wicchecraft
Middle English
Alternative forms
- wicche craft(e), wicchecrafte, wicchecreft, wich-crafte, wiche-craft, wichecrafte, witchcraft, wycche crauffte, wycchecraft, wychecraft, wychecreft, wytchecraft
Etymology
From Old English wiccecræft; equivalent to wicche + -craft.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwitʃ(ə)kraft/, /ˈwitʃ(ə)krɛft/
Noun
wicchecraft (plural wicchecraftes)
- witchcraft, magic
- 1387, John Trevisa (transl.), chapter XLIV, in Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis:
- And in þat ilond is sortilege and wicchecraft [translating superstitiones, atque præstigia] i-vsed. For wommen þere selliþ schipmen wynde, as it were i-closed vnder þre knottes of þrede, so þat þe more wynd he wol haue, he wil vnknette þe mo knottes.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
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- spell, a particular instance of witchcraft
- enchantment; the result of witchcraft
Descendants
- English: witchcraft
References
- “wicche-craft, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-11.