693: witch Oct 31, 2016
Happy Halloween everyone; with all of the costumes people wear, it can
be tricky to remember which witch is which. The word 'witch' comes from
the Old English, 'wicche', which gives Modern English, 'witch' and the
religion, 'Wicca', but not 'wizard'; that word comes from another word,
'wysard' which is derived from the word for 'wise'. It would probably
not be surprising to learn that, 'wicken' in Middle High German, meaning
'bewitch', is related to the root for 'witch', but 'wīh', the Old High
German word for 'holy' is thought to be too, counter to the way we might
think of witches today. Surprising as well, but the Latin for 'victim'
is believed to be related to 'wīh' as well.
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