eldritch
adj/ˈɛl.dɹɪt͡ʃ/
Etymology From the earlier form elritch, of uncertain origin. The second element, -ritch, is generally taken to be Old English rīċe (“realm, kingdom”). Some think that the first element, el-, derives from an Old English root meaning “foreign, strange, other” (related to Old English ellende and modern English else); others think that it derives from elf. It was reintroduced into popular literature by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft.
1
Unearthly, supernatural, eerie, preternatural.
- So Maggie runs, the witches follow, / Wi' mony an eldritch ſkreech and hollow.1790 (date written; published 1791), Robert Burns, “Tam o’ Shanter. A Tale.”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 206:
- I look'd upon the rotting Sea, / And drew my eyes away; / I look'd upon the eldritch deck / And there the dead men lay.1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC, part IV, page 22:
4 more examples
- Pearl, in utter scorn of her mother's attempt to quiet her, gave an eldritch scream, and then became silent.1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter VII, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
- And the woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch sing-song, turned with a skip, and was gone.1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 2, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 11:
- The thing advanced to the table. The bright flame of the slush lamp caught its eye. It was amused, and gave voice to eldritch cackles which betokened mirth.1900 April 7, Jack London, “An Odyssey of the North”, in The Son of the Wolf: Tales of the Far North, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 210:
- Surprise, horror, loathing were depicted on all faces while he eyed them with a ghostly grin. I anticipated some such reception, he began with an eldritch laugh, for which, it seems, history is to blame.1922 February, James Joyce, “[14]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- eldritchly, eldritchness