The OED derives both the Old English nouns wicca and wicce (masc., fem., resp.) from a verb Old English wiccian, corresponding to Middle German, Low German wikken, wicken, (meaning to “do witchcraft, sorcery”) of obscure origin. In other words, the connection of witch with other forms (e.g. witan or weihaz) is rather speculative.
That’s more or less what I meant - speaking of the 1920s and 30s. I imagine things have changed.
I’ll leave this here:
Of course that road leads to Wicker Man territory.
Nice picture! I feel edified.
In the near-absence of historical or archeological information about what druids did or believed, Piggott’s book focussed on the stuff Victorians made up when they played at being ‘druid revivalists’.
My point was not that there is anything especially interesting about Druids as such, merely that discussions about identifying with the label “witch” might be less significant than merely assuming this to be an umbrella term for indigenous European religions.
No one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock… Of Stonehenge
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And until we have either solid sources from the point of view of ancient or medieval witches, and/or solid etymology, the meaning of the term is rather speculative.
Well, there isn’t Marianne Faithfull - Witches’ Song until 1979.
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