Old English

Noun

wiċċecræft m

1. the practice of witches, witchcraft, necromancy
   • c. 930, Æthelstan, Æt Greatanleage, II As.

     Be wiccecræftum. Ond we cwædon be þam wiccecræftum ⁊ be liblacum ⁊ be morðdædum, gif mon þær acweald wære, ⁊ he his ætsacan ne mihte, þæt he beo his feores scyldig.

   • 996–7, Ælfric of Eynsham, Lives of the Saints, 7.209,

     Seo þe ðus awent þurh wiccecræft manna mod.

   • c. 1021,, Wulfstan of York, Winchester Code of Cnut, article 5.1

     Hæðenscipe byð þæt man deofolgyld [idola] weorðige, þæt is þæt man weorðige hæðene godas ⁊ sunnan oððe monan, fyr oððe flod, wæterwyllas oððe stanas oððe æniges cynnes wudutreowa, oððon wiccecræft lufige oððon morðweorc gefremme on ænige wisan, oððon on blote oððon fyrhte, oððon swylcra gedwimera ænig þingc dreoge.

     It is heathen practice if one worships idols, namely if one worships heathen gods and the sun or the moon, fire or flood, wells or stones or any kind of forest trees, or if one practises witchcraft or encompasses death by any means, either by sacrifice or divination, or takes any part in such delusions.

   • c. 1100, Aldhelm Glosses, 1.4055,

     necromantia, i.e. demonum invocatio: ȝaldre, wiccecræfte.

Descendants

• English: witchcraft