MAGIC

The English words magic, mage and magician come from the Latin magus, through the Greek μάγος, which is from the Old Persian maguš ("magician"). The Old Persian magu- is derived from the Proto-Indo-European *magh ("be able"), which was absorbed into the Iranian language; Iranians thereafter began using the word maguš ("magician"; i.e., an "able [specialist in ritual]") or *maghu, which may have led to the Old Sinitic *Mᵞag ("mage" or "shaman"). The Old Persian form seems to have permeated Ancient Semitic languages as the Talmudic Hebrew magosh, the Aramaic amgusha ("magician"), and the Chaldean maghdim ("wisdom and philosophy"); from the first century BCE onwards, Syrian magusai gained notoriety as magicians and soothsayers.