Witch vs Wicca

I have observed with humor the online sources which state that the word "wicca" is a new term which does not apply to their "older" type of witchcraft. Therefore they are witches and not wiccans.

They may very well be witches that are not wiccans. (That's a topic for another article!) However it is not due to the age of the word "wicca".

The word wicca is the Old English spelling of witch. It's pronounced "witcha", just like the Middle English wytche or witche. Wicca is male and wicce is female.

Witch is the Modern English spelling for witche or wytche, which in turn is the Middle English spelling of the Old English wicca. The Old English (up to the year 1150 CE) for witchcraft is wiccecraeft.

So etymologically and historically, "witch" and "wicca" are the same word, separated by a couple of hundred years of linguistic evolution. Note that "wicca" is the older form, and "witch" is the modern version. We were "wicca" way before we were "witches".

Wicca/wicce did not mean wise man or woman as some sources indicate. That word was witga. Wicca/wicce comes from the same root that makes the verb "wiccian" - to work magic, witchcraft.

Wulfstan uses the word wicca in 1024 CE, and Alfred uses it in the 9th century:

Sume men synd swa ablende þæt hi bringaþ heora lac
to eorþfæstum stane and eac to treowum
and to wylspringum swa swa wiccan tæcaþ
and nellaþ understandan hu stuntlice hi doþ
oþþe hu se deada stan oþþe þæt dumbe treow
him mæge gehelpan oþþe hæle forgifan
þone hi sylfe ne astyriaþ of þære stowe næfre

(Translation into modern English:)

Some men are so blind that they bring their offering
to earth-fast stone and also to trees
and to wellsprings, as the witches teach,
and are unwilling to understand how stupidly they do
or how that dead stone or that dumb tree
might help them or give forth health
when they themselves are never able to stir from their place.

It is worth noting that many Witches do not conider Wicca to be the name of their religion. To say their religion is Wicca is like saying their religion is Witches or at least a male witch. The Wicca/Wica "are" the Witches.

It's also interesting to note that the correct Anglo Saxon plural of wicca is wiccan (witches). Witch/witches, wytche/wytchen, witche/witchen, and wicca/wiccan. Wiccans is a double plural - witcheses. I can be a wicca (witch) but I cannot be a wiccan (witches). I can however follow a wiccan path (witches path).

The counterculture movements of the 1960's and early 1970's in the US spawned a resurgence of interest in magick, the occult, alternative religions, etc. It was here that the new religion of Wicca was born. A new genre of "how to" wicca books appeared during the 1970's marketed primarily to solitary practitioners. In many instances the religion of Wicca borrowed from traditional European witchcraft but it borrowed from many other sources as well including ceremonial magick, Theosphy, eastern religions, new age, folk magic, shamanism, spiritualism, and more. Followers of Wicca became known as "Wiccans".

So there you have it. Wicca is an old word when applied in the historical, traditional context. It becomes a new word when applied to the religion of Wicca. The word "witch" is modern any way you look at it.

Humbly Submitted,
Alder
Wicca, Witche, Wytche, Witch, & Warlock!