Old English Bulldog The word 'Mastiff' was eventually dropped when describing these smaller Mastiffs, as the Mastiff proper was found too slow for bull-baiting. Eventually, the Greyhound was crossed into the breed, increasing the Mastiff's speed without losing the breed's ferocity. This step reduced the Old English Bulldog's size and weight, with the Greyhound's features seen in specimens of that time. Two other recognized members of the breed can be seen in the 1817 painting "Crib and Rosa", with Rosa exemplifying the form and size of the ideal type of Old English Bulldog, albeit deficient in wrinkles about the head and neck and
Witch (word) Witch (word) The word witch derives from the Old English nouns "wicca" ('sorcerer, male witch') and "wicce" ('sorceress, female witch'). The word's further origins in Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European are unclear. The Old English verb "wiccian" has a cognate in Middle Low German "wicken" (attested from the 13th century, besides "wichelen" "to bewitch"). The further etymology of this word is problematic. It has no clear cognates in Germanic outside of English and Low German, and there are numerous possibilities for the Indo-European root from which it may have been derived. Other suggestions for the underlying root are untenable or widely rejected: