[gothic-l] Gothic word for wicca, and wicce

[M. Carver]

Hails!

Aaron Holt wrote:

>
> I also mostly agree with Grimm's reconstructed *Walakusjo, however I think
> it may have been more like **Walakiusjo  since the Gothic word for "to
> choose" is Kiusan with an I before the u (note that this is an infinitive so
> the suffix is different)

The word seems to use the third part of the ablaut gradation here (iu - au - u), which is why Grimm postulated
*walakusjo, similar to the way runjo "course" is related to rinnan "to run", or numja "taker" to niman "to take", or
for that matter (using a s2 verb for example) drus to driusan. It is clear that the ON valkyrja also uses the third
part of the gradation (with i-mutation), and not the first part, which would have resulted in something like ON
*valky'rja (with lengthened y).

>
>  as for a cognate for Wicca/Wicce Here is what Calvert Watkins says on the
> matter.
> -Wicca (masc.) Wicce (fem.)  along with wicked (I was wrong about there
> being no ModEng. cognate) are derived from the IE root, *weg- meaning to be
> strong or lively, from there we have the above mentioned OE forms, meaning
> "wizard" and then a reconstructed PrGmc *wikkjaz, "necromancer" ("one who
> wakes the dead").-
> so to find a Gothic equivalent, lets do a little reconstruction of our own,
> (the word hasn't survived to my knowledge in any extant Gothic text) we know
> that from Proto-Germanic times to Gothic times there were a few important
> shifts which would effect our word.
> First there was the word stress rule which shifted stress to the initial
> syllable in most of the daughter languages of Proto-Germanic.  This affected
> the suffix in that it was not pronounced as definitely, which turns our word
> into an "East Germanic" sounding *wikkjz. then there was the "z-deletion"
> rule which devoiced or completely deleted (depending on environment) the
> sound z. Many Gothic forms preserve the Proto-Germanic suffix -az as -s (-az
> > -z > -s) so its safe to say that the form is now *wikkjs, but the last
> change that we have to consider is the Gothic reflex of Sievers law which
> affects Proto-Germanic -ja class nouns (note *wikk-jaz.  The -ja is a
> subclass of the -a class) by placing an i before the j. Gothic has a reflex
> of this rule turning the Proto-Germanic -j- into an -i- before the -s
> since -js is usually an illegal combination in the word final position.  So
> now we have a hypothetical Gothic *Wikkis, whose meaning we can, never be
> too sure of apart from a general feeling of wizardry.
> I hope my nonsense is of some help to someone
>
> -Aaron

I wonder about the correctness of PGmc *wikkjaz "necromancer" [< waker] (for also cf. ON vitki 'wizard', vitka
'bewitch' - are these analogical emendations?). Watkins only says Germanic, not PGmc, though it should be the latter
because of the absence of Sievers. Z-dele. only affects -s-az or -z-az, otherwise there is Z-devoi. It seems Go.
*wikkis should require a LGmc *wikkes. Allow me to suggest Gmc. *wikkjaz > *wikkijaz > EG *wikkijz + Sievers reflex
> Go. *wikkeis /wikki|s/ (not *wikkjis, because of the long foot stem). Want to attempt the feminine?

---
C. Watkins says:
"weg- To be strong, be lively. Oldest form *wegh-, becoming *weg- in centum languages. Derivatives include watch,
vigilante, reveille, and velocity.
    1. Suffixed o-grade form *wog--. wake1, from Old English wacan, to wake up, arise, and wacian, to be awake, from
Germanic *wakn. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *wog-no-. waken, from Old English wæcnan, wæcnian, to awake, from Germanic
*waknan. 3. watch, from Old English wæccan, to be awake, from Germanic *wakjan. 4. Suffixed form *weg-yo-. Wicca,
wicked, witch; bewitch, from Old English wicca,
                    sorcerer, wizard (feminine wicce, witch), from Germanic *wikkjaz, necromancer (< “one who wakes
the dead”)."
---

-Matthew


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