ghoul

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡuːl/, /ɡʊəl/^[1]

Etymology

borrowed from Arabic غُول (ghūl), an evil spirit that robs graves and feeds on corpses,^[2][3][4] from the verb ghāla “to seize (suddenly)”.^[5][2] Wiktionary traces the English word through French goule and Persian.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

First recorded in 1786, as goul, in the English translation of William Beckford's Orientalist novel Vathek, which Beckford had written in French.^[2][6][3] It meant an evil spirit of Muslim folklore that robs graves and preys on the dead.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon extended from the demon to people: a grave robber, and then anyone who takes a morbid delight in death or in revolting things.^[5][3][4][1] Wiktionary also records a political use for a person who shows a callous disregard for human life and suffering.^[1]

Timeline

• 1786 – goul, in the translation of Vathek.^[2][6][3]
• 1844 – in compounds such as ghoul-haunted.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. In folklore, an evil demon that robs graves and feeds on corpses.
2. A grave robber.
3. A person with a morbid interest in death or in things that are shocking or repulsive.

Word family

• ghoulish
• ghoulishly
• ghoulishness
• ghoulie

Related words

• resurrectionist
• body snatcher
• jinn
• ghost

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. [1] [2] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press