magician

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English magicien,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French magicien, recorded in French from 1370–80,^[4][3][5][6] from magique (“magic”) with the suffix -ien;^[3][7] the OED allows that it may also have been formed from English magic + -ian.^[4][8] Etymonline gives the Old French form as magiciien.^[7][2] The French noun magique is from Late Latin magica (3rd century), short for a phrase meaning "magic art",^[4][6][5] and is related to magicē, which is from Ancient Greek μαγική (magikḗ), short for a phrase meaning "magic art", the feminine of μαγικός (magikós, “magical”).^[4][7] That adjective is formed from μάγος (mágos), a member of a learned and priestly class, the source of magus;^[4][7] Etymonline takes mágos as a borrowing from Old Persian.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person skilled in magic or the occult sciences; a sorcerer: in Chaucer's Monk's Tale (about 1375), of Belshazzar's realm, where no magician could read the writing on the wall.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a magicien was a learned practitioner of the occult arts, a sorcerer, and Chaucer and Gower used the word in that sense.^[2][9] Johnson (1755) defined it as one skilled in magic, an enchanter or necromancer.^[10] The sense of an entertainer who performs tricks of illusion, a conjuror, is recorded by the 1590s,^[7] and the OED notes that in later use it also means a conjuror.^[4] The figurative sense, a person whose skill or influence seems like magic, is first recorded in 1834, in Carlyle's Sartor Resartus.^[4][11]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – magicien, a sorcerer, in Chaucer.^[4][2]
• before 1393 – in Gower's Confessio Amantis.^[2]
• 1590s – an entertainer who performs conjuring tricks.^[7]
• 1834 – figurative, a person of seemingly magical power or skill.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An entertainer who performs tricks of illusion and sleight of hand; a conjuror: The magician pulled a coin from behind the boy's ear.^[11][3][4]
2. A person who practises magic or sorcery; a wizard.^[11][3][4]
3. A person with extraordinary skill or influence: a magician with figures.^[11][4]

Related words

• magic
• magical
• magus
• mage

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins