Warlock
Warlocks are the most OP class in WoW, among historic Christian traditions, said to be the male equivalent of witches (usually in the pejorative sense of Europe's Middle Ages), and were said to ride pitchforks instead of broomsticks which normally witches would ride. In traditional Scottish witchcraft, "warlock" was and is simply the term used for a wizard, or male witch.[1] A synonym is sorcerer.[2]
Etymology
The commonly accepted etymology derives warlock from the Old English wǣrloga meaning deceiver, or "oathbreaker".[3] A derivation from the Old Norse varð-lokkur, "caller of spirits" has also been suggested,[4] however the Oxford English Dictionary considers this etymology inadmissible.[5]
The Oxford English Dictionary also provides the following meanings of the word: Warlock v1 Obs. (ex. dial.) rare, also warloke: To secure (a horse) as with a fetterlock. Warlock v2: To bar against hostile invasion.[6]
Modern witchcraft
Although some modern practitioners of witchcraft identify themselves as "warlocks", many avoid this term and/or find it offensive. Wiccans in particular consider it to be a pejorative term, meaning "oath-breaker".[7] Wiccans use the term "warlock" to mean one who has been banished from a coven, either for revealing secrets, or for breaking coven laws.[8] However, in many forms of Traditional Satanism, with its strong association to histrionics and counter-cultural "shock value,"[9] the term "warlock" is embraced and employed as the primary title for a male member of the coven.
In popular culture
Warlocks appear in a number of fantasy and science fiction novels, movies and games. They may be portrayed as humans who have attained magical or mystical powers, often evil, such as in the fantasy television series Charmed, in which warlocks are the evil counterparts to good witches. Elsewhere, the distinction between 'warlock' and 'witch' may be purely one of gender, such as in the television series Bewitched and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Alternatively, warlocks may be portrayed as a separate species or alien race, such as in the comic book series Nemesis the Warlock. Occasionally the term is used to refer to technological wizardry rather than magic, such as in Christopher Stasheff's Warlock of Gramarye series of novels, or in the film Live Free or Die Hard, where 'W4rl0ck' is a computer hacker.
See also
References
- ^ McNeill, F. Marian, The Silver Bough: A Four Volume Study of the National and Local Festivals of Scotland, Glasgow: William Maclellan,1957, vol 1; also Chambers, Robert, Domestic Annals of Scotland, Edinburgh: 1861, and Sinclair, George, Satan's Invisible World Discovered, Edinburgh, 1871
- ^ Huson, Paul, Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens, New York, G.P.Putnams, 1970, 2006, ISBN 0-595-42006-0
- ^ Old English wǽr-loʒa weak masculine (="traitor, enemy, devil, etc.") = Old Saxon wâr-logo weak masculine (=? "deceiver") (once, Hêliand 3817, in plural wârlogon applied to the Pharisees). The first element is probably Old English wǽr strong feminine (="covenant") = Old High German wâra (="truth"), Old Norse várar strong feminine plural ("solemn promise, vow") (cf. Vǽringi = "confederate, Varangian"); cf. Old Slavic. věra ("faith). This is a derivative from the adjective represented by Old English wǽr ("true") (once, Genesis 681; ? a. Old Saxon.) = Old Saxon, Old High German wâr ("true"): - Old Teutonic
- wǣro-: - Pre-Teutonic
- wāro- = Latin vērus. The second element (an agent-n. related to Old English léoʒan ("to lie belie, deny") occurs also in the similar comps. áþ-loʒa, tréow-loʒa (Old Saxon treulogo), wed-loʒa (Middle English wedlowe), ("an oath-breaker"), etc. - Oxford English Dictionary, (online) 2nd Edition (1989)
- ^ "WARLOCK" (TXT). Ladyoftheearth.com. Retrieved 2006-04-30.
- ^ "ON. varðlokkur wk. fem. pl. ... incantation, suggested already in Johnson, is too rare (? occurring once), with regard to the late appearance of the -k forms, to be considered." — Oxford English Dictionary, (online) 2nd Edition (1989)
- ^ The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary", volume II, Oxford University Press, p.3688
- ^ Walker, Wren (1999). Witch/Wiccan FAQ from The Witches' Voice. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft, London: Aquarian Press, 1959
- ^ Kocsis, Richard N. (2007). Serial Murder and the Psychology of Violent Crimes. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press. ISBN 1-58829-685-7.