The Etymology of Warlock:
Albeit we covered this term in class and derived its origins to be oath breaker. What that relevance is remains an issue of point of view long since lost to history. From the perspective of a pagan, a warlock is a perjorative term given to "us" by the "christian" majority because those practitioners did not sign on or honor the new religion of christ. However taking a step back Warlock in the same sense without the perception of religious baggage could mean anyone who welches on a debt, promise or oath.
For shits and giggles I decided to google the word to see what was out there. Check out the following entries.
Wikkipedia:
Warlocks are, 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]
Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 Modern witchcraft
3 In popular culture
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
//
[edit] Etymology
The commonly accepted etymology derives warlock from the Old English wǣrloga meaning "oathbreaker" or "deceiver".[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]
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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. In the extremely popular online game World of Warcraft, a Warlock is a playable class with multiple spells and abilities oriented around the "damage over time" concept and the summoning and manipulation of demons.
In the J.K Rowling book the Tales of Beedle the Bard in the short story "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" in the footnotes it explains, the term is used to denote wizards experienced in martial magic or who have achieved a level of magical distinction.
WOWWikki
Warlocks are masters of the dark arts, devoted to furthering their understanding and use of Shadow and Fire based magics, along with the summoning of demons, who exist within the Twisting Nether. They initially appeared on Azeroth during the First War, when Gul'dan, the first of their kind among the invading orc clans of Draenor, led the Horde across the dimensional gulf through the Dark Portal while in servitude to the Burning Legion.WRPG 95 WoWRPG 62-63 Warlocks are used as damage dealers, but can store the target´s soul to resurrect him or heal himself by draining enemy's life. The warlock can summon an Imp without a Soul Shard. However, other demons require a soul shard or other reagents to be summoned.
Philosophy
"Warlocks... we don't need to eat, we don't need to drink, we don't even need to breathe. We can subsist entirely on the suffering of our enemies." - A Warlock's philosophy.
History
Warlock - From the Old English wærloga; "oath-breaker" or "deceiver".
The eredar of the Burning Legion are credited as the original warlocks and wielders of dark magics, corrupted from the powerful and magically attuned eredar of Argus.
In most societies, the warlocks now live on the fringe of civilization, tolerated but not trusted. Human warlocks meet in secret in the basement of a bar in Stormwind. Thrall has expressed discomfort with the warlocks but understands the necessities in using them. Conventional spell casters often see warlock magic as a vain attempt at gaining power.
Although many that consort with demons fall to darkness, the warlocks of the Horde and the Alliance advocate bending demonic forces to one's will without succumbing to complete corruption. These spell casters can summon demons to serve them, and they can also cast many painful spells that slowly eat at the life of their enemies. Warlocks are usually physically weak compared to other classes, but they compensate for this deficiency with their potent array of spells and their demonic minions. Compared to other spell casters, warlocks are among the strongest and often depend on the sacrifice of their own blood to fuel their magical powers.
In the world of Azeroth, there are many races who presently wield the dark power of the Nether. Playable ones include: humans, gnomes, orcs, Forsaken, and blood elves. Each has its own history in the dark demon arts.
It is interesting that the current definition of warlock implies a male practitioner who exists to cause suffering to others by the use of magic. The original significance of the word has been lost to most of modern man. Satanists are using the word as an emblem of power because it strikes fear in the hearts of the ignorant. Since they see themselves as powerful sorcerers, the word with its perceptions lends them to take more power from people who don't know any better.
Perhaps rather than educating people about the origins of the word, we could wear the mantle of Warlock proudly. An example of this is the homosexual community calling themselves "Queer". Since that adoption to even use the word queer in its original context is almost lost to history itself. Equally so is the pink triangle, once an identifier of gay men in Hitler's Germany, its significance is all but lost and is only known among the population at large as the symbol of gay pride.
Words, and especially the meaning of words change with time, and as the gay rights movement has shown a disparaging word can be converted into a word of power. Perhaps then it is time for male witchcraft practitioners to label themselves as a Warlock. It would lessen the power of those who would use the word perjoratively. It could cause others to fear and or respect us because of the associations with the word in modern culture (esp. WOW players). Finally it may finally be something that male witches can call themselves proudly, and those who do not like us using the word - well -Zot!
Albeit we covered this term in class and derived its origins to be oath breaker. What that relevance is remains an issue of point of view long since lost to history. From the perspective of a pagan, a warlock is a perjorative term given to "us" by the "christian" majority because those practitioners did not sign on or honor the new religion of christ. However taking a step back Warlock in the same sense without the perception of religious baggage could mean anyone who welches on a debt, promise or oath.
