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Origin and history of wych

wych

see witch hazel.

Entries linking to wych

witch hazel(n.)

name of a small, elm-like tree, 1540s, probably from hazel (n.)+ wiche, wych "elm," from Old English wice, which was "Applied generally or vaguely to various trees having pliant branches" [OED, 1989] and is from wican "to bend" (from PIE root *weik- (2) "to bend, to wind").

The broad leaves resemble those of the hazel. The North American bush, from which a soothing lotion is made, was so called by 1760s. In this word and witch-elm the archaic spelling wych "is much affected in modern use" [Century Dictionary].

This also is the source of the U.S. verb witch "dowse for water" (by 1963).

*weik-(2)

also *weig-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to bend, to wind."

It might form all or part of: vetch; vicar; vicarious; vice- "deputy, assistant, substitute;" viceregent; vice versa; vicissitude; weak; weakfish; week; wicker; wicket; witch hazel; wych.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit visti "changing, changeable;" Old English wac "weak, pliant, soft," wician "to give way, yield," wice "wych elm," Old Norse vikja "to bend, turn," Swedish viker "willow twig, wand," German wechsel "change."

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