the other day i looked up the etymologies of every word i could think of that meant "male (or gender-neutral) magic-user" and the results were way more interesting than i expected so here they are in a thread:
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1. "wizard" is pretty straightforward: "wise-ard", like a drunkard or a dullard. a wizard is someone who is wise. neato
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wizard
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2. "magician" obviously derives from "magic" and so does "magus". "magic" is itself pretty interesting: wiktionary says the likely root means "to be able to, to help; power"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/magic
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3. "sorcerer" apparently derives from a root meaning "oracular response" which further derives from a root meaning "to sort"! hmmmmmm
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sorcerer
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4. "warlock" - this one is *super* interesting to me. apparently it means "traitor" or "truce-breaker"! a warlock is a traitor to (the christian) god!!!
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5. "enchanter" - derives from a root meaning "to sing; to consecrate with spells" which i love, wow. an incantation is a *holy song*!
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enchanter
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6. "conjurer" - the root of "conjure" is "to swear together; conspire", i guess because a conjurer is someone who summons and conspires with demons and so forth? sweet
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/conjure
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7. "spellcaster" (not really gendered but w/e) - the root of "spell" means "story" and the root of "cast" means "to throw". a spellcaster is someone who throws stories 😂
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spell
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cast
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8. "druid" - oh fuck this one is so good. "oak-knower"!!! fuck!!! can an etymology slap? this etymology slaps
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/druid
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9. "thaumaturge" - surprisingly straightforward, "miracle worker"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thaumatur
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10. "necromancer" - "necro" means dead, pretty straightforward, the interesting thing is that "-mancy" means divination!
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-mancy
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11. for completeness let's also investigate "witch" - derived from the female form of a word for male (or gender-neutral?) magic-user that we don't use the male form of anymore, "further etymology uncertain" but maybe something to do with divination?
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/witch
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the etymologies suggest different conceptions of magic in a way that really tickles me. magic is: wisdom, power, betraying god, divination, holy song, consorting with demons, storytelling, knowing the trees, working miracles
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I learned recently that “sorcerer” was also a medieval slang term for homosexual, which, sure, why not?
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