huffingtonpost - 20 days ago

GhoulWith Halloween drawing ever closer, you might be hearing a lot more than is usual about ghosts and ghouls – two apparitions which represent the dead. But, like coffins and caskets, it turns out the pair aren’t actually the same. This is despite the fact that, like a lot of us, I’d grown up using the terms interchangeably: if it looked like Casper, I believed both terms applied.There is, however, quite a gory distinction. What’s the difference between a ghost and a ghoul?Per Merriam-Webster, a ghost is “the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness”. It’s the kind of thing Halloween outfits involving blankets and cut-out eye holes are based on.Ghouls, on the other hand, are defined by the same dictionary as being “a legendary evil being that robs graves and feeds on corpses”. I’ll be honest: I was so taken aback by that last part that I had to double-check it to make sure it was real. I’d never heard of the whole “eating the dead” side of... ghoul culture (?) before. According to Theasaurus.com, yep, they’re right. “The word ghoul comes from the Arabic word ghūl, which was the name used for this terrifying monster of legend,” they explained. “Ghūl comes from the word ġāla, meaning ‘to seize,’ in reference to seizing bodies to eat.” Well, then. If you, like me, use the term more generally, that’s still understandable, as the meaning has shifted over time. Theasaurus.com stated, “In modern times, the word ghoul is often used more generally”. It can refer to any “sinister” creature, like a ghost or goblin, and the adjective “ghoulish” can even be used to describe a morbid interest in shocking or repulsive stuff.Where does the word “ghost” come from, then? If “ghoul” is based on a word linked to their flesh-eating habits, where does “ghost” come from? Well, apparently that started out from the “Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gāst; akin to Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit heḍa anger”. The root of the word is shared by “ghastly,” which makes sense – though I’m starting to wonder whether or not the word might suit ghouls a little better.Related...So THAT S The Difference Between A Coffin And A CasketWitch, Please! These 5 Halloween Crafts Might Just Save Your Sanity This Half-TermHelp! My Toddler Is Adamant He Wants To Be This Food Item For Halloween

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