![]() ![]() ![]() The word comes from an ancient Iranian word, borrowed into Greek, that gave us the names of the Magi.įor those not up on their Christmas lore, the Magi are three men, sometimes reckoned as kings, priests, or astrologers, who traveled from their homes east of Israel upon reading a portent in the sky (a star) in order to pay homage to the infant Jesus. William Shakespeare, A Winter's Tale, 1616Īnd by the 1800s, magic was also applied to the tricks and sleights of hand that conjurers and magicians did.īut the word has its origins in something that's not necessarily magical in any modern sense. By the 1700s, magic had also come to refer to anything that seemed like a supernatural power This is the sort of magic that shows up in the Harry Potter series, and the kind that the people accused of witchcraft in 17th-century Massachusetts were accused of performing. The word magic goes back to the 1300s, and it originally referred to rituals, incantations, or actions thought to have supernatural power over the natural world. Here's where all the magic (sense 2b) begins: with magic. ![]()
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