{"id":99,"date":"2019-08-28T20:55:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T04:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sourcememory.net\/maxdashu\/?p=99"},"modified":"2019-08-30T19:46:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T03:46:49","slug":"names-of-the-witch-knowers-seers-prophetesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sourcememory.net\/maxdashu\/names-of-the-witch-knowers-seers-prophetesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Names of the Witch: Knowers, Seers, Prophetesses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Chapter III of Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1100<\/em>, \u00a92016 Max Dashu<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern \u201cWestern\u201d culture is saturated with demonized concepts of the witch, while lacking knowledge about authentic cultural practices in its own past. For this reason, many readers will be surprised to find that the oldest names for witch in European languages emphasize their spiritual gifts: powers of prophecy, divination, and incantation; of healing, herbal knowledge, shapeshifting and shamanic flight. Some cultures named witches after their magical staffs or masks or animal spirits. Others described them in language relating to Wisdom, Fate, and the Mysteries. With few exceptions, the old witch-titles honored these women as cultural authorities, in sharp contrast to later diabolist stereotypes that portrayed witches exclusively as demonic cursers and destroyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the Norse names used for such women was fj\u00f6lkynngi<\/em>, \u201cof manifold knowledge.\u201d1 The English cognate cunning woman <\/em>is based on the same ancient root of \u201cknowing,\u201d which also survives in the expression \u201cbeyond his ken.\u201d It is related to know <\/em>and gnostic <\/em>and Sanskrit j\u00f1ana<\/em>, \u201cwisdom.\u201d The Norse v\u00edsendakona<\/em>, literally \u201cwise woman,\u201d and v\u00edtka <\/em>(\u201csorceress\u201d) both derived from an archaic root of seeing and knowing. The Latin saga <\/em>(\u201cwisewoman\u201d) survived in French as sage-femme<\/em>.

The Russian healer-name \u0437\u043d\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440\u043a\u0430 (znakharka) means a \u201cwoman who knows.\u201d Crossing into the Uralic language family, the Finnish word tiet\u00e4j\u00e4 <\/em>is an ungendered term for \u201cknower.\u201d The more common Finnish word for \u201cwitch\u201d is noita <\/em>(again, not gendered) which is closely related to noaidi<\/em>, the S\u00e1mi title for a shaman, and to shaman-words in other Uralic languages.

Here’s more in the audio podcast:<\/p>\n\n\n\n