Etymologically
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magicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈma.ɡɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmaː.d͡ʒi.kus][1]

Forms

magicus (feminine magica, neuter magicum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μαγικός (magikós, “magical”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Horace.[4] Lewis & Short note that it is poetic and post-Augustan, and cite Virgil's magic arts.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means of or concerned with magic, magical, as Tibullus' magic aid, Tacitus' magic superstitions and Pliny the Elder's magic follies.[2][3] Of things it is having magic powers, as Propertius' magic hearths and Ovid's magic arms, the Gorgon's head; of people, possessing such powers.[2] Tibullus and Lucan use it of the gods invoked in spells: “a black victim fell before the magic gods”.[2] Its feminine is used as a noun for the magic art, which Pliny the Elder also has in the Greek form magicē.[5] Church Latin glosses it magical,[6] and in Medieval Latin it is used as a noun for a sorcerer.[7] English magic (late 14th century) is from Old French and Late Latin magicē.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of magic arts.[3][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.[4]
  • c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus of magic gods and magic aid.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of magic herbs and magic follies.[2][3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or concerned with magic, magical.[2][3][1]
  2. Of things, having magic properties; of people, having magic powers.[2]
  3. Of gods, invoked in magic incantations.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) As a noun, a sorcerer.[7]

Word family

  • magicē

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com