different between banshee vs wraith

English

Alternative forms

• banshie (dated)
• benshee (obsolete)

Etymology

From Irish bean sí, from Old Irish ben síde (literally “woman of the fairy mound”). The term banshee entered English in 1771.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæn??i?/, /?bæn?i?/

Noun

banshee (plural banshees)

1. (Irish folklore) A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.
2. (derogatory) A noisy or ill-tempered woman.

Usage notes

• A banshee was originally merely a fairy woman who sang a caoineadh (lament) for recently-deceased members of certain families. Translations of Irish works into English made a distinction between the banshee and other fairy folk that the original language and original stories do not seem to have, but from which sprung the current image of the banshee.

Descendants

Translations

See also

• sidhe

Anagrams

• has-been, shabeen, shebean

Portuguese

Noun

banshee f (plural banshees)

1. (Irish folklore) banshee (a female spirit who warns of impending death)

English

Etymology

First attested 1513, in a Middle Scots translation of the Aeneid.

The word has no certain etymology. J. R. R. Tolkien favored a link with writhe. Also compared are Scots warth and Old Norse v?rðr (“watcher, guardian”), whence Icelandic vörður (“guard”). See also wray/bewray, from Middle English wreien. Perhaps from wrath as a wraith is a vengeful spirit.

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?th, IPA^(key): /?e??/
• Rhymes: -e??

Noun

wraith (plural wraiths)

1. A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ghost
2. (slang, African-American Vernacular, MLE) A showy motor vehicle, a ”whip”.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:automobile

Derived terms

• wraithish
• wraithful
• wraithlike

Translations

Further reading

• wraith on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• wraith in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

References