Editing Ghoul (section)

== Etymology ==
The English word ''ghoul'' is from the [[Arabic]] {{lang|ar|غُول}} ({{Transliteration|ar|ghūl}}), from {{Lang|ar|غَالَ}} ({{Transliteration|ar|ghāla}}) {{gloss|to seize}}.<ref name="Lebling2010">{{cite book|author=Robert Lebling|title=Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKL3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT96|date=30 July 2010|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-0-85773-063-3|pages=96–}}</ref><ref name="oed-ghoul">"Ghoul, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary'', Oxford UP, December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2239227052.</ref>{{efn|Earlier etymologies have also suggested the word comes from an Arabic word meaning {{gloss|to kill}}. Scholar Ahmed Al-Rawi writes: "Abū al-Fail Ibn Manūr (1232–1311 C.E.) in ''Lisān al-‘Arab'' states that the term 'ghoul' stems from a verbal root 'ghāl' meaning 'to kill', and al-‘Ābād mentions in ''al-Mu ī fī ’l-Lughah'' that the term ghoul means 'death' as it is originally derived from the Arabic verb ''ightāl'', which means 'to murder'."<ref name="al-rawi" />}} The term was first used in English literature in 1786 in [[William Beckford (novelist)|William Beckford]]'s [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] novel ''[[Vathek]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-ghoul.html|title=Ghoul Facts, information, pictures &#124; Encyclopedia.com articles about Ghoul|publisher=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=23 March 2011}}</ref> which describes the {{Transliteration|ar|ghūl}} of Arabic folklore. This definition of the ghoul has persisted into modern times, with [[Ghouls in popular culture|ghouls appearing in popular culture]].<ref name="Al-Rawi 2009" />

In early Arabic, the term is treated as a feminine word. Later, the term became treated as a masculine word, and ghouls became perceived as masculine creatures with Si'lat as feminine counterpart.<ref>Jones, Alan. "Early Arabic poetry: select poems." (No Title) (2011) p. 243</ref>