For shits and giggles I decided to google the word to see what was out there. Check out the following entries.
Wikkipedia:
Warlocks are, 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]
Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 Modern witchcraft
3 In popular culture
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
//
[edit] Etymology
The commonly accepted etymology derives warlock from the Old English wǣrloga meaning "oathbreaker" or "deceiver".[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]
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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. In the extremely popular online game World of Warcraft, a Warlock is a playable class with multiple spells and abilities oriented around the "damage over time" concept and the summoning and manipulation of demons.
In the J.K Rowling book the Tales of Beedle the Bard in the short story "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" in the footnotes it explains, the term is used to denote wizards experienced in martial magic or who have achieved a level of magical distinction.
WOWWikki
Warlocks are masters of the dark arts, devoted to furthering their understanding and use of Shadow and Fire based magics, along with the summoning of demons, who exist within the Twisting Nether. They initially appeared on Azeroth during the First War, when Gul'dan, the first of their kind among the invading orc clans of Draenor, led the Horde across the dimensional gulf through the Dark Portal while in servitude to the Burning Legion.WRPG 95 WoWRPG 62-63 Warlocks are used as damage dealers, but can store the target´s soul to resurrect him or heal himself by draining enemy's life. The warlock can summon an Imp without a Soul Shard. However, other demons require a soul shard or other reagents to be summoned.
Philosophy
"Warlocks... we don't need to eat, we don't need to drink, we don't even need to breathe. We can subsist entirely on the suffering of our enemies." - A Warlock's philosophy.
History
Warlock - From the Old English wærloga; "oath-breaker" or "deceiver".
The eredar of the Burning Legion are credited as the original warlocks and wielders of dark magics, corrupted from the powerful and magically attuned eredar of Argus.
In most societies, the warlocks now live on the fringe of civilization, tolerated but not trusted. Human warlocks meet in secret in the basement of a bar in Stormwind. Thrall has expressed discomfort with the warlocks but understands the necessities in using them. Conventional spell casters often see warlock magic as a vain attempt at gaining power.
Although many that consort with demons fall to darkness, the warlocks of the Horde and the Alliance advocate bending demonic forces to one's will without succumbing to complete corruption. These spell casters can summon demons to serve them, and they can also cast many painful spells that slowly eat at the life of their enemies. Warlocks are usually physically weak compared to other classes, but they compensate for this deficiency with their potent array of spells and their demonic minions. Compared to other spell casters, warlocks are among the strongest and often depend on the sacrifice of their own blood to fuel their magical powers.
In the world of Azeroth, there are many races who presently wield the dark power of the Nether. Playable ones include: humans, gnomes, orcs, Forsaken, and blood elves. Each has its own history in the dark demon arts.
It is interesting that the current definition of warlock implies a male practitioner who exists to cause suffering to others by the use of magic. The original significance of the word has been lost to most of modern man. Satanists are using the word as an emblem of power because it strikes fear in the hearts of the ignorant. Since they see themselves as powerful sorcerers, the word with its perceptions lends them to take more power from people who don't know any better.
Perhaps rather than educating people about the origins of the word, we could wear the mantle of Warlock proudly. An example of this is the homosexual community calling themselves "Queer". Since that adoption to even use the word queer in its original context is almost lost to history itself. Equally so is the pink triangle, once an identifier of gay men in Hitler's Germany, its significance is all but lost and is only known among the population at large as the symbol of gay pride.
Words, and especially the meaning of words change with time, and as the gay rights movement has shown a disparaging word can be converted into a word of power. Perhaps then it is time for male witchcraft practitioners to label themselves as a Warlock. It would lessen the power of those who would use the word perjoratively. It could cause others to fear and or respect us because of the associations with the word in modern culture (esp. WOW players). Finally it may finally be something that male witches can call themselves proudly, and those who do not like us using the word - well -Zot!
posted by the arboral at 1:12 PM
1 Comments:
I love this passage. It is teh brilliant:
It is interesting that the current definition of warlock implies a male practitioner who exists to cause suffering to others by the use of magic. The original significance of the word has been lost to most of modern man. Satanists are using the word as an emblem of power because it strikes fear in the hearts of the ignorant. Since they see themselves as powerful sorcerers, the word with its perceptions lends them to take more power from people who don't know any better.
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