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In folklore, mythology, and modern media such as literary fiction, a ghost (sometimes known as a spectre (English ) or specter (English ), phantom, apparition, spirit, spook, or haunt) is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a ''séance''. The belief in manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life, though stories of phantom armies, ghost trains, ghost ships, and even ghost animals have also been recounted.〔Hole, pp. 150–163〕 ==Terminology== The English word ''ghost'' continues Old English ''gást'', from a hypothetical Common Germanic '' *gaistaz''. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North Germanic and East Germanic (the equivalent word in Gothic is ''ahma'', Old Norse has ''andi'' m., ''önd'' f.). The pre-Germanic form was ', apparently from a root denoting "fury, anger" reflected in Old Norse ''geisa'' "to rage". The Germanic word is recorded as masculine only, but likely continues a neuter ''s''-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been an animating principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation and fury (compare ''óðr''). In Germanic paganism, "Germanic Mercury", and the later Odin, was at the same time the conductor of the dead and the "lord of fury" leading the Wild Hunt. Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of Latin ''spiritus'' also in the meaning of "breath" or "blast" from the earliest attestations (9th century). It could also denote any good or evil spirit, i.e. angels and demons; the Anglo-Saxon gospel refers to the demonic possession of Matthew 12:43 as ''se unclæna gast''. Also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the "Holy Ghost". The now-prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" only emerges in Middle English (14th century). The modern noun does, however, retain a wider field of application, extending on one hand to "soul", "spirit", "vital principle", "mind", or "psyche", the seat of feeling, thought, and moral judgement; on the other hand used figuratively of any shadowy outline, or fuzzy or unsubstantial image; in optics, photography, and cinematography especially, a flare, secondary image, or spurious signal.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/78064 )〕 The synonym ''spook'' is a Dutch loanword, akin to Low German ''spôk'' (of uncertain etymology); it entered the English language via the United States in the 19th century.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/187392 )〕〔Mencken, H. L. (1936, repr. 1980). The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States (4th edition). New York: Knopf, p. 108.〕〔''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'', Merriam-Webster, ''spook''.〕〔''Webster's New World College Dictionary'' (4th edition), Wiley, ''spook''.〕 Alternative words in modern usage include ''spectre'' (from Latin ''spectrum''), the Scottish ''wraith'' (of obscure origin), ''phantom'' (via French ultimately from Greek ''phantasma'', compare ''fantasy'') and ''apparition''. The term ''shade'' in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά,〔(οὗτος ). Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon''.〕 or Latin ''umbra'',〔(umbra ). Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, ''A Latin Dictionary''〕 in reference to the notion of spirits in the Greek underworld. "Haint" is a synonym for ghost used in regional English of the southern United States,〔''Dictionary of American Regional English'', Belknap Press, 1985〕 and the "haint tale" is a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition.〔Flora, Joseph M.; MacKethan, Lucinda Hardwick and Taylor, Todd W. (2001) ''The Companion to Southern Literature'', Louisiana State University Press, p. 304.〕 The term ''poltergeist'' is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects. ''Wraith'' is a Scots word for "ghost", "spectre" or "apparition". It came to be used in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the more general or figurative sense of "portent" or "omen". In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it was also applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology; the ''OED'' notes "of obscure origin" only.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/230504 )〕 An association with the verb ''writhe'' was the etymology favored by J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien's use of the word in the naming of the creatures known as the Ringwraiths has influenced later usage in fantasy literature. Bogey〔(bogey ). Merriam-Webster (2012-08-31). Retrieved on 2013-03-21.〕 or ''bogy/bogie'' is a term for a ghost, and appears in Scottish poet John Mayne's ''Hallowe'en'' in 1780.〔Robert Chambers (The life and works of Robert Burns, Volume 1 ) Lippincott, Grambo & co., 1854〕〔(Ulster Scots – Words and Phrases:"Bogie" ) BBC Retrieved December 18, 2010〕 A ''revenant'' is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied ghost or alternatively as an animated ("undead") corpse. Also related is the concept of a fetch, the visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive. 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「ghost」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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