出典:Wiktionary
出典:『Wiktionary』 (2026/04/25 20:15 UTC 版)
From Proto-West Germanic *wikkō (“necromancer, sorcerer”).
Further etymology uncertain; apparently from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“separate, divide”), conjectured to be because of early Germanic divinatory practices to do with casting lots (cleromancy).
The exact etymology is problematic. R. Lühr (Expressivität und Lautgesetz im Germanischen, Heidelberg (1988), p. 354) connects wigol "prophetic, mantic", wīglian "to practice divination" (Middle Low German wichelen (“bewitch”) and suggests Proto-Germanic *wigōn, via Kluge's law becoming *wikkōn. The basic form would then be the feminine, wicce /ˈwɪt͡ʃe/, from *wikkæ, from *wikkōn with palatalization due to the preceding i and the following *æ, from *ōn. The palatal -cc- /t͡ʃ/ in wicca would then be analogous to the feminine.
An alternative possibility is to derive the palatal /t͡ʃ/ directly from the verb wiccian, from *wikkija (OED, s.v. witch). Lühr conversely favours derivation of this verb from the noun.
wiċċa m
Weak: