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Fetch

Supernatural
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A supernatural double of a living person, especially one seen as an omen of death. It is a figure of forewarning and divided selfhood.

Detailed Definition
A fetch is a ghostly duplicate of a living person in Irish and English folklore, often interpreted as a sign that the person will soon die. Unlike a simple reflection, the fetch appears independently, sometimes far from the person whose form it wears. In poetry, it can embody the unsettling sense of meeting one’s fate before it arrives. The figure is useful for exploring mortality, self-estrangement, and the fear that identity may already be slipping beyond one’s control.
Example
Example in poetry:
A fetch is a double or apparition of a living person, so a poet might write, “I met my fetch beside the river before dawn”; In a poem about identity, “My fetch wore my face but carried all the words I had not said” turns the supernatural double into a symbol of the divided self; A foreboding lyric might state, “When her fetch crossed the threshold, the family knew misfortune was near”; Using fetch can make a poem about mirrors, dreams, or self-alienation feel more unsettling than simply using the word double
Additional Notes
A fetch is a living person's supernatural double, commonly interpreted as a death omen in Irish folklore. It can also represent divided identity, allowing poets to stage a confrontation between self and shadow-self.
Also Known As
Double Death Omen
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