History of Terms in Witchcraft
Hello, and welcome to our compendium of witchcraft terms!
This started as a project for one of Aubrey's Masters classes at ASU, the History of the English Language.
The amount of words that are native to English has dwindled since there was so much contact between the Anglo-Saxons and the rest of the world. My personal area of interest is in witchcraft and religion. I saw that a previous student had created a presentation on words and idioms used in witchcraft. I really liked this idea, and spoke with Jessi about hosting this information here on our website. She was very excited to have this here. After the assignment is submitted, I will continue to add to this compendium with more information.
I hypothesized that more than 50% of words associated with witchcraft and religion are borrowed words. I think that this is the case since most practiced religions among the masses evolved from Europe and the Middle East.
History of Terms in Witchcraft
Potpourri
Potpourri is a collection of fragrant herbs and flowers. It can be either left out dry or put into a simmer pot to allow the scent to flow through the...
Potpourri
Potpourri is a collection of fragrant herbs and flowers. It can be either left out dry or put into a simmer pot to allow the scent to flow through the...
Tarot
Tarot is a category of cards used for divination and fortune telling. The word tarot is a borrowing from French during the late 1500s. The French word is spelled the same...
Tarot
Tarot is a category of cards used for divination and fortune telling. The word tarot is a borrowing from French during the late 1500s. The French word is spelled the same...
Energy
Energy is a general concept of strength, force, or ability to create an effect and can be either physical or mental. The word energy is borrowed and comes from multiple languages....
Energy
Energy is a general concept of strength, force, or ability to create an effect and can be either physical or mental. The word energy is borrowed and comes from multiple languages....
Cleanse
To cleanse is to clean. It is usually referred to for cleaning energy instead of physical cleaning. The word cleanse is inherited from Germanic. Germanic predates Old English and is a...
Cleanse
To cleanse is to clean. It is usually referred to for cleaning energy instead of physical cleaning. The word cleanse is inherited from Germanic. Germanic predates Old English and is a...
Quartz
Quartz is an easily obtained mineral that is described to be the most powerful healing and energy amplifier. The word quartz is a borrowing from German as quarz. This was borrowed into...
Quartz
Quartz is an easily obtained mineral that is described to be the most powerful healing and energy amplifier. The word quartz is a borrowing from German as quarz. This was borrowed into...
The Moon
The moon is a small planetary object that orbits the Earth. The word moon is a word inherited from Germanic, the language that predated Old English. It is a branch of the reconstructed...
The Moon
The moon is a small planetary object that orbits the Earth. The word moon is a word inherited from Germanic, the language that predated Old English. It is a branch of the reconstructed...
Conclusion
Many of the words listed here, as of August 6th, 2024, are borrowed from other languages. They are mostly borrowed from French and Latin. There are other words that were inherited from Germanic and are very closely related to Latin words.
I was anticipating more terms to have been borrowed than what I found resulting in my original hypothesis as being incorrect. I am also surprised that there is little influence beyond French and Latin. I am looking forward to continuing to research more terms to share and add to the site. I hope that you find this as interesting and helpful as I do.