It’s Halloween and we’re taking a closer look at some of the fascinating and multilingual histories behind the spookiest words in the English language. And with English being English, many of them have been adopted and adapted from other languages and cultures.
Banshee
A borrowing from the Irish ‘bean sí’, a wailing or ‘keening’ female spirit associated with fairy mounds and considered to be a harbinger of death in Irish folklore. First recorded in English in 1771.
Ghoul
Derived from the Arabic word ‘ġhūl’, a shapeshifting, malevolent spirit from Arabian folklore. It was first recorded in English in the early 1700s.
Poltergeist
A borrowing from German, where poltergeist literally means noisy or clattering ghost; a type of spirit which produces knocks, bangs and other physical disturbances. First recorded in English in 1848.
Werewolf
A very old word from Old English with deep Germanic roots that go back even further. It translates literally as ‘manwolf’, reflecting a concept that was widespread in European folklore. In Old English, ‘wer’ was a word for an adult man, at a time when the meaning of ‘man’ was closer to the gender neutral ‘person’.
Zombie
Partly derived from Haitian Creole and with links to sub-Saharan Africa, in Haitian folklore a zombie is a dead body reanimated through magic. First recorded in English in 1788.
Whether borrowed from Irish, Arabic, German or Haitian Creole, these classic ‘spooky’ words are a reminder that languages are constantly borrowing and carrying stories across borders.
Get in touch with our uncanny team to find out how we can support your next spooky translation project.
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