wicche
Middle English
Alternative forms
- wyche, wycch, weche, wytche, wycche, witche, wecche, wychche, wichche, wech, wicch
Etymology
From the merger (due to regular sound change) of Old English wiċċe and wicca, from Proto-Germanic *wikkô.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwitʃ(ə)/, /ˈweːtʃ(ə)/
Noun
wicche (plural wicches or (early) wicchen)
- witch, wizard, sorceror
- c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.), published c. 1410, Dedis of Apoſtlis 8:9-10, page 96r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
- þerfoꝛ greet ioie was maad in þat citee but þer was a man in þat citee whos name was ſymount a wicch þat hadde diſſeyued þe folk of ſamarie. ſeiynge þat him ſelf was ſum greet man / whom alle herknyden. fro þe leest to þe moost .· ⁊ ſeiden / þis is þe vertu of god .· which is clepid greet
- So plenty of rejoicing occurred in that city. But there was a man in that city whose name was Simon; a sorceror who'd deceived the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone important. / Everyone listened, from the low to the high, and said "This is the power of God which is called great!".
-
- pagan, heretic, nonbeliever
Related terms
- wicchecraft
- wicchen
- wikke
- wikked
Descendants
- English: witch
- Scots: wich, wech, witch
References
- “wicch(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-11.