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Barrow-wights are wraith-like creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, based on Old Norse beliefs such as Draugr or vǣttr (wights). ''Barrow'' refers to the burial mounds they inhabited and ''wight'' is a Middle English word for "living being" or "creature", especially "human being".〔''Wight'', in the ''Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary'', Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.〕 It does not necessarily mean "spirit" or "ghost"; it is cognate to modern German "Wicht", meaning small mythical creatures (also "Wichtelmännchen"). Tolkien borrowed this concept from Norse mythology, see e.g. ''Waking of Angantyr'' and ''Hrómundar saga Gripssonar''. The name ''Barrow-wight'' itself was first recorded in 1869 in the Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris translation of ''Grettis saga'', which features a fight with such a creature.〔(Online Etymology Dictionary )〕 In Norway, farmers of the 19th century were still concerned about "vetter" (wights) around old viking barrows, when these were first excavated.〔Vikingenes Verden by Kim Hjardar, Spartacus Forlag〕 Evil spirits (perverted Maiar or possibly spirits of Orcs, fallen Avari, or evil Men) were sent to the Barrow-downs by the Witch-king of Angmar in order to prevent the restoration of the destroyed Dúnedain kingdom of Cardolan. They animated the dead bones of the Dúnedain buried there, as well as older bones of Edain from the First Age which still were buried there. After leaving Tom Bombadil, Frodo Baggins and company were trapped in the Barrow-downs, and nearly slain by a barrow-wight. It was mentioned in ''The Lord of the Rings'' Appendix A that Frodo was trapped in the cairn of the last prince of Cardolan; Merry's exclamation on waking from his trance suggests this. Frodo sliced off the wight's hand; then, when the wight extinguished the dim light in the cavern where the company was imprisoned, Frodo called upon Tom Bombadil, who expelled the wight from the barrow. ==Other versions within Tolkien's legendarium== Due to his inspiration from ''Hrómundar saga Gripssonar'', during the writing of ''The Lord of the Rings'' (see ''The History of The Lord of the Rings'') Tolkien at first foresaw a link between the wights and the Ringwraiths, initially describing the Black Riders as horsed wights, but the suggestion that they were the same kind of creatures was dropped in the published work. In the final work there remained a link between them: the wights were now spirits sent by the Witch-king of Angmar. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Barrow-wight」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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