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Definition: Sorcery |
SorceryNoun1. The belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sorcery" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Etymology: Sorcery \Sor"cer*y\, noun; plural Sorceries. [from Old English expression sorcerie, Old French sorcerie, from the Old French expression French sorcier sorcerer, Late Latin expression sortiarius, from the Latin expression sors, sortis, lot, decision by lot, fate, destiny. See Sort, noun.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | SORCERY, n. The ancient prototype and forerunner of political influence. It was, however, deemed less respectable and sometimes was punished by torture and death. Augustine Nicholas relates that a poor peasant who had been accused of sorcery was put to the torture to compel a confession. After enduring a few gentle agonies the suffering simpleton admitted his guilt, but naively asked his tormentors if it were not possible to be a sorcerer without knowing it. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Magic (also called magick to distinguish it from stage magic) refers to a way of influencing the world through supernatural, mystical or paranormal means. This article provides an overview of specific magical traditions and practises. It also discusses the use of magic as a plot device in various kinds of fiction. For a list of historical figures associated with paranormal magic, see: List of occultists.
Note that the term magic is used in other contexts in other articles. For a discussion of magic as an aspect of religion, see magic and religion. Some people also use the term magick, with that variant spelling, to distinguish the concept of magick as proposed by Aleister Crowley from other varieties of magic.
History of magical beliefs
Appearing from aboriginal tribes in Australia and New Zealand to rainforest tribes in South America, bush tribes in Africa and pagan tribal groups in Western Europe and Britain, some form of shamanic contact with the spirit world seems to be nearly universal in the early development of human communities. The ancient cave paintings in France are widely speculated to be early magical formulations, intended to produce successful hunts. Much of the Babylonian and Egyptian pictorial writing characters appear derived from the same sources.
Although indigenous magical traditions persist to this day, very early on some communities transitioned from nomadic to agricultural civilizations, and with this shift, the development of spiritual life mirrored that of civic life. Just as tribal elders were consolidated and transformed into kings and bureaucrats, so too were shamans and adepts devolved into priests and a priestly caste.
This shift is by no means in nomenclature alone. While the shaman's task was to negotiate between the tribe and the spirit world, on behalf of the tribe, as directed by the collective will of the tribe, the priest's role was to transfer instructions from the deities to the city-state, on behalf of the deities, as directed by the will of those deities. This shift represents the first major usurpation of power by distancing magic from those participating in that magic. It is at this stage of development that highly codified and elaborate rituals, setting the stage for formal religions, began to emerge, such as the funeral rites of the Egyptians and the sacrifice rituals of the Babylonians, Persians, Aztecs and Mayans.
Magical beliefs and practices are common in many cultures and religionss. The word magic comes from the beliefs and practices of the Magi (singular, Magus), Persian priests and scholars, followers of Zoroaster, who were credited by the classical world with mastery of astrology and other arcane arts.
Officially, Judaism, Christianity and Islam characterize magic as witchcraft, but some forms of magical thinking have existed within these religions throughout some of their history. When these religions' views of magic were later applied to the beliefs of other religions, this had the effect of vilifying tribal shamans and other practitioners of magic.
Muslims, followers of the religion of Islam, believe in magic, but forbid its practice. Muslims believe that two Angels taught magic to mankind in order to test their obedience.
Examples of the suppression of magical belief and practice range from the eradication of neighboring polytheistic tribes by the early Hebrews, to the attempted suppression and eventual appropriation of pagan holidays by the Catholic Church, to the mingled motives of the Conquistadors, to the Salem witch trials of the Puritans. During such periods, the tendency of magic is to become more obscure and esoteric, with a certain element in society always managing to preserve lore and tradition, often in disguised or metaphorical terms. This pattern gave rise to the term occult.
- And they follow that which the devils falsely related against the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon disbelieved not; but the devils disbelieved, teaching mankind magic and that which was revealed to the two angels in Babel, Harut and Marut. Nor did they (the two angels) teach it to anyone till they had said: We are only a temptation, therefore disbelieve not (in the guidance of Allah). And from these two (angels) people learn that by which they cause division between man and wife; but they injure thereby no-one save by Allah's leave. And they learn that which harmeth them and profiteth them not. And surely they do know that he who trafficketh therein will have no (happy) portion in the Hereafter; and surely evil is the price for which they sell their souls, if they but knew. (al-Qur'an 2:102)
The motivation of much scientific enquiry is similar to the motivation of magic; that it is possible to discover the underlying reality behind mundane reality, and that that reality may have laws and princples which may be discovered and controlled. Unlike the practice of magic, science has the scientific method to correct its errors. As the scientific method took hold, astronomy evolved from astrology, and chemistry from alchemy.
Belief in various magical practices has waxed and waned in European and Western history, under pressure from either organised monotheistic religions or from scepticism about the reality of magic, and the ascendency of scientism. The time of the Emperor Julian of Rome, marked by a reaction against the influence of Christianity, saw a revival of magical practices associated with neo-Platonism under the guise of theurgy.
Mediæval authors, under the control of the Church, confined their magic to compilations of wonderlore and collections of spells. Albertus Magnus was credited, rightly or wrongly, with a number of such compilations. Specifically Christianised varieties of magic were devised at this period. During the early Middle Ages, the cult of relics as objects not only of veneration but also of supernatural power arose. Miraculous tales were told of the power of relics of the saints to work miracles, not only to heal the sick, but for purposes like swaying the outcome of a battle. The relics had become amulets, and various churches strove to purchase scarce or valuable examples, hoping to become places of pilgrimage. As in any other economic endeavour, demand gave rise to supply. Tales of the miracle-working relics of the saints were compiled later into quite popular collections like the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine or the Dialogus miraculorum of Caesar of Heisterbach.
There were other, officially proscribed varieties of Christianised magic. The demonology and angelology contained in the earliest grimoires assume a life surrounded by Christian implements and sacred rituals. The underlying theology in these works of Christian demonology encourages the magician to fortify himself with fasting, prayers, and sacraments, so that by using garbled versions of the holy names of God in foreign languages, he can use divine power to coerce demons into appearing and serving his usually lustful or avaricious magical goals. Not surprisingly, the church disapproved of these rites; they are none the less Christianised for all that, and assume a theology of mechanical sacramentalism.
Renaissance humanism saw a resurgence in hermeticism and other Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic. The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of scientism, in such forms as the substitution of chemistry for alchemy, the dethronement of the Ptolemaic theory of the universe assumed by astrology, the development of the germ theory of disease, that restricted the scope of applied magic and threatened the belief systems it relied on. Tensions roused by the Protestant Reformation led to an upswing in witch-hunting, