In response to some questions about what my take is on the Witangemot as a meeting of Wizards, and why do I hold such a view that this is wrong, and what evidence do I have. I did at first suggest others do some research on their own and see what they would come up with since I covered this at least as far as the basics under our section on etymology of the meaning of the words in question and their differences. As an FYI, I combined these symbols to create the representation of the Witangemot. It is rather simple. I combined the eye as a symbol of observation/witnessing with the symbol of the scales of Justice "weighing" guilt or innocence, and the lit torch as a symbol of life and truth, as the flame is the light that "reveals" what has been hidden in the dark and allows the eye to see what it could not see before. It seemed a reasonable concept design for a court-based system of jurors/witnesses from such old customs.
WITANGEMOT: From a combination of witan "witness" + gemot "go-meet." Literally "Witness Meeting" (meeting of witnesses) within a court type setting as a jury of peers. It is sometimes and misleadingly defined as a sort of Old Saxon or Anglo-Saxon parliament rather than merely a feature of it. Its primary function was to advise the rulers on legislation, judicial cases, land transfers, and other matters of local or national importance. Witan was not itself an official title as many have also later assumed or have imposed. One was called, just as today in various legal cases, regardless of their particular professions or place within society or culture to give their word on things heard and or observed.
It is as such not a "meeting of wizards" which is a Victorian and Edwardian era invented fallacy that many have simply embraced or accepted without doing better research which is unfortunately typical in regard to such things as these which is also frustrating that such things were not addressed long before I was born by those claiming to be "so knowledgeable" and yet so clearly blind to the obvious. This means only two things. Source sources either 1) had no idea what they were talking about and were complete frauds, or 2) were maintaining a deception on purpose and therefore frauds, which in either case makes them frauds. The following shall further demonstrate key facts that subsequently unlock many other things one would not even consider normally.
WITAN: From Witegan means Witness when reduced to Witnas and Wednes. The Source is The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church by Ælfric of Eynsham; 955-1010 CE. Other Spellings included wītega, wītga, witna, widnes, wednes, witnes, wītiga, witiȝe, witege, witega, witegæ, witeȝe, witeȝa, witeȝæ, witigan, witeȝan, witien, witiȝe, witȝin, witeies, witege, witegene, witegena, and witegane.
From its form wednes we get the word Wednesday, literally meaning Witness Day rather than Woden's day which is a long-standing fallacy that still is perpetuated and repeated without anyone's actual investigation. Its base is Wit having the sense of knowledge through observation, as in "see."
It is similar to but different from wise which has the sense of 'clarity of mind.' In some cases, the two have been conflated such as in the word witty. The word meaning know or knowledge is 'aware' as wary meant being mindful, paying attention, or cautious.
Today we still find a lot of such fallacies repeated in various sources that do not remotely try to verify the accuracy of their information. As such, witan is often confused with wizard and claim erroneously witan means 'wise one/wise ones or wise man/wise men' being the same as wisand which is what the word wizard. While it is true a wizard, before being associated with "supernatural" things and "secret sciences," was often portrayed as a royal adviser rather than a witness, this mostly came about much later, closer to the 1500s as the word evolved.
WIZARD is from Wysar. Derived Latin ‘viser’ as in adviser (to view/to see implying a sense of clarity of mind as in wise one). The Source is the Promptorium Parvulorum: Bilingual English to Latin dictionary (“Storehouse for Children”) completed around 1440 CE. Other spellings included wyser, wizer, weser, wysard, wysarde, wyseard, wisard, wyssard, wissard, wiseard, vizard, and wizzard. It came to be used as a term for a philosopher or sage and later replaced by the word scientist. Prior to this, the word or forms of the word as Wizard didn't exist till long after the evolution of the word witness.
This means all too clearly that when we see on various sources the claim the word wizard is from between 1150-1500, we are actually being lied to about "first known usage." We see the evolution of the word only from 1440 and the 'd/de' alone is an addition. However, as a game of manipulation we see it invented as "wis + ard" so additional fallacies are added and shows a lack of attention the previous details and at which point the source of such a claim was merely guessing and it was pawned off as though it were an established fact, or it's another example of intentional deceit.
For example, some claim the '-ard' as a suffix is a reduction from 'hard' and yet when we track the historic spellings in later texts, there is no example of wis+hard anywhere. Some have even tried to suggest a spelling as wish+ard to try and save this nonsense claim and shifting the meaning to claim "one who wishes" which is just dumb on so many levels, it also ignores the source of the moder word wish is wisc, as the word wiscan meant wishes.
Now, while I will not go into all the other nonsense claims, I will point out to factors of such language influences here. Wysar would have more of a plural sense of Wise all on its own and if it were wisan it would have meant wise ones in older language roots, yet by this time it had a singular sense. The addition of the 'd' and the change of the to a z is from Deutsch/German linguistic influence as we see in a text called the Heliand. The Old Sacon word for heal and holy was heli, and helian would meaning healing. With the addition of the 'd' as heliand it came to mean healer as well as holy one as both words mean to make whole.
As a Side Note:
WYRDWRITERE: As for who wrote or recorded things such as decrees and events or created old poetry and more or less anything of written format, 'scribe' or 'writer' is often used today. However, the native language form was wyrdwritere literally meaning 'word writer.' Because of the long-standing error of wyrd being falsely translated as meaning fate or destiny it has often been erroneously translated fate-writer. To note, wyrd is the source of 'work, word, ward, and worth.' It carries these four concepts with work being the primary denoting an action but can also express a sense of one's reputation, word then means the expression and communication, ward means protection and maintaining, and worth means its value in the sense of purpose and contribution. The intent of meaning in old texts has to be derived by properly translating the whole text and stay within these limits which unfortunately most translators of old didn't which then changes the entire context of such documents.
NEVER TRUST THE SEMANTICS EXCUSE
Many will try and resort to an excuse when it comes to actual history and etymology, they do not want to accept that "it's all just a matter of semantics anyway." Frankly it's one of many types of a coward's excuse to avoid facing the fact that their beliefs and assumptions are wrong and their sources of information behind those assumed or imposed beliefs in their upbringing are false.
Generally, the actual meaning of "matter of semantics" is since "a word" can have multiple meanings, so it can be 'interpreted several different ways.' This is true to a point. However, when a word has multiple meanings, it is to be interpreted properly based on the context of usage, not have its meaning changed to change the context of meaning which is what most tend to fail in comprehension. It is also often simply used as an excuse for those types that impose the view "this or that can be whatever they want it to be." One can want the Sun to be a firefly stuck in the sky, but it won't change the fact the Sun is a star. Be mindful of that.