A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Wra(i)th, Wreth, n.2 Also: wrayth, (wra(t)ch), wreath, vreat. [18th c. Eng. wraith (1742). Also in the later dial. Of obscure origin.] An immaterial being associated with a person, living or dead; a spectre, phantom, apparition. b. ? An idea or fantasy.1513 Doug. x x 111.
Nor ȝit na vayn wrathys [Ruddim. wrethis; L. umbræ] nor gaistis quent Thi char constrenyt 1513 Doug. x xi 93.
In diuers placis The wraithis [1553 wrachis; L. volitare figuras] walkis of goistis that ar ded 1513 Doug. x xi 127.
Thydder went this wrath [Ruddim. wrayth; L. imago] or schaddo of Ene a1585 Polwart Flyt. 645 (H).
Thy speach … is espyed, That wryts of witchs, warloks, wraths, and wratchs c1590 J. Stewart 88/325.
He did behold vith goustlie visage palle The vofull vreat, quhilk friȝit vp his bluid 1597 James VI Dæmonol. (STS) 42/16.
These kindes of spirites, when they appeare in the shaddow of a person newlie dead, or to die, to his friends, … are called wraithes in our language 1633 Lithgow Poet. Remains 107.
Or winter wandring wreaths 1691 Kirk Secr. Commonw. (1964) 246.
What the low-countrey-Scot calls a wreath, and the Irish eug or deaths messenger … is only exuvious fumes of the man approaching death, exhald and congeald into a various sicknes … and called astral bodies … and are neither souls nor counterfeiting spiritsb. 1513 Doug. xii xiii 120.
Juno annerdit … Ful blith … Fra hir ald wraith hes writhit hir mynd away
