The most commonly accepted etymology derives
warlock from the
Old English wǣrloga, which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver". In early modern
Scots, the word came to refer to the male equivalent of a
"witch" (which can be male or female, but has historically been used predominantly for females). The term may have become associated in Scotland with male witches owing to the idea that they had made pacts with Auld Hornie (the devil) and thus had betrayed the Christian faith and broken their baptismal vows or oaths. From this use, the word passed into
Romantic literature and ultimately into 20th-century popular culture. A derivation from the
Old Norse varð-lokkur, "caller of spirits", has also been suggested, but the
Oxford English Dictionary considers this implausible owing to the extreme rarity of the Norse word and because forms without hard
-k, which are consistent with the Old English etymology ("traitor"), are attested earlier than forms with a
-k. ==History==