
With the proliferation of the book, musical, and movie Wicked, I thought it would be fun to look at the history of the word. (Okay, so in fact, I saw a fun article on it on www.EtymOnline.com and that 100% inspired me to borrow the topic, LOL. Click the link to read their very thorough explanation! This is a muuuuuuch shorter version.)
Did you know that wicked witch is actually redundant? They are, in fact, different modern spellings of the SAME Old English word. In Old English, we had the word wicca, the feminine version of which was wicce, which was pronounced like “witch.” Both spellings meant “witch,” and there was also the adjective wick to describe them, meaning “bad, evil, false.”
So why that -ed ending? That’s one of the things that make etymologists smile…or shake their head. The -ed ending implies a past tense verb, but in fact there never was a verb. Wicked, however, developed as if there had been that action word.
The words wicked and witch have of course been separated for many hundreds of years at this point, so it’s reasonable for modern speakers to put them together again for emphasis and to separate them from “good” witches like we see in The Wizard of Oz. Of course, theologians insist that “good witch” is an oxymoron. 😉 But in the realm of fiction, we can appreciate the choice between using power (of any source) for good versus evil.
Have you read or watched Wicked? I confess I’ve yet to see any of the productions, either film or stage. I have the book but haven’t yet read it…I’ve heard, er, conflicting reports on it, LOL.

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I’ve seen the stage version of Wicked, and it was enjoyable, though I wouldn’t count it among my favorite musicals, and I don’t feel a need to see the movie. What I’ve heard about the book has given me no desire whatsoever to read it.
Amazing how our world of language works. It’s so fun and fascinating! I’ve heard the book and movie Wicked are nothing alike, but I wouldn’t know on a personal level. It’s not on my radar to dive into. I have family members who got into witchcraft and thus, turned away from God and the faith. My family is torn apart due to opposing Spiritual forces. My five-year-old niece is being taught it’s okay to play with witches and demons and sing chants that are designed to summon evil, demonic creatures from Hades. The poor girl suffers from nightmares. Thus, I have to draw a line against entertainment that could be construed as supporting or condoning witchcraft. My niece adores me and sees me as someone she can trust and rely on. I have to consider the example I’m setting. It’s a hard choice, given it involves saying “no” to a whole host of princess movies and entertainment. Ugh.