Etymologically
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magus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈma.ɡʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmaː.ɡus][1]

Forms

magus (feminine maga, neuter magum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos, “magian, magician”).[2][3][1][4] The Greek word is from Μάγος (Mágos, “Magian”), of an Old Iranian origin that is not clear;[1] Etymonline and Köbler cite an Old Persian word for magician.[5][4] Apuleius says that the Persian word means what Latin calls a priest, and Porphyrio derived it from magnus “great”.[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who writes of the magi of the Persians, a class held to be wise and learned.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is first one of the Persian priests and diviners: Cicero says they do not bury their dead and practise augury and divination, and Pliny the Elder says the Gauls call their own magi Druids.[2][3] From this it is a magician or sorcerer: Horace asks what witch, what magician with Thessalian poisons could free someone, Ovid makes Hecate the helper of magicians' arts, and Tacitus reports decrees of the senate expelling astrologers and magicians from Italy.[2] As an adjective it is magic, in Ovid and Seneca.[3][2] Church Latin glosses it wise man, wizard or sorcerer,[7] and in Medieval Latin it is a sorcerer, fortune-teller or astrologer.[8] English Magi is from about 1200, magus from the late 14th century.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the Persian magi.[2][3][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a magician with Thessalian poisons.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of magicians' arts and of magic arts.[2][3][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of magicians expelled from Italy.[2][4]
  • c. 1200 – English Magi.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One of the Persian priests and diviners, a Magian.[2][3][1]
  2. A magician, sorcerer;[2][3][1][7][8] (Medieval Latin) a fortune-teller, astrologer.[2][3][1][7][8]

Adjective

  1. Magic, magical.[2][3][1]

Word family

  • English magus
  • English magic

References

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