vrăjitor

Forms

vrăjitor m (plural vrăjitori, feminine equivalent vrăjitoare)^[1] Old texts write vrăjitoriu: „anatima, fiiul diavolului, vrăjitoriu rău” “anathema, son of the devil, wicked sorcerer” (c. 1580).^[2] Klein's dictionary of 1801 has Vrajitóriu, glossed in Latin magus.^[3] Tiktin also records the feminine vrăjitoreasă.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian vrăji (“to cast spells”) + -tor.^[5][1] MDA2 and the DLR divide it as vrăji with the suffix -itor.^[6][2]

The verb vrăji is from Old Church Slavonic вражити (vražiti), according to DEX 2009.^[5] Wiktionary forms it on the noun vrajă (“spell”), which it takes from Old Church Slavonic вража (vraža), from Proto-Slavic *voržь.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the first record to 1563, in Coresi's Apostle, where the word means a soothsayer.^[4][6] The Palia of 1581–1582 calls the magicians of Pharaoh „toți vrăjitorii Eghipetului” “all the magicians of Egypt” (Genesis 41:8).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant a soothsayer and a man who called up devils; a text of 1645 defines sorcerers as those who summon and cast out devils.^[2][4][6] The plural also named the Magi of the East.^[6] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has „Pre vrăjitori să nu-i lăsați să trăiască” “do not let sorcerers live”.^[2] Dosoftei and Cantemir used it as well.^[2]

In folk tales and beliefs it became the person who changes things by magic.^[6][7] The feminine vrăjitoare is the witch, and figuratively a nasty, nagging old woman.^[6] Tiktin also notes vrăjitoare as a plant name, enchanter's nightshade.^[4] Used as an adjective, the word means “bewitching”.^[4][8] The phrase vânătoare de vrăjitoare “witch hunt” first named the anticommunist campaign in the United States in the 1950s, then any systematic persecution of opponents.^[6]

The Bulgarian surname Вражиторов (Vražitorov) is formed on the Romanian word.^[1]

Timeline

• 1563 – the first record, in Coresi's Apostle.^[4][6]
• c. 1580 – vrăjitoriu rău “wicked sorcerer” in a text printed in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni.^[2]
• 1581–1582 – the magicians of Egypt in the Palia.^[2]
• 1645 – a definition of sorcerers as those who call up devils.^[2]
• 1649 – vrăjitoare in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[9]
• 1688 – eleven passages of the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1801 – Vrajitóriu in Klein's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. In folk tales and superstition, a wizard or sorcerer with supernatural powers who can change things by magic.^[6][5][1]
2. A person who practises magic or the occult.^[6][5]
3. (obsolete) A soothsayer; in the plural, the Magi of the East.^[6]
4. (figurative) A person who charms by mastery of an art: un vrăjitor al cuvântului “a wizard with words”.^[8]

Adjective

1. bewitching, enchanting.^[4][8]

Word family

• vrăjitorie
• vrăjitoreasă

Related words

• vrajă
• vrăji
• fermecător

Usage notes

The feminine vrăjitoare means “witch”, and figuratively a spiteful old woman.^[6] Vânătoare de vrăjitoare is “witch hunt”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vrăjitor
3. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 477
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. vrăjitor
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1208
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1517
7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 705
8. ^ a b c Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. vrăjitor
9. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. vrăjitoare
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 22:18