Which came first

I believe the term wiccan is quite new, wiccae I believe is older. But witch definately has some history behind it.

Wiccan is a modern-day Neopagan religion based on a cave painting, with a limiting moral code attached to it. Witchcraft is a term applied to practice of magick.

Wiccae is a non-universal plural term for a Wiccan.

It is debated as to whether or not Wicca itself is new or old, but it is safe to say that most known Wiccan traditions are newly formed or adapted from older traditions. This is not to say that Wicca itself is entirely new.

I think it would be right to say that Witchcraft is more widely known about and has been in the public eye a lot longer. Since we don't know much about Wicca before the mid-twentyeth century, it is hard to say things like it being new or old firmly.

first of all, there has been wiccans for a veeeeery long time, secound, the word wiccan is acient and means witch, so i would say wiccan

Wicca, the religion as it is now known and currently called, is a practice that developed in the early half of the 20th century.

"The Wica" or "Wiccae" wikken, wiccian, etc. are terms born of old german, and possibly Icelandic Vikti or Vikta, which likely all influence the English witch. Interestingly, translating "Witch" into another latin-based language usually results in a word more akin to Sorcerer unless you are directly saying "Witch," in reference to a particular modern faith.

So to answer the root question, Wicca the religion came much later. Witch came first, and is perhaps born of the german/saxon word Wiccan(and various other versions of it).

As to arguements about the age of Wicca, the religion:

Wicca is less than a hundred years old, so...

Yes, even Christianity and Satanic practice predate "Wicca" and even paganism, as "paganism" is a modern adaptation of a word "pagan" created to describe polytheistic religion by Christians.

What we now practice is very new, as the practices generally deviate quite widely from the original methods of the ancients. These more modern methods of magical practice are more heavily influenced by and born within the occult study of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries (primarily), wherein the study of ancient and medieval magical practice and manuscripts become popularized among those who usually had a lot of money and time.

Yes, there are very deep roots that color what we now do, but when you get down to it we aren't living our lives or faiths like Druids, priests, and magi of ages old.

Now, I'm not saying what you practice is wrong, and I love the diversity of faith. I certainly think that stepping away from many of the old practices (like human and animal sacrifice) are steps in the right direction. I do however think it's important to know your history.

In the book bucklands complete guide to witchcraft i read that people practiced magic simpler version than we have today , and the priest/preists was called a wiccan meaning wise one

not sure wiccans have been around for a long time but have not been called wiccans until more recently not sure what they where called before but the name was changed when the religion was mad legal

When Gerald Gardner put together the belief system that is now called Wicca in the 1930's he called it simply Witchcraft and it's practitioners were known as being "of the Wica". It stayed known as Witchcraft until the 1960's when others started using the term "Wicca" to describe what they did in order to avoid the stigma attached to the word "Witch".

On the other hand, if you look at the origins of the term "Wicca" you will find it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon where "wicce" was a female Witch and "wicca" meant a male Witch. This is not of course to be understood as the Anglo-Saxons having practiced what we know today as Wicca because they most certainly did not. It's simply an explanation as to where the term came from that later was applied to Gardnerian Witchcraft and its off-shoots.

Great post, the startings of Wicca in detail was quite interesting.

Wicca I agree is not very old at all considering the fact that Christianity, being much old, is actually considered a newer religion (the older for is Judaism).

Wiccanism branched off of Paganism, which was a very general, and sometimes eclectic way of practice and belief. Paganism is very old. It includes those ancient practices of the early Indo-Europeans.

So if you look at it this way, as Wiccan beliefs came from Paganism, and practice is technically older than even some languages and ultimately the word witch, Wicca religion itself is very new, but the beliefs go much further back before the persecution of practitioners where the word witch originated.

I think this is another chicken or the egg question.

Vitki (Norse) was pronounced normally, but when Latin took over all V's were pronounced as W's. So when the norse would say Vitki to mean wise one/sorceror, the Latin speakers would way Witke (wit kee). Sounds a lot like Wiccae no? So truly, its all the same word. But within the 20th century a set religion was formed by Gardner that seperated "Wiccans" to mean a specific sect of "witchcraft". So you can be a witch without being a wiccan (of the new set religion), but to be a wiccan and a witch is redundant because its the same thing.

Above is my interpretation, but this is from en.academic.ru

Witch, n. [OE. wicche, AS. wicce, fem., wicca, masc.; perhaps the same word as AS. w [=i] tiga, w [=i] tga, a soothsayer (cf. (Wiseacre)); cf. Fries. wikke, a witch, LG. wikken to predict, Icel. vitki a wizard, vitka to bewitch.] [1913 Webster] 1. One who practices the black art, or magic; one regarded as possessing supernatural or magical power; a sorcerer or sorceress; --now applied chiefly or only to women, but formerly used of men as well. [1913 Webster]

witch Wicca Wic"ca (w [i^] k"k [.a] ), prop. n. [OE. wicche wizard, AS. wicce, fem., wicca, masc.; see also (witch) and (wicked).] 1. A religion derived from pre-Christian times, also called (Witchcraft) [4] , which practices a benevolent reverence for nature, and recognizes two deities, variously viewed as Mother & Father, Goddess & God, Female & Male, etc.; its practitioners are called Wiccans, Wiccas, or witches. Since there is no central authority to propagate dogma, the beliefs and practices of Wiccans vary significantly. [PJC]

Note: Wicca is a ditheistic religion, also called Witchcraft, founded on the beliefs and doctrines of pre-Roman Celts, including the reverence for nature and the belief in a universal balance. Though frequently practiced in covens, solitary practitioners do exist. The modern form of the religion was popularized in 1954 by Gerald Gardener's Witchcraft Today. It is viewed as a form of neo-paganism. Wicca recognizes two deities, visualized as Mother & Father, Goddess & God, Female & Male, etc. These dieties are nameless, but many Wiccans adopt a name with which they refer to the two: Diana is a popular name for the Goddess to take, among others such as Artemis, Isis, Morrigan, etc. Some of her symbols are: the moon; the ocean; a cauldron; and the labrys (two-headed axe), among others. The God is of equal power to the Goddess, and takes on names such as Apollo, Odin, Lugh, etc. A small number of his symbols are: the sun; the sky; a horn (or two horns); and others. Witchcraft is not a Christian denomination; there is no devil in its mythos, thus the devil cannot be worshiped, and the medieval view of Witches as Satan-worshipers is erroneous. Satanists are not Witches and Witches are not Satanists. Both have a tendency to be offended when the two are confused. In the Wiccan religion male Witches are not ``Warlocks''. The term Warlock comes from Scottish, meaning 'oathbreaker', 'traitor', or 'devil'. Its application to male witches is of uncertain origin. The Wiccan Rede, ``An it harm none, do what thou wilt'' comes in many variations. All of them say the same thing, ``Do as you wish, just don't do anything to harm anyone.'' It is implied that 'anyone' includes one's self. Witches practice in groups called Covens or as solitary practitioners, and some practice ``magic'', which is to say, they pray. Since the one rule that Witches have requires that they can not do harm, harmful magic does not exist in Wicca. In Wicca, ``magic'' is simply subtly altering small things, to gain a desired effect. Wicca, sometimes called Neo-Witchcraft, was revived in the 1950s, when the last laws against Witchcraft were repealed. Gerald Gardner founded Gardnerian Wicca sometime after his book, Witchcraft Today, was published in 1954. Raymond Buckland, in America, did much the same that Gardner did in Europe --stood up to the misconceptions about Witchcraft. Two other books describing the modern practice of Wicca are: Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, by Scott Cunningham, Llewellyn Publications, 1988. Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft, by Raymond Buckland, Llewellyn Publications, 1975. [PJC]