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You asked about the introduction of the word in history, specifically the English witch, Dutch heks, and bruja (Spanish; “bruge” appears to be a reference to this or the closely related Portuguese bruxa). These terms did not all appear at the same time or from the same root.
English: “Witch” (from Old English wicce / wicca)
- The word is Germanic and first appears in written English in the late 9th century.
- Earliest clear attestation: the Laws of King Alfred the Great (c. 890 AD), in the section translating Exodus 22:18 (“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”). The Old English text uses wiccan.
- It existed in two gendered forms in Old English:
- Wicce = female practitioner of magic/sorcery
- Wicca = male practitioner
- Original meaning was essentially “one who practices magic” or “sorceress/sorcerer.” It was not automatically evil; these were often local wise women or cunning folk who healed, divined, or performed protective charms.
- The modern spelling “witch” (with the “t”) only becomes standard in the 16th century.
- The strong association with devil-worship, flying to sabbaths, and malevolence was heavily promoted from the mid-15th century onward, especially after the Malleus Maleficarum (1486) and during the European witch hunts (roughly 1450–1750).
Etymology is still debated among linguists, but leading theories link it to Proto-Germanic wikkōn (“to practice sorcery”) or to roots meaning “to bend/twist” or “to be awake/strong” (possibly a “wakeful one” who deals with spirits or the dead). The popular modern claim that it originally just meant “wise woman” is a romantic later interpretation, though not entirely baseless in spirit.
Dutch: “Heks”
- Comes from Middle Dutch hexe (15th century), borrowed from Middle High German hecse.
- Ultimate root: Proto-Germanic hagatusjō (via Old High German hagazussa).
- This is a different Germanic lineage from English “witch.” One common interpretation is “hedge rider” or “one who sits/rides the hedge” — i.e., someone who operates at the boundary between the human world and the spirit world.
- The term was already in use during the period of witch trials in the Low Countries (which continued into the 17th century).
- In modern Dutch, heks is the standard word for witch (almost always female in common usage).
Spanish “Bruja” / Portuguese “Bruxa”
- These are not from the same root as the Germanic words.
- Etymology is uncertain but most plausible theories point to pre-Roman Iberian or Celtic origins.
- Likely connected to Proto-Celtic brixtā (“spell, magic, charm”) — compare Old Irish bricht (“charm, incantation”).
- The word appears in medieval and early modern Iberian Romance languages (earlier forms often spelled bruxa or bruixa in Catalan/Occitan cognates).
- By the early 17th century it is well attested in Spanish dictionaries (e.g., Covarrubias 1611), already carrying the sense of a woman who practices harmful or diabolical magic.
- In colonial Latin America the term bruja/bruxa absorbed additional layers from Indigenous and African magical traditions.
Summary Timeline of the Concept vs. the Word
| Period | Development | Term Status |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-800s | Widespread folk magic practitioners across Europe (often respected or feared locally) | No “witch” word yet |
| c. 890 | First written “wiccan” in English law | English term born |
| 10th–14th c. | Church increasingly condemns magic as demonic; “flying with Diana” beliefs appear (but often called illusion) | Terms spread in local languages |
| 1486–1750 | Malleus Maleficarum + mass witch hunts; flying broomstick sabbath stereotype solidifies | Negative “witch” meaning dominant |
| 19th–20th c. | Romantic revival + gothic art → iconic image of witches silhouetted against the full moon | Modern visual trope |
Witchcraft was a popular occupation in Atlantis and Atlantean witches carried their techniques with them as they moved from their country; segments of their know-how survived and were practiced in widely separated areas contiguous to the Atlantic Ocean. Prehistoric traditions of witchcraft in Spain, France, Britain, and the Canary Islands on one side of the ocean, and in the West Indies and Mexico on the other, are remarkably similar.
Witchcraft and many other customs that involve magic are so alike wherever they occur that they must have originated in one place.
No region in western Europe had an advanced culture sufficiently ancient to serve as the focal point.
Atlantis is the only possibility. In western Europe, the Canary Islands, the West Indies, and Mexico, the women were often virgins who wore long black skirts and tall peaked hats, flew through the air on broomsticks, smeared themselves with smelly ointment to facilitate their trip, and danced vigorously, often twirling around male figures. Witches were partial to crossroads.
Owls were their favorite pets. They were skilled with herbs and quite capable of treating ailments and curing diseases. Some could change themselves into the form of another being, and others were able to cast powerful spells.
Atlantis: Insights from a lost civilization
