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.