From Old English 'wicca' (male witch) — softened from literal sorcery to irresistible charm; the religion Wicca takes the same Old English source.
To cast a spell over someone; to enchant or fascinate irresistibly.
From Middle English 'biwicchen' (to enchant, to place under a spell), formed from the intensifying prefix 'bi-' (thoroughly, completely) + 'wicchen' (to bewitch, to practice sorcery), from Old English 'wiccian' (to practice witchcraft), from 'wicca' (masculine, a male sorcerer) and 'wicce' (feminine, a witch). The etymology of 'wicca' itself remains contested. One school connects it to Old English 'wigle' (divination, sorcery); another proposes a Proto-Germanic *wikkjaz (one who wakes the dead, a necromancer); a third points to PIE *weik- (to bend, to yield, to turn — hence one who bends or turns natural forces). If the PIE