enchant

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enchaunten,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French enchanter (“to bewitch, charm, cast a spell”),^[4][3][2][5] from Latin incantō (“to chant a spell, bewitch”),^[6][4][7][5] from in- (“upon, into”) and cantō (“to sing”),^[6][4][7] the frequentative of canō (“to sing”),^[7] from Proto-Indo-European *kan- (“to sing”).^[4][7] The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from the first third of the 12th century, already meant both to bewitch and to charm or persuade.^[8] Barnhart and Etymonline allow that the English verb may instead be a back-formation from enchantment,^[3][4] which Barnhart dates to about 1300;^[3] enchanter is also older than the verb.^[9][10] The Latin verb is also the source of incantation, and chant and canticle share its root.^[9][5] The spelling “inchant” was formerly used as well.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To hold spellbound or delude, as if by a charm: about 1374, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.^[6] The literal sense, to lay under a magic spell, follows in 1377, in Langland's Piers Plowman,^[6] about 1378 in Barnhart.^[3] Etymonline gives the late 14th century for both,^[4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged the 14th century,^[13] and Dictionary.com 1325–75.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with a magical meaning and a weaker one beside it: the original senses were to put under a spell and to delude.^[9] The Latin verb was literally to chant a formula over someone,^[3] and Etymonline compares German besprechen (“to charm”), from sprechen (“to speak”).^[4] Middle English used it for acts of sorcery,^[2] and Gower has it seven times.^[15] The sense "to win over or induce someone, as if by magic, to do something" ran from 1393 to 1609,^[6][16] and "to influence irresistibly, to delude" died out by 1678.^[6][16] The modern sense, to charm or delight, is recorded from 1593, in Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis,^[6][10] and is often used in the passive.^[11] Johnson (1755) gives the whole range: to give efficacy to something "by songs of sorcery", to subdue by charms, and "to delight in a high degree".^[17] A thing could also be enchanted, endowed with magical powers, from the late 16th century, as in Macbeth.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – to hold spellbound, to delude (obsolete by 1678).^[6][16]
• 1377 – to lay under a magic spell, to bewitch.^[6][16] Barnhart dates it to about 1378.^[3]
• 1393 – to induce as if by magic (obsolete by 1609).^[6][16]
• 1593 – to charm, delight, enrapture.^[6][16]
• 1634 – noun, magic, enchantment (recorded only here).^[6][16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put under a spell; to bewitch: In the tale a jealous witch enchants the prince.^[18][13][6]
2. To charm or delight greatly: The little harbour enchanted the visitors.^[18][13][6]
3. To give charm to something; to fill it with allure.^[13]
4. (obsolete, c. 1374–1678) To influence powerfully, as if by a charm; to delude.^[6][11]
5. (obsolete, 1393–1609) To persuade or compel someone, as if by magic, to do something.^[6][11]

Word family

• disenchant
• enchanter
• enchanting
• enchantment
• enchantress

Related words

• chant
• incantation
• canticle
• accent
• cant
• incentive

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
16. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins