"The witches and sorcerers of early times were a widely spread class who
retained the beliefs and traditions of heathenism with all its license and romance
and charm of the forbidden." - C. G. Leland
There are three proposed Indo-European roots for the term witch, which
reflect the practices of these religious specialists:
- *WAT Prophecy, inspiration, or ecstasy
- *WEIK The religion of the sorcerers
- *WID To know, or to be wise
*WID continues in the Welsh language as the most common of their
words for witch: gwyddon (masculine) and gwidden
(feminine). The term dyn hysbys has also come into common usage
within the modern Welsh language and means "a person of information."
The "Diccionario Escolar de la Etimologia Castellana" provides a
derivation of the Spanish bruja from the Iberian bruixa and
the Gallego bruxa. This is related to the Gaelic buitseach,
which in turn is related to the Anglo-Saxon wicca (masculine) or
wicce (feminine).
"Skeat's Etymological Dictionary" gives the following etymology to the
term witch:
Witch
Mediaeval English wicche, both masculine and feminine, a
wizard, a witch. Anglo-Saxon wicca, masculine, wicce feminine.
Wicca is a corruption of witega, a prophet, seer, magician, or
sorcerer. Anglo-Saxon witan, to see, allied to witan to know.
Similarly Icelandic vitki, a wizard, is from vita, to know.
From "McBain's Scottish Gaelic Etymological Dictionary" there is the
following:
Baobh
A wicked woman, witch; from the Irish badbh, a hoodie crow,
a fairy, a scold; from the Old Irish badb meaning a crow, demon, or the
Irish war-goddess by the same name; Welsh bod, a kite; Gaulish Bodv-,
Bodvo-gnatus; Welsh Bodnod; from the Norse bod, meaning
war.
"Etymologisches Worterbuch der Deutschen" provides the following
information:
Hexe
Middle German hecse, haxe. Old High German
hagzissa, hazus, hazissa. In Latin furia,
striga, eumenis, erinnys. Consistent with Low German
haghetisse. Low German heks. Anglo-Saxon haegtesse. English
hag. This is derived from the Old High German hag, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon haeg meaning hedge. Haeg is comparable to the Old High German zunrita and Old Norse tunrida, meaning a hedge-rider or a witch. The German root *tusjo is similar to the Westphalian dus meaning a devil, demon, or fiend, and the Norwegian tysja meaning a fairy, elf, or deformed woman. This is comparable to the Gaulish dusius meaning an unclean spirit, and the Cornish dus, or diz meaning a devil, demon, or fiend. The modern German equivalent of this is duasia meaning a spirit, and the root of that word is *dhus or *dhuos.
