Newsgroups: alt.pagan Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!news2.new-york.net!pc234.icu.com!user From: ibonewits@icu.com (Isaac Bonewits) Subject: Re: Pre-Gardnerian Wicca. X-Nntp-Posting-User: (Unauthenticated) Message-ID: References: <4imofv$13eg@troy.la.locus.com> <4jos44$2jv@nuacht.iol.ie> <4jtsk1$mbo@reader2.ix.netcom.com> X-Trace: 828782760/10280 X-Nntp-Posting-Host: pc234.icu.com Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 09:27:31 GMT Lines: 50 In article <4jtsk1$mbo@reader2.ix.netcom.com>, guyote@ix.netcom.com(Chloe Byer) wrote: > In <4jos44$2jv@nuacht.iol.ie> pcassidy@iol.ie (Peter Cassidy) writes: > > > >Ian Paul Foot (ipfoot@ic.ac.uk) wrote: > >: In article <4j09ba$9s2@lepton.startext.net> "James D. Logan" > writes: > >: > >: > > >: > You are quite correct the word wicca is ancient Gaelig and means > wise. > >: > >: Really? So how come there's no 'w' in ancient Gaelig? > > > >Nor the double- 'c' !! > > > >Sla/n, > >-- > >Pete > > Pete, > > Could the word Wicca have been spelled differently than the way > it is spelled here, maybe something like "mhiche" ? I would think you > in Ireland would have better resourses to verify that wouldn't you? "Wicce" (feminine) and "wicca" (masculine) is Anglo Saxon, not Celtic. It meant "bender," "sorcerer," "changer," with a neutral-to-negative coloration, *not* "wise." The Anglo Saxon word for "wise" was "wys" or "wyz", as in "wizard," meaning "wise one." Oh, and "wiccan" was originally the plural, not the adjectival form. The confusion came about because medieval witchhunters, having forgotten that to the Paleopagans a witch could be of either gender, need a word for a male witch, and chose "wizard." Gardner & friends perpetuated the error because it fit with the image they were creating. pedantically yours, Isaac Bonewits ********************************************************** * Isaac Bonewits * * Snail: Box 1021, Nyack, NY, 10960 * * Voice messages via 1-800-DRUIDRY "I speak for myself!" * ********************************************************** * Because of the high volume of e-mail I receive, please * * leave *some* of the previous message in your reply, to * * help me remember what the original topic was. Thanks! * **********************************************************