Related terms

Another Old English word for 'witch' was hægtes or hægtesse, which became the modern English word "hag" and is linked to the word "hex". In most other Germanic languages, their word for 'witch' comes from the same root as these; for example German Hexe and Dutch heks. Its proto-Germanic form is reconstructed as *hagatusjon, whose origin is unclear.^[6]

The adjective 'wicked' and noun 'wickedness' apparently derive from the Old English wiċċa ('male witch').^[7]

Middle Ages

The earliest recorded use of the word "witch" is in the Laws of Ælfred, which date to about 890:^[4][8][9]

In the homilies of the Old English grammarian Ælfric, dating to the late 10th century we find:

The word wicca also appears in Halitgar's earlier Latin Penitential, but only once in the phrase swa wiccan tæcaþ ('as the witches teach'), which seems to be an addition to Halitgar's original, added by an 11th-century Old English translator.^[10]

In Old English glossaries the words wicce and wicca are used to gloss such Latin terms as augur,^[11] hariolus, conjector, and pythonyssa, all of which mean 'diviner, soothsayer'.

Early modern period

In medieval and early modern Europe, there were people who provided services such as thwarting witchcraft, curing bewitchment, healing, divination, fortune-telling, finding lost or stolen goods, and love magic.^[12][13] Alan McFarlane writes that they were sometimes specified as 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding' witches, but were more often known as cunning folk or wise folk.^[14] Historian Owen Davies says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century.^[15] Emma Wilby says folk magicians in Europe were viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing,^[16] which could lead to them being accused as being "witches" in the negative sense.^[17] Éva Pócs says that half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers,^[18] and Kathleen Stokker says the "vast majority" of Norway's accused witches were folk healers.^[19] Ronald Hutton says that healers and cunning folk "were sometimes denounced as witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied".^[13] Likewise, Davies says "relatively few cunning-folk were prosecuted under secular statutes for witchcraft" and were dealt with more leniently than alleged witches.^[20]

Johannes Nider and other 15th century writers used the Latin term maleficus to mean witch—a person who performed maleficium, harmful acts of sorcery, against others. The introduction of the idea of demonic forces empowering the acts of maleficium gave the term witch new connotations of idolatry and apostasy that were adopted by Malleus Maleficarum (1486), but these remained disputed despite papal injunctions to take action against witches.^[21]

In 17th-century Russia, societal concern about the practice of "witches" related to whether their powers could cause harm.^[22] Peasants in Russian and Ukrainian societies often shunned witches, unless they felt they needed help against supernatural forces. Impotence, stomach pains, barrenness, hernias, abscesses, epileptic seizures, and convulsions were all attributed to evil (or witchcraft).^[23] In Russia, three quarters of those accused of witchcraft were men.^[22]

When Europeans encountered other cultures and began the process of colonization, they discovered a variety of religious and cultural expressions of magic, including shamans, witch doctors, folk healers, and medicine men which were sometimes considered by Europeans to be witches.^[24] In Friuli, for instance, there was a culture of individuals with shamanistic practices known as benandanti (literally 'well-farers'), who claimed that they battled witches, but who inquisitors nevertheless determined were witches themselves.^[24]

Modern

In current colloquial English witch is almost exclusively applied to women, with the male equivalent being warlock or wizard.^[25]

Contemporary dictionaries currently distinguishes four meanings of the noun witch, including: a person (especially a woman) credited malignant supernatural powers; a practitioner of neo-pagan tradition or religion (such as Wicca); a mean or ugly old woman: hag crone; or, a charming or alluring girl or woman.^[26]

Figurative use to refer to a bewitching young girl begins in the 18th century,^[27] while wiche as a contemptuous term for an old woman is attested since the 15th century. "A witch of Endor" (alluding to 1 Samuel 28:7) as a fanciful term for a medium appears in 19th-century literature.^{[citation needed]}