Lil Bow Wow - What is a Warlock (7.0 Kb)
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If, as is posited in many Modern English dictionaries, the word "warlock" comes from a ME "warloghe" from OE "warloga", then the Modern form we should expect to see would be something like warlow, or werlow, since the tendency to move from 'gh' to 'w' is strong in English, and from 'gh' to 'ck' unknown. This is a trait it shares with Danish, and to provide an example, the Old Swedish "lagh" (meaning "law") is spelled in Modern Danish "lag" but pronounced "law" and in English, orthography and pronunciation are again in sync, ... More >>>Book can be downloaded.
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If, as is posited in many Modern English dictionaries, the word "warlock" comes from a ME "warloghe" from OE "warloga", then the Modern form we should expect to see would be something like warlow, or werlow, since the tendency to move from 'gh' to 'w' is strong in English, and from 'gh' to 'ck' unknown. This is a trait it shares with Danish, and to provide an example, the Old Swedish "lagh" (meaning "law") is spelled in Modern Danish "lag" but pronounced "law" and in English, orthography and pronunciation are again in sync, with the form "law." That "gh" in the Middle English form "warloghe" indicates a uvular fricative, that is a g that is pronounced as if one were gargling (as in Dutch "gulder"). That aspirated "g" is what, in English, is usually exchanged for a "w". Other examples in English: "through", "drought", etc. When one also considers the semantic shift, i.e., from "traitor, oathbreaker" to "sorcerer, conjurer", this all begins to introduce an element of doubt as to the actual etymology. Now, when I find corroberation for this hypothesis in dictionaries of Old Norse (Cleasby, Vigfusson and Craigie), I must, as a trained linguist, seek another more satisfying etymology. Here, then, is an alternative etymology for "warlock", one which I find both satisfying as a linguist and as a magic user.