magus

From Latin magus, from Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos, “magician”), from Μάγος (Mágos, “Magian”), of an indeterminate Old Iranian origin (see Μάγος for details). Doublet of mage.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪɡəs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɡəs

magus (plural magi or (rare) maguses)

1. A magician; (derogatory) a conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster.
   • 1987, Jean-Pierre Vernant, translated by Anne Marzin, “Greek Religion”, in Mircea Eliade, editor, The Encyclopedia of Religion, volume 6, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan Publishing Company; London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, →ISBN, page 116, column 1:

     In the middle of the fifth century, Empedocles testified to the vitality of these maguses, who were capable of commanding the winds and of bringing the dead back from Hades and who presented themselves, not as mortals, but as gods.

   • 1997, Robert Silverberg, Sorcerers of Majipoor (The Majipoor Cycle), New York, N.Y.: HarperPrism, →ISBN, page 435:

     It’s from our venerable maguses Gominik Halvor and his son. They’ve cast the runes for our enterprise.

2. (Zoroastrianism) A Zoroastrian priest.
   • 1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization‎, page 230:

     Court astrologers, who were drawn from the race of the Magi, were among those that formed the royal court [...]

   • 1969, Morris L[anglo] West, The Heretic: A Play in Three Acts […], New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, Inc., →LCCN, pages 11–12:

     Mocenigo / [satisfied at last] / Good! Now, tell me, Prior, / What is Rome’s greatest fear? What gives the Pope / More night-mares than bad sausage? / Prior Gabrielli / Heresy! / The rendering of the seamless robe of truth. / This rabble of mountebanks and maguses / Who shout reform, defile the Eucharist, / Flout all authority, elect false bishops, / Deny the Trinity and saving grace, / Abolish marriage, set their private minds / Against the long tradition of the Faith / And Peter’s dictates and the Holy Writ . . .

The two meanings overlap in classical usage – both derive from the Greco-Roman identification of “Zoroaster” as the “inventor” of astrology and magic.

• animagus
• archimagus, archmagus

• Magi

• gaums, sagum

From magu +‎ -s, an archaic word meaning "taste", "flavour".

magus (genitive magusa, partitive magusat, comparative magusam, superlative kõige magusam)

1. sweet (taste)

• magustama
• magustoit

magus

1. Romanization of 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌿𐍃

From Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos, “magician”), from Μάγος (Mágos, “Magian”), of an indeterminate Old Iranian origin (see Μάγος (Mágos) for details).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.ɡus/, [ˈmäɡʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.ɡus/, [ˈmäːɡus]

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

1. magic, magical

First/second-declension adjective.

magus m (genitive magī); second declension

1. magus (Zoroastrian priest)
2. (figuratively) magician, wizard, (derogatory) sorcerer, trickster, conjurer, charlatan

Second-declension noun.

• maga

• magicus

• → Dutch: magiër
• → English: Magi, mage, magus
• French: mage
• → Hungarian: mágus
• Italian: mago
• Piedmontese: mago
• Portuguese: mago
• Romanian: mag
• → Spanish: mago
  • → Cebuano: mago

• “magus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “magus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• magus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• magus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• magus in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “magus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray