What Are the Origins of the Word ‘Ghost’?

It wouldn’t be spooky season without ghosts . The otherworldly white apparitions are a standby of Halloween celebrations .

But they weren’t always the stereotypical evil spirits we see in books and movies today. The messengers from the afterlife have gone through a variety of makeovers over the centuries, and the word continues to influence the English language in many ways.

Part of the reason for that, said Lisa Morton, author of Ghosts: A Haunted History , is just like ghosts themselves, our fascination with the afterlife just won’t die.

“I think one of the reasons we fear them is that sense that this is the worst part of us and this is what’s going to survive after death,” she said.

For this installment of NPR’s Word of the Week , we look back on the origins of “ghost.” Don’