• aghast •
Pronunciation: ê-gæst • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective, anomalous
Meaning: Shocked, terrified, horrified.
Notes: Here is a word more often read than heard in ordinary speech. It is what I called in my erstwhile research an "anomalous" adjective because they are restricted to predicate position, like aboard, afloat, aground, i.e. you can't say 'an aghast person', though 'people were aghast' is OK. The adverb comes without the prefix a-, ghastly, but the noun, aghastness, retains it.
In Play: To be aghast, we must be shocked and horrified together at the same time: "Harley was aghast to find his wife in bed with another man." Aghastness may be imagined: "The founding fathers of the US governmental system would be aghast at its current state."
Word History: Today's Good Word was creaated in Old English from a- an anomalous adjective prefix + gæstan "to terrify", from gæst "spirit, ghost, demon". This word also underlies ghost, something that can terrify or assuage, as 'the Holy Ghost'. It originates in PIE gheis- "shock, anger, agitation, fear", also underlying Sanskrit hedah "anger", Bulgarian, Russian, and Serbian prefixed uzhas "horror", Dutch geest "ghost, spirit", and German Geist "ghost, spirit".