Language Matters | ‘I’m totally ghosting Taylor’: Tinder and hip hop’s effect on the spooky word
- Emerging in Old English as ‘gast’, the word ghost started to develop related meanings in the early 20th century with ‘ghost students’ and ‘ghost patients’
- Today, most people are probably more afraid of being ghosted on Tinder than of supernatural spirits
It’s Hallowe’en – a Scottish shortening of Allhallow-even, the Eve of All Saints (Day), “hallow” meaning “holy person, saint”. This festival, with origins in the Celtic Samhain, marks the day when ghosts return to Earth.
The word “ghost” – a supernatural being or the spirit or soul of a person – of Germanic (and ultimately Indo-European) origin, emerged as the Old English gast (other spellings include gaast, gæst), becoming gost or gooste (and other variations) in Middle English. Forms with gh- appeared in late 15th century texts, showing influence from the Middle Dutch gheest; this form gradually became established in the 16th century, a result of printers’ connections with the Low Countries.
In contemporary times, most people are probably less fearful of ghosts than of ghosting.
A related meaning of ghost was already in existence in the early 20th century: ghost students and ghost patients are persons named on a register or record who prove difficult or impossible to trace.
Verbal and adjectival forms of ghost developed in 1980s colloquial American – originally and chiefly African-American – English: to ghost, or to be ghost, get ghost, or go ghost, meaning to leave a situation especially suddenly or hurriedly, or to absent oneself. The erstwhile Californian newspaper Times-Advocate reported in 1986: “Instead of goodbye it’s: I’m ghost.” Such usage gained popularity in 1990s hip hop, primarily relating to sexual encounters, especially one-night stands.