μαγεύω

Forms

μαγεύω (mageúō); future μαγεύσω, aorist ἐμάγευσα, perfect passive μεμάγευμαι.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos, “Magus; sorcerer”) + -εύω (-eúō), “to act as a Magus”.^[3][4][5]

The noun is a borrowing from Iranian: Beekes compares Old Persian Maguš, the name of a Median tribe with priestly functions, but as the original meaning of the Iranian word is unknown its etymology cannot be established.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest instance is in Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris (line 1338), κατῇδε βάρβαρα μέλη μαγεύουσα, “she chanted barbarian songs, working magic”.^[6][7][3] The participle there is Valckenaer's correction of the manuscripts' ματεύουσα.^[7] The Hippocratic treatise On the Sacred Disease also has it.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Its two senses follow the two senses of μάγος: to be a Magus, skilled in the lore of the Persian priests, as in Plutarch's Artaxerxes and Philostratus, and to practise magic, as in Euripides and Plutarch's Numa.^[6][3][4] Used transitively it meant to bewitch, for instance with love potions in Achilles Tatius, or to call forth by magic arts, as in an epigram of Meleager; the passive is found in Clearchus and Lucian.^[6][7] The Acts of the Apostles use it of a man who practised magic in Samaria (Acts 8.9), and the Didache puts it in a list of vices.^[2][9]

It survives in Modern Greek as μαγεύω, still “to practise magic”, and, as a learned sense after μαγικός, “to enchant, charm”, which the Χρηστικό Λεξικό connects with French enchanter.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it in the Iphigenia in Tauris, in a corrected reading, and the Hippocratic On the Sacred Disease has it.^[6][8][12]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Clearchus uses the passive.^[6][12]
• 2nd–1st century BC – Meleager uses it for calling forth living things by magic.^[6][12]
• 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles use it for practising magic.^[2][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it both for the lore of the Magi and for magic.^[6][3][12]
• 2nd century AD – Achilles Tatius uses it for bewitching with love potions.^[6][12]
• Modern Greek – It means both “to practise magic” and “to enchant, charm”.^[10][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be a Magus, skilled in the lore of the Magi.^[6][3]
2. To practise magic, use magic arts.^[6][3][2]
3. (transitive) To bewitch, as with love potions.^[6][7]
4. (transitive) To call forth by magic arts.^[6]

Word family

• μαγεία (mageía)
• μάγευμα (mágeuma)
• μαγευτής (mageutḗs)
• μαγευτικός (mageutikós)

Related words

• μάγος (mágos)
• μαγικός (magikós)

References

1. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
2. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge