Forms: 8 benshi, -shea, 9 -shie, banshie, -shee. [A phonetic spelling of Ir. bean sídhe:—OIr. ben síde ‘female, or woman, of the fairies or elves.’] A supernatural being supposed by the peasantry of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands to wail under the windows of a house where one of the inmates is about to die. Certain families of rank were reputed to have a special ‘family spirit’ of this kind.
1771. Pennant, Tour Scot., 24 Aug. (1769). The cries and shrieks of Benshi, or the Fairies wife.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. vii. The fatal Ben-shie’s boading scream. Ibid. (1829), Demonol., x. 348. The distinction of a banshie is only allowed to families of the pure Milesian stock.
1876. Miss Braddon, J. Haggard’s Dau., II. 67. As if she had heard the family banshee shrieking at her.
