Etymologically
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magico

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈma.d͡ʒi.ko/[1]

Forms

magico (feminine magica, masculine plural magici, feminine plural magiche)[1] Old Italian also wrote mageco and magicho.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin magicus (“magical”), a learned word, borrowed from Ancient Greek μαγικός (magikós), an adjective formed on μάγος (mágos, “magus, sorcerer”).[4][5][6][1][7] The Latin adjective was itself taken from Greek.[8][1] DELI and Nocentini treat it with mago, the noun of the same Greek origin, and GRADIT points to magia.[4][5][6]

The popular outcomes of the Latin word lie elsewhere in the Romance area: Meyer-Lübke lists Asturian mego and Portuguese meigo (“friendly, gentle”), and in Galicia and the Minho meiga (“witch”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Libro dell'Antichristo, a 13th-century text that passed from the Veneto to Umbria and the Marche.[3] DELI's earliest dates are Giordano da Pisa's arti magiche “magic arts” (1304) and Jacopone da Todi's arte mageca (before 1306), where the false prophet works signs “by magic art”.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the adjective qualified the magic arts and those who practised them, and it could also be used as a noun meaning “magician”.[3][2] In the Inferno Dante says that Michael Scot knew the game of magiche frode, “magic frauds”.[4][2] The noun use survived in Cavalca, Boccaccio and the Tuscan translations of Ovid, and Tommaseo marks it as dead.[2][10]

From the 17th century the word was extended to anything prodigious and extraordinary (1618, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger) and figuratively to what charms and enchants (1652, Brusoni).[4] The modern dictionaries add a colloquial sense “fantastic, exceptional”, used especially of a team or a moment of success, and a technical use for devices that produce striking effects, such as the lanterna magica “magic lantern” and the occhio magico “magic eye”.[11][12][6]

Timeline

  • 13th century – The Libro dell'Antichristo has the first record.[3]
  • 1304 – Giordano da Pisa speaks of arti magiche.[4][6]
  • Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi writes arte mageca.[4]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante has magiche frode in the Inferno.[4]
  • 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it for “prodigious, extraordinary”.[4]
  • 1652 – Girolamo Brusoni uses it figuratively for “enchanting”.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to magic, its rites and the effects it seeks: Il mago pronunciò una formula magica e sparì.[6][11][13]
  2. (figurative) Producing extraordinary, prodigious effects, or showing exceptional skill: Ha un talento magico per la cucina.[6][13][12]
  3. (figurative) Enchanting, charming in a mysterious way: Quella sera in montagna c'era una luce magica.[6][13][14]
  4. (colloquial) Fantastic, exceptional: È stato un anno magico per la nostra squadra.[11][12]
  5. (technology) Of devices that produce special effects by technical means, as in lanterna magica and occhio magico.[11][15][14]

Word family

  • magicamente
  • magicità

Usage notes

Set phrases include bacchetta magica “magic wand” and cerchio magico “magic circle”.[6][12] The realismo magico “magic realism” is the poetics of some writers of the first half of the 20th century, such as Massimo Bontempelli.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 267
  8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli