Brujería

Brujería is the Spanish-language word for "witchcraft". Brujería also refers to witch-healers in the Americas (especially Latin America and the United States). Both men and women can be witches; brujo(s) and bruja(s), respectively.

Etymology

There is no sound etymology for this word, which appears only in Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, and Galician (other romance languages use words derived from Latin strix, -igis, originally an owl). The word may be inherited from a Celtiberian substrate or it may derive from the Latin plusscius, -a, um (> plus + scius), a hapax attested in the Cena Trimalchionis, a central part in Petronius' Satyricon.Pluscia could have arisen from rhotacization of the /l/ and voicing of the /p/, pluscia> pruscia> bruscia> bruxa (Portuguese)> bruja (Spanish).

In popular culture

Bruxa (band)

Bruxa are an American electronic band from Portland, Oregon. The group consists of DJ/producer Derek Stilwell and vocalists Bianca Radd and Saint Michael Lorenzo. Their sound has been labelled witch house. However, Stilwell describes their sound as "witchstep," an experimental combination of witch house and dubstep they pioneered.

In 2011, the band released their debut EP, Eye on Everybody, on Sweating Tapes. This was followed by their first album, Victimeyez, released jointly on the labels Sweating Tapes and Mishka Records in 2012. The group released a second album, I Don't Love You Anymore, on Miskha Records in 2014.

The band's name is taken from the Portuguese word for "witch." Radd, who is half-Brazilian, sings in Portuguese.

References