witchcraft

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Old English wiċċecræft, compound of wiċċe and cræft (“craft”).

Noun

witchcraft (usually uncountable; plural witchcrafts)

1. The practice of witches; magic, sorcery or the use supernatural powers to influence or predict events.
   • 1387, John Trevisa (transl.), Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis chapter XLIV [1]:

     And in þat ilond is sortilege and wicchecraft i-vsed. For wommen þere selliþ schipmen wynde, as it were i-closed vnder þre knottes of þrede, so þat þe more wynd he wol haue, he wil vnknette þe mo knottes.

     In illa insula vigent sortilegia, superstitiones, atque præstigia; nam mulieres ibidem navigaturis ventum vendunt, quasi sub tribus fili nodis inclusum; ita ut, sicut plus de vento habere voluerint, plures nodos evolvant. (Ranulf Higden c. 1342, Polychronicon)

Translations

the practice of witches

• Asturian: bruxería (ast) f
• Bengali: ডাকিনীবিদ্যা (bn)
• Catalan: bruixeria
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巫術 (cmn), 巫术 (cmn) (wūshù)

• Czech: čarodějnictví (cs) n
• Danish: hekseri (da) n, heksekunst (da) c, trolddom (da) c
• Dutch: hekserij (nl) f
• Estonian: nõidus
• Ewe: dzosasa
• Finnish: noituus (fi)
• French: sorcellerie (fr) f
• German: Hexerei (de) f
• Italian: stregoneria (it)

• Japanese: 魔法 (ja) (mahō), 魔術 (ja) (majutsu), 妖術 (ja) (yōjutsu)
• Latin: artes magicarum (la), artes magicae (la) f, artes magae (la), veneficium (la) n, fascinum (la), maleficium (la)
• Malayalam: മന്ത്രവാദം (ml)
• Maori: whaiwaiā (mi), mākutu (mi), taurarua (mi)
• Meru: urogi
• Norwegian: hekseri (no) n, heksekunst (no) m
• Polish: czary (pl)
• Portuguese: bruxaria (pt)
• Russian: колдовство (ru) (koldovstvó)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: врачање (sh) n, бајање (sh) n

  Roman: vračanje (sh) n, bajanje (sh) n

• Spanish: brujería (es) f
• Swahili: uganga (sw), urogi (sw), ndumba (sw)
• Thai: มด (th)

See also

• spellcraft
• gypsycraft