Where does
the modern word 'Witch' come from?
The word 'witch' dates back to Old English where the noun
forms were wicca (masc.) and wicce (fem.), from the Old
English verb wiccian ('to practise witchcraft', 'to put a
spell upon (a person)') and from a Proto-Germanic
predecessor thereof. The American Heritage Dictionary
suggests connection to the Proto-Indo-European root *weg-
('to be lively', 'to be wakeful or alert'), and offers the
Proto-Germanic reconstruction *wikkjaz ('one who wakes the
dead') as a probable ancestor. A contemporary cognate may
be found in the Low German wicker ('soothsayer'). In Old
English, wicca and wicce may have had a specific sense now
lost to modern scholars but suggested by the presence of
synonyms, such as gealdricge and scinlæce.
The Middle English word wicche did not differentiate
between masculine and feminine, however the masculine
meaning became less common in Standard English, being
replaced by words like 'wizard' and 'warlock'. The modern
spelling witch with the medial 't' first appears in the
15th century. In current colloquial English "witch" is
almost exclusively applied to women, although some Wiccans
and other Neopagans apply it equally to men and women.
The Old English plural form for both the masculine and
feminine nouns was wiccan (= "witches") and wiccecræft was
"witchcraft". The earliest recorded use of the word is in
the Laws of Ælfred which date to circa 890:[3][4][5]
Tha faemnan, the gewuniath onfon gealdorcraeftigan and
scinlaecan and wiccan, ne laet thu tha libban.
Women who are accustomed to receiving enchanters and
sorceresses and witches, do not let them live!
This is merely echoing the Old Testament verse Exodus
22:18. In the homilies of the Old English grammarian
Ælfric, dating to the late 10th century we find:
Ne sceal se cristena befrinan tha fulan wiccan be his
gesundfulnysse.
A Christian should not consult foul witches concerning his
prosperity.
In both these examples wiccan is the plural noun, not an
adjective. The adjective fulan (foul) can mean "physically
unclean" as well as "morally or spiritually unclean" or
"wicked".
In Old English glossaries the words wicce and wicca are
used to gloss such Latin terms as hariolus, conjector, and
pythonyssa, all of which mean 'diviner', 'soothsayer',
which suggests a possible role of fortune-teller for the
witch in Anglo-Saxon times. However, since bilingual
glossaries provide only crude correspondences between
similar words in different languages, these glossarial
connections are uncertain.[citation needed] Anglo-Saxon
Britain was progressively converted to Christianity from
the 5th century onwards, but the bulk of the surviving Old
English texts date only from the 10th to 12th centuries.
Furthermore, the surviving corpus of texts for the most
part represent the language of the literary and learned
Anglo-Saxons, principally religious or court men. Of the
vernacular tongue used by the peasantry, villagers, and
presumably practitioners of "wiccecræft", virtually nothing
survives. Therefore, it can be assumed that any mention of
witches or witchcraft in Old English texts will basically
reflect the views of the medieval Christian
church.[citation needed]
The word wicca is associated with animistic healing rites
in Halitgar's Latin Penitential where it is stated that
Some men are so blind that they bring their offering to
earth-fast stone and also to trees and to wellsprings, as
the witches teach, and are unwilling to understand how
stupidly they do or how that dead stone or that dumb tree
might help them or give forth health when they themselves
are never able to stir from their place.
The phrase swa wiccan tæcaþ ("as the witches teach") seems
to be an addition to Halitgar's original, added by an
eleventh-century Old-English translator
One of the most popular and
effective forms of witchcraft today is Wicca. It uses a number of
materials and rituals
taken from books of
magickal lore (Grimmoires). This site has further
information regarding these issues. We also provide
links to KNOWN
professional
services and suppliers
to fulfill all your
needs.