gāst
masculine
The English phrase ghost is translated into Old English as gāst.
gāst refers to a spirit appearing after death.
Meaning: spirit appearing after death (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, gāst refers to a spirit, soul or the breath of life.
Which one should you use?
In Old English, gāst is used to distinguish the immaterial spirit or soul from the physical body.
Did you know?
- The word gāst is a linguistic cousin to the modern German word Geist, which can mean 'ghost' but also 'mind' or 'intellect'.
- The spelling of gāst uses a macron over the 'a', which indicates a long vowel sound that is no longer present in the modern English word 'ghost'.
- The term gāst could describe both a benevolent ancestral spirit and a malevolent entity, depending entirely on the context of the sentence.
Examples in context
- Ic geseo þone gāst.I see the ghost.
Example conversation
Two people talking in a dark hallway.
- OsricHwæt is se gāst þǣr?What is that ghost there?
- WulfrunIc ne gesēo nān þing, Osric.I do not see anything, Osric.
- OsricHē is hwīt and grim!He is white and grim!
- WulfrunUton gān!Let us go!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “ghost” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
