Note 2 — Chapter IV · SOUTH SLAVONIAN AND OTHER GYPSY WITCH-LORE.—THE WORDS FOR A WITCH—VILAS AND THE SPIRITS OF EARTH AND AIR—WITCHES, EGG-SHELLS, AND EGG-LORE—EGG PROVERBS—OVA DE CRUCIBUS.
Reading edition
“Witch. Mediæval English wicche, both masculine and feminine, a wizard, a witch. Anglo-Saxon wicca, masculine, wicce, feminine. Wicca is a corruption of wítga, commonly used as a short form of witega, a prophet, seer, magician, or sorcerer. Anglo-Saxon witan, to see, allied to wítan, to know. Similarly Icelandic vitki, a wizard, is from vita, to know. Wizard, Norman-French wischard, the original Old French being guiscart, sagacious. Icelandic, vizkr, clever or knowing, … with French suffix ard as German hart, hard, strong” (Skeat, “Etymol. Dictionary”). That is wiz-ard, very wise. Wit and wisdom here are near allied to witchcraft, and thin partitions do the bounds divide. ↑