The Meaning of "Witch" Jenny jennyg@compuserve.com Mon Jun 7 12:49:20 1999 "Witch" is a conundrum. It's an ancient word, one we can trace back to its pre-historic Indo-European roots. Yet we don't really know what it meant before around 1500! Yep, by the time that we have a definition for "witch", the Burning Times had been going on for a couple of centuries...*br* *br*The linguistics are straight-forward. "Witch" comes from Old English "wicce", which in turn comes the OE verb "wiccian" (to bewitch). Wiccian, in turn, comes from an Indo-European root *weik- or *weig-. That much is clear. "Witch" definitely does not come from Witega or Witan, or any root meaning "wise", as many modern Pagans believe.*p*By the early modern period (1500 CE) "witch" meant a user of magick. 16th century writers, like Reginald Scott, note that "witch" and "wise woman" are synonyms, and states that a witch is a person who does inexplicable, supernatural things. It's a neutral word (witches can be either "good" or "bad", helpful or harmful). It's not a religious term -- there are Catholic as well as Protestant witches. "Witch" is basically the generic term for a magick-user.*p*And that's not what it always meant. "Wicce" appears to have referred to one specific type of magick-user. What type, we don't know. "Wicce" is an uncommon word. It appears in medieval lists of sins, where it is one of several different types of magick forbidden by the Church (along with 'being a Valkyrie', for instance). But none of these lists give detailed information about their "crimes", so we don't know what wiccan did. (Wiccan is the plural of both wicce and wicca.)*p*The further back we go, the more confused things get. Wicce comes from *weik-/weig-. But there are a half dozen *weik- roots -- and we have no idea which one "witch" comes from. Most dictionaries (even the Oxford English Dictionary) simply state that the etymology of "witch" is uncertain.*p*The two main contenders are *weik- (4) ("bending, weak") and *weig-/*weik- (2) (holy, divine/diviner, magickal). The first root would give witch a negative definition, something like "bent one" or "weak one". *Weik- (2) suggests a more positive or neutral translation like "diviner" or "one who uses magick"*p*Of the two, *weik- (2) is the current favorite amongst linguists. Amongst Pagans you'll sometimes run into the *weik- (4) definition thanks to occultist William Gray, who promoted it in very strong language. However while the linguistic and historical evidence is mixed, it favors the more positive *weik- (2), for several reasons.*p*1) The core meaning is more appropriate. All uses of wicce, witch, etc., involve magick. Not all involve badness, weakness, or pliancy.*p*2) In Old English, no other *weik- (4) words relate to witchcraft. *Weik (4) gave us wac (weak) and wican (with a long i, "weaken"). *Weik- (2), by comparison, does produce other "witch-y" words, like wigle ('sorcery') and wiglera ('sorceror').*p*The same holds true when we look at other Germanic languages. *Weik- (4) words relate to weakness and pliancy, not witchcraft. (Examples: Old Saxon wikan, Old High German wichan, and Old Norse vikja, all of which mean "to bend, or turn aside".) *Weik- (2) words, on the other hand, are sometimes magickal: Middle German wikken ("to predict"), Middle Low German wichelen ("to practice divination or sorcery").*p*3) The translation is more common. I know of no other word for witch, in any Indo-European language, that means "weak one". Some terms do revolve around badness or evilness (eg., Latin malefica -- "evil-doer"). But if witch really does mean "bent or weak one", it's a unique definition. Of course, unique doesn't mean impossible. Irish bandraoi (female Druid) is also unique, and its origin is quite clear.*p*By comparison, many Indo-European words for "witch" translate to "diviner" or "one who uses magick". Examples include Old English wiglera, French devin and Welsh dewin and dewines (diviner -- from the root for divine), French sorcier and English sorceror (one who divines by lots), and Lithuanian ragana (seer, diviner). There are also a half dozen other Eastern European words that mean "diviner", which I'm not going to try to spell with the characters on my computer. <s>*p*There is, however, one piece of evidence that throws its weight behind *weik- (4): wicked. Wicked comes from Middle English wicke or wikke, and is probably an adjective formed from wicca/wicce. So technically "wicked" probably means, "like a witch". And since at least 1200, wicked has clearly meant "bad/evil". But while this is an interesting piece of data, it's not conclusive proof that witch was originally a negative term, for two reasons.*p*1) We're not positive that wicked and witch really are related. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that there is an extremely rare Early Middle English word "wicci" which means "bad/evil". Wicci appears to come from an Old English form *wiccig, not wicca. Therefore it's possible that witch and wicked have no connection.*p*2) Our earliest references come many centuries after Christianity was introduced to England, and we know that the new religion had a dramatic impact on older words associated with Paganism. Consider "giddy". Giddy's etymology is straightforward. Literally it means "god-like"; figuratively, it probably meant something like "possessed by a god" or "speaking for a god". However even in our earliest references, giddy's meaning has completely changed: it means "insane", "mad/furious", or "possessed by a demon" (a definition that gives us a good clue about what happened!) Not until the 16th century does giddy come to mean dizzy or confused.*p*Phew! So that's more than you probably wanted to know about the origin of the term "witch". <g> Here's the summary:*p*1. The original meaning of "witch" is not clear, though we're sure it does not come from a root meaning "wise".*p*2. "Witch" probably means "one who does magick" or even "holy one". There's a small possibility that it means "one who bends" or "bent/twisted/weak one".*p*3. "Wicked" probably means "like a witch", though that doesn't prove that "witch" was originally a negative term.*p*Jenny*br*