sorcery

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sorcerie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French sorcerie,^{[5][6][7][8][9]} formed from sorcier (“sorcerer, wizard”) with the suffix -ie.^[2][4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the first third of the 12th century, already for sorcery and witchcraft.^[10] The OED also allows a source in Medieval Latin sorceria,^[9] which Dictionary.com takes as the only one.^[11] The French agent noun goes back to Vulgar Latin *sortiārius (“one who influences lot or fate”),^[6][3][4] a form Etymonline gives as Medieval Latin sortiarius (“teller of fortunes by lot”),^[5] and that is from Latin sors (“lot, fate, fortune”),^[5][6][4] the source of sort,^[5][12][6] from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to line up”).^[5][4] Ayto explains that the plural sortēs was used of the replies of oracles, which gave a noun for an oracle's priest and then for a caster of spells.^[12] Middle Dutch had the same noun, Middle Dutch sorcerie.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The use of magic or enchantment; witchcraft: before 1300, in the Cursor Mundi.^[9] Barnhart finds it probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder,^[6] and Etymonline dates it to about 1300.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Skeat glossed the Old French noun as "casting of lots" as well as "magic",^[13] but in English the word meant magic from the first records, with "witchcraft, enchantment" and magical works among its Middle English senses.^[5][9] From 1357 the plural sorceries was used of separate acts or instances.^[9][8] Chaucer used the word 3 times and Gower 20 times.^[14] A transferred and figurative use, for a power that charms like magic, is recorded from 1576;^[9] the Shorter Oxford cites Ouida for it: "Personal beauty is a rare sorcery".^[8] Johnson (1755) defined the word by magic, enchantment, conjuration, witchcraft and charms, and quoted the "sorceries terrible" of Shakespeare's witch Sycorax.^[15] Modern dictionaries stress harmful magic: the Shorter Oxford notes its use to cause harm,^[8] Collins mentions black magic in particular,^[16] and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged defines it by power gained through evil spirits, especially for divination.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1300 – the practice of magic, witchcraft.^[9][6]
• 1357 – plural, separate acts or instances of magic.^[9]
• 1576 – transferred and figurative use.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The use of magic or enchantment, especially black magic that calls on evil spirits; witchcraft: The villagers accused the old healer of sorcery.^[16][2][8]
2. An act or instance of magic; a spell (usually in the plural): She feared her rival's sorceries.^[8][9][15]
3. Figuratively, a power that charms or fascinates as if by magic.^[9][8]

Word family

• sorcerous

Related words

• sorcerer
• sorceress
• sort

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins