Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
Latin gnanus 'dwarf' may be the native word and its variant nanus may have come from or been influenced by the Greek νανος (nanos).

English mage and magic come via Latin and Greek from Old Persian maguš which may have been a caste or an ethnonym. In Latin and Greek, magus meant 'sorcerer'.


It probably was a caste or office. It seems first of all to have applied to a kind of court astrologer/diviner cum wiseman cum counsellor. In the biblical book, Daniel was a magus in the court of the Medo-Persians. In the New Testament the word (in the plural magoi) is applied to the 'wisemen' of the Infancy narrative who come from 'the East' - perhaps suggesting they were connected with the court of Parthia as advisers to the king. It is also used of Simon the Samaritan Sorceror in Acts chapter 8 and Elymas bar-Jesus the Jewish resident court magician of the Roman governor (proconsul) of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, who was blinded by the Apostle Paul in a power encounter in Acts chapter 13.

As can be seen in at least two or possibly three of the examples above, a common denominator in the ancient category of magus seems to be some connection with civil rule. It would be a reasonable deduction to make that the 'magician' started out as a rather more serious version of the medieval court jester (a word which may come from similar roots?). The magus was a character of great wisdom and influence, who used both scientific or natural means acquired through his great learning, and supernatural means to provide sage advice and perhaps predictions of events to secular rulers.

These days though, he generally contents himself with party tricks.

Last edited by The Pook; 04/20/2008 11:39 PM.