Re: Proto-Indo-European WITCH

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:

> 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

************
In Albanian, the PIE root *weg^- derives verb <vjedh> 'to steal, to
cheat', <vjedhës> 'thief', etc., until prefixed and suffixed form
*weg^-li-to - adjective <i zhdërvjelltë> 'lively, agile'.

Konushevci