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Subject:RE: Who's the Wizard(ess) --but Wicce is Witch... From:"McDonald, Nancy A." <NMcDonal -at- wcom -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 15 Feb 2001 10:05:11 -0500
I'm not disputing wizardry, Collin, but I do have a little to say about
witches of the old days... I beg to differ.... (though this is not related
to today's technical writing... I'm sure if the writing had been used more
by the "Old Folk", the innacuracies today would be fewer...)
I studied Old English (circa 600 AD) a few years back, and learned that the
vernacular then had begun to be recorded via written word. One item of Old
English grammar: a double "c" which was pronounced as in today's "ch".
Thus the Wicce (pronounced "Witcha") was defined as "Wise Woman" --who knew
healing herbs, and was the "doctor" of the tribe's time.... (those Celts
who were not literate, but were smart... the monks tried to write down what
the people said...) Thus was a term in the beginnings of written English in
the time of King Alfred. So were the monks, moving from Latin to written
English, the tech writers of the time?? Ok, I'm back to today's tech
writing....
Nancy McDonald
Sr. Project Manager
UUNET a WorldCom Company
Web Hosting Operations
5000 Britton Rd
Hilliard OH 43026
Email: nmcdonal -at- wcom -dot- net
> > Originally, "Witch" came from the Old English pronunciation of "wits",
> and
> > basically meant anyone with above-average smarts. In that day and age, a
> > bright brained folk with some knowledge of herbal medicine was a witch -
> > and, at least back then witch was a gender-neutral term. wizard came
> from
> > "wise heart" (which is why, in both Yorkshire and Cornwall, one can
> still
> > find inscriptions to the "wizhard" - may have originally been "wise
> hardt"
> > though you are correct that this term is traditionally male - there is
> some
> > speculation that this was a common term for those of the Druidic class
> > during the Celtic period of European history. I'm done now. does this
> count
> > as etymological discourse?
> >
>
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