Quote:
Originally Posted by Ursa major  There may also be a danger, I suppose, that some readers could, on seeing the word, wicht, start thinking of another mythical entity, the wight. |
Wight isn't a mythical entity, in fact: it's just a Middle English word that comes from the Old English for person, from the same root as the German wicht.
Its use in fantasy probably comes from Tolkien's barrow-wight, by which I guess he meant a being who lived in a barrow.