גײַסט
'spirit'

ETYMOLOGY

{A Germanism borrowed from NHG in the 19th c. (Otherwise Litvaks would say /gejst/.) The usual words in Yiddish are נשמה and רוח.}
OE gāst 'breath, spirit, soul, ghost', English ghost, OS gēst 'soul, vitality, spirit, demon', Dutch geest 'spirit', OHG geist, NHG Geist; from PGmc ✱gaista- 'spirit, ghost' (or ✱gaistaz); from PIE ✱ǵʰois-d-o- (or ✱ǵʰeis-d 'to be beside oneself'); possibly derived from ✱gaisjan- 'to terrify' < ✱ǵʰois-éie- with a to-suffix: ✱ǵʰois-to-; or more likely from an adjective ✱ǵʰois-do- 'terrible'. (Or perhaps from ✱gʰəies- 'mouth opening', from ✱gʰə/gʰəi- 'to yawn'.)
Related: Sanskrit héḍa- 'anger', hīḍ- 'to get angry', Avestan zōižda- 'terrible', Lithuanian žeĩsti 'to wound'

CENTRAL

HASIDIC

AMERICA

gajst fɩn ˈlejbm̩ גײַסט פֿון לעבן (translation of רוח־חיים)