different between valkyrie vs wraith

English

Alternative forms

• Valkyria
• Valkyrie
• Walkyrie

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse valkyrja sg (“chooser of the slain”), plural valkyrjur pl, from Proto-Germanic *walakuzj?. Cognate to Old English wælcyrge. First attested in English as a proper noun (Valkyries) in the 1770s; attested as a common noun (valkyries) since the 1880s.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?væl?k?.?i/

Noun

valkyrie (plural valkyries)

1. (Norse mythology) Any of the female attendants of Odin, figures said to guide fallen warriors from the battlefield to Valhalla.

Translations

See also

Further reading

• valkyrie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse valkyrja, from Proto-Germanic *walakuzj?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /valky?ri?/, [val?k?y???i?]

Noun

valkyrie c (singular definite valkyrien, plural indefinite valkyrier)

1. valkyrie
2. fury, virago (a large, strong, courageous or aggressive woman)

Inflection

Further reading

• valkyrie on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

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