Why this word is great
SPRIGHT — [Noun] An archaic spelling of ‘sprite,’ denoting a supernatural being or, by extension, the human spirit or mood. The word is an unetymological 16th-century respelling of 'sprite' (itself from Middle English 'sprit', from Old French 'esprit', from Latin 'spiritus', meaning "breath, spirit"), making it a doublet of 'spirit'. Unlike "sprite" (which connotes a small, mischievous fairy) or "spirit" (which denotes a broad, modern essence), "spright" is an obsolete vessel that holds the older, chillier air of apparition and the antique weight of the psyche. It is the candle-gutter in an empty hall that suggests a presence, the sudden heaviness in a room where grief once lived, or the fleeting lift of heart on a bright, sharp morning—the archaic name for a guest that never announces its arrival.