Cyber Cauldron

The first assignment is to write down your personal understanding of what a witch is and what it means to you.

Your personal view of what a witch is, will help you form your identity as a witch and help remove any negative influences, which you may have accumulated over the years.

This is a simple exercise and is a good starting point, by the time we have completed and revisit this exercise you view of what a witch is might have changed

I have provided dictionary definitions and the etymology for the word witch so you can gain a literal meaning of the word.

The dictionary defines a witch as[1] –

noun /wiCH/

witches, plural

1.A woman thought to have evil magic powers. Witches are popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak and pointed hat, and flying on a broomstick

2.A follower or practitioner of modern witchcraft; a Wiccan priest or priestess

3.An ugly or unpleasant old woman; a hag

4.A girl or woman capable of enchanting or bewitching a man

verb /wiCH/

witched, past participle; witched, past tense; witches, 3rd person singular present; witching, present participle

1.(of a witch) Cast an evil spell on

- Mrs. Mucharski had somehow witched the house

2.(of a girl or woman) Enchant (a man)

- she witched Jake [1]

None of the definitions come close to my idea of a witch so let look deeper in to the origins of the word witch.

The word witch derives from the Old English nouns wicca /ˈwɪttʃɑ/ (masc.) “sorcerer, wizard” and wicce /ˈwɪttʃe/ (fem.) “sorceress, witch”. The word’s further origins in Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European are unclear. Theorists have come up with many viable origins for the word “witch”. The most popular of these are the Proto Indo-European Theories. They are weik1, weik2 and weid.[1]

Weik 1: in regards to sorcery and religious matters [2]

wih-l OE: wigle (sorcery); wiglera, wiglere (sorcerer, seer or prophet); also > wil – MdE: wile; OF: and MF: guile wik wik- means holy

OHG: wïhen ; MdG: weihen (to consecrate): MHG: wïch (holy)

ON: vigja (also to consecrate),

L: victima (sacrifice) wihl ON:(craftiness) wikke [wikke pertains to magic and sorcery only.]

MG: wikken (to predict) OHG: wicken (to work magic) wikkerie(witchery)

LS: wiken, wicken. wigelen and wichelen (conjuring; soothsaying) ; wikker, wichler (fortune-telling) ; wikkerske (witch) ; wichelie (sorcery)

OE: wicca(m.), wicce (f.)(witch); wiccian (to work sorcery, bewitch) wicce-craeft (witchcraft) ME: witche and MdE: witch

Weik 2: bend or fold

weik OE: wican (to bend) from which MdE weak, wicker and witch elm

OS: wican – wikan,

OHG: wichan, wicken (to bend)

ON: vikja (bend) vika (to fold)

Weid: to see or to know. Semantically, seeing and knowing are connected in Indo-European languages.

weid or wid L: video videre (to see); saga (female witch) > MdE Sage Sagacious

G: wissen (to know); witken (to exercise ones knowledge)

E: wit (knowledge); witan (to know) witega (seer magician, prophet, sorcerer)

ON:, vitugr, vitka, vekka (vekke) (wise one)

[1] Google definition of witch

[2] In Nigel Jackson’s book Call of the Horned Piper they are listed as weik, wid and wat.

[3] A History of Witchcraft, Russell B Jeffery; pg. 177

Etymology for witch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_(etymology)

• What is a witch?
• Definition of a witch
• History of Witchcraft
• A Brief  History of Witchcraft Persecutions before Salem

Originally posted 2011-06-01 20:40:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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