Genitive plural of wīs gives wīssan, the unvoiced element becomes voiced rule (as seen today in scarves, leaves, dwarves) yields wīccan. Wizards and that kind of thing.
“Witch” is from the Old Low German “wikken” or “wicken”, which basically means “to practice witchcraft”, according to the sources I’ve checked. (Though some sources prefer “wikker” or “wicker”, which has a meaning closer to “a person who practices witchcraft.”) At which point everyone pretty much throws up their hands and either starts guessing or sides with the OED declaration of “Of uncertain origin.”
(The Online Etymology Dictionary gives a quick rundown of some of the scholarly theories as to its origin.)
“Wise”, on the other hand, is from the Proto-Germanic “wisaz” or “wissaz”.
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and on the bus today
I met the Queen of LA
at least she said she was
and who am I to say?
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Going by the above-linked Anglo-Saxon Primer, the genitive plural of wīs would be wīsra; it’s the genitive singular that’d be wīsan and the masculine nomitive singular that’d get you wīsa. Making the unvoiced sibilant voiced does indeed get you wise and wizard. Don’t see how making an unvoiced sibilant voiced gets you a voiceless palato-alveolar affricate, though.
At the time of Old English wicca was already in use in Old English (see line 7), so I’d tend to go with the etymologies mentioned by @cah and @SheiffFatman that say wicca is a word unrelated to wise, or at best of unknown origins.
(BTW, yes, I’m a total amateur googling the shit out of this)
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I’m an adherent of the White Witch of Tampa, my own damned self.
Some of the scientists who made the most profound changes in terms of
humanity were looking at alchemical material. I mean, Newton made an
astrological chart for every day.
And it seems like the takeaway from this statement should be that even groundbreaking scientists can make profound mistakes – especially those who existed before the 1800s, when it wasn’t the profession we know it to be today.
But her takeaway rather seems to be that Newton’s dabbling in alchemy is a validation. He was also a lifelong celibate…
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Okay I audited an Old English class and a Middle English class because, while I really enjoyed the topics and medieval studies in general, I found the work involved about as difficult as doing laundry with my eyelids. I’ve studied a good deal of language since then in my own time and I find myself frequently wrong about all kinds of stuff but in understanding my errors I now and then happen upon some insight.
Anyway I still have the textbooks and I feel more-or-less comfortable explaining to divers sorts of people how the word ‘wicca’ would have been pronounced rather close to the modern word ‘witch’ had a literate Old English speaker read the word.
I also like to point out that ‘druid’ and ‘tamale’ are plurals from their respective languages (of ‘drui’ and ‘tamal’, respectively).
How did Modern German end up with ‘hexen’? Does it have to do with Greek numbers?
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I took Spanish, which taught to be careful about false cognates. Estoy embarazada 
.
Now that, as already noted, you’re totally right about. And hey, words are fun!
More like, of the surviving Germanic languages why did English not end up with a variant of ‘hexen’? (My awareness here, quickly supported by google, was sparked by the awesome Danish silent film Häxan) Wiktionary at any rate says it’s from the Old High German ‘hagzissa’, which the English ‘hag’ also descends from.
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Serious question: Does anyone know why she stopped co-hosting the Expanding Mind podcast with BB-pal Eric Davis?
She just kind of wasn’t there one day…
False cognates are so fun and mnemonic, though! The Greek ἁγνός means pure, chaste or holy. I like to imagine an ancient female scholar sitting under the dome of the Hagia Sophia, where pilgrims arrive to consult the great hag! We don’t live in that fantasy false cognate world, unfortunately.
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t your example of a false cognate the result of a religiously influenced euphemism? Categorically that would be a little different from someone translating ‘papas’ for ‘father’ rather than ‘potato’. Is pinecone / pineapple / piña / ananas yet a third category? Is pencil lead a false cognate in our own language? Help, I’m having a semiotics crisis.
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I’d recommend staying away from the White Witch of Rose Hall, though. She sounds like trouble.
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There I can say the first three are outdated synonyms. Apple used to mean any round thing as well as a fruit, so pineapple and pinecone once were the same thing. Since pineapples sorta look like pinecones that’s what people called them. Over time the -apple version stuck with the edible tropical fruit while the -cone stuck with the thing that hangs from pine trees. In Spanish they just had the one word for pinecone, piña, so they use it for both. Everyone else just borrowed the Guarani word and calls 'em ananas.
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Zauberndfräuleinwunder was too cumbersome even for Germans.
The Duden writes that in Old High German (~750-1050) Hagzissa was used, later shortened to Hecse. The “hag-” part is probably related to Hag (OHG: hedge), but this is not reliable knowledge.
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I think it’s currently an anime genre.
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Boy if I had a nickel for every time someone made THAT mistake in Spanish class!
Must have been a fun Spanish class…
I agree with Maja D’Aoust about the importance of getting a person to wonder. It does seem to be lacking. However the reasons for why people appear to lack in wonder is worth pondering too. Is it Learned Helplessness to not share dreams and ideas with others? Do video games provide enough wonder, so that a person doesn’t really have a desire to? Is it something to do with how a person’s mind is hardwired? Or, like alchemy, is it a mixture of different ingredients that create such an outcome?
Also, I think Maja D’Aoust is a good example of how a person who goes through the (I would say psychological) struggles to have a self-directed life, to follow one’s own interests, are more interesting/fascinating than those who play it safe in order to just appease how others view them.
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