Gespenst

See also: gespenst

German

Etymology

From Middle High German gespenst, gespenste, from Old High German gispensti (“temptation, (devilish) illusion”), from spanan (“to lure, to attract”), with ghosts interpreted as "illusions that lure one away"; see the related spannen (“to stretch, span”) for further etymology.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡəˈʃpɛnst/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

Gespenst n (strong, genitive Gespenstes or Gespensts, plural Gespenster)

  1. ghost, spectre
    • 1847, Karl Marx et al., Das Kommunistische Manifest:
      Ein Gespenst geht um in Europa – das Gespenst des Kommunismus.
      A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of Communism.

Declension

Declension of Gespenst [neuter, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein das Gespenst die Gespenster
genitive eines des Gespenstes, Gespensts der Gespenster
dative einem dem Gespenst, Gespenste1 den Gespenstern
accusative ein das Gespenst die Gespenster

1Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “Gespenst”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN

Further reading

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