no single standard for how PIE is transcribed. Etymonline generally does a very bad job, ignoring all diacritics and thus conflating distinct phonemes; Wiktionary uses _y_ and _w_ for the semi-vowels that most transcription schemes would write as _i̯ _ and _u̯ _ or even just _i_ and _u_. The palatal g is commonly either _ǵ_ (as here), _ĝ_ or _g̑_. But how does 'ghost' semantically appertain to ["_*ǵʰéysd-_ (“anger, agitation”)"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ghost#Etymology)? How do ghosts anger, or are angered? And I've never heard humans being angered, or getting angry, at ghosts?