Carvings of wights, by Michael Eli
with magickal input from savanna.
The Old Norse term
vættir and its english cognate
wights
literally mean 'beings' and relate etymologically to other forms
of the verb
to be, like
was and
were.
Vættir and wights normally refer to
supernatural 'beings',
especially
landvættir (land spirits)
Landvættir (land spirits) are
chthonic
guardians of specific grounds,
such as wild places or farms. When Norse
seafarers approached land,
they reportedly removed their carved
dragon heads from the bows of
their
longships, so as not to frighten and thus provoke the
landvættir to
attack, thereby incur bad
luck from them.