Re: [tied] Proto-Indo-European WITCH

16-08-03 17:05, lifeiscool86 wrote:

> Proto-Indo-European WITCH
>
> Is there an IE etymology for the word"witch", or possibly a cultural
> approach to this said being. [Note: remove the negative medieval
> attachments]. Some people say, it comes from the Anglo-Saxon
> word "wica" (PIE *weik?/*weid?) which means "wise" and refers to the
> wise ones of the community. But, personally I doubt this
> (although "witan" would be plausible). I don't really know what the
> PIE word means -- probably "to see" or "to know" -- something which
> denotes wisdom or knowledge; but I believe the Anglo-Saxon word
> for "wise" is "wys" or "wit" right? So, what is this word "wica"
> supposed to mean? Some say, it means "to bend" suggesting a magician
> of some sort; and for some, a sort of plant.

<wise> and <wit> are related, and both cone from PIE *weid- 'see, know'.
The word <witch> cannot be related to them; OE f. wicce and m. wicca
look as if they derived from Gmc. *wik-j-o:n- (cf. also the OE verb
wiccian 'practice witchcraft, bewitch' < *wik-j-o:jan- and the adjective
<wicked>). The *wik-j- part can go back to Pre-Gmc. *wig-j(o)- or
*weg-j(o)-; in the latter case we get the attractive possibility that
it's derived from PIE *h2weg^- 'be strong/lively' (magic and strength
often go together in etymologies).

Piotr