From: Ceri 
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Me again,

I've no idea if this is true of not. The person who sent it to me will
send a followup in his attempts to track this down. But still... 

  Rai who loves the "non-Abrahamic" comment...

-------- Original Message --------

I complained to Miriam Webster about their definitions regarding witch
craft.

My letter to them was....."
Subject: misleading or false definition

I thought it is terribly biased that your definition of withcraft is
'the power of witches', see Sorcery and then the definition of Sorcery
is 'power gained from Evil spirits'.  So in a nutshell you are telling
children that witches are evil.  I understand that the mythical creature
that early christians depicted as a witch is supposed to be evil or
malevolent but there is a HUGE revival of pre-christian religions. Many
of the practitioners call themselves witches due to the early Christian
Churches accusing people who were different of being witches.  Many have
ditched that word due to the negative connotations and chose terminology
with less of a stigma, ie. Shaman.  Please look up Wicca or Paganism on
any search engine, you'll see what I mean and just how many nice witches
there are! There are several traditions to look up too. 
Alexandrian,Asatru (Germanic), Celtic Witchcraft,Strega (Italian),Romuva
(Lithuanian), Dievturiba(Latvian), Gardnerian, Green Wicca, Dianic
Wicca, Hermetic Orders like the Golden Dawn, Freemasonry, Rosicrucians. 
All alive and well in this modern day age! "

Their response was....

>>Thank you for writing to Merriam-Webster.  I am sorry about the
delayed response; a pressing editorial deadline kept me from my
correspondence for several weeks.

As a practicing Wiccan and a member of the pagan community, I can fully
appreciate your concern regarding the definition of witch available
through WordCentral.  The issue of "negative" definitions becomes
especially pressing in reference materials directed toward young people.

The book upon which the WordCentral dictionary is based, our
Intermediate Dictionary, is coming due for revision.  The recent
editions of our Collegiate Dictionary have already addressed the problem
of the witch-related definitions, making a clear distinction  between
modern neo-pagans and the medieval or "gothic" witch.  I have personally
requested that these changes be carried over into our School Dictionary
line.  I should say that I do not have the authority to enforce my
suggestions, but our current staff has shown itself to be committed to
fair representation of words concerning non-Abrahamic religions.

This being said, it is not likely that the cross-reference to sorcery
will be eliminated.  Rather, my suggestion requests that it be separated
into a second, distinct sense.  The reason for this is rooted in our
philosophy as a publisher of dictionaries:

Merriam-Webster takes a descriptive approach to lexicography, which is
to say that we strive to make our dictionaries a reflection of the way
the English language is actually used, historically and currently.  This
can be contrasted to prescriptive lexicography, in which definitions are
crafted according to what the editor thinks the words should mean,
regardless of actual usage.

In most cases this philosophy has served us well, keeping Merriam-
Webster dictionaries both accurate and relevant.  Occasionally, though,
"common usage" will itself reflect the biases and prejudices of
society.  And, as you well know, society has for many centuries held a
deeply negative view of what they called a "witch." The use of
witchcraft in the vast majority of texts ranging back to the roots of
the English language equates it with our definition of sorcery: use of
powers obtained through dealings with evil spirits.

As you note in your message, many modern neo-pagans (myself among them)
have chosen to "reclaim" witch and its derivatives, words bearing many
centuries of stigma.  In effect, they are adding a new, "positive" sense
to an old, "negative" word.  I certainly agree that a responsible
dictionary should record this change in the language (as Merriam-Webster
has in the Tenth and Eleventh editions of the Collegiate Dictionary). 
Unfortunately, this does nothing to erase or eliminate the more
established usage of the word. Despite the word's new, additional sense,
witchcraft can still be very accurately defined and used as synonymous
to sorcery; this usage exists in many historical texts which are in use
today, and it continues to be spoken and written with this meaning by a
large proportion of the population.   Perhaps pagan education and
tolerance campaigns can eventually bring about some change in common
usage, but until such time it is the dictionary's duty to record meaning
as we find it, not as we wish it to be.

As a relevant side-note, I should also say that witchcraft is also used
in many completely non-Christian/non-neo-pagan contexts as the word
denoting evil or hostile magic, as distinguished from mainstream
religious practice (whether in Voudoun, Santeria, or any of a myriad of
non-Christian faiths, each has their own sanctioned priests or "good"
magic workers and the maligned magician or "witch" who exists outside
the established order).  It is true that the word used in this context
is most likely a borrowing from the edieval/Christian sense, but it now
exists independently.  As such, the definition of witchcraft as sorcery
remains current in a sense that is completely unrelated to the
mainstream of the neo-pagan movement (religious cross-fertilization
notwithstanding).

Returning, though, to your original concern: I will see to it that the
definition for witchcraft is reviewed in the student dictionaries (and,
thereby, on WordCentral), and will suggest revisions that will
differentiate more clearly between pagan witchcraft and the other,
non-pagan senses.

Thank you very much for sharing your concerns with us. Please feel free
to write back to me directly at the address below if you have any
further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

[ID and e-mail address deleted for privacy reasons]




-- 
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Ceridwen is a default net alias
       Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.



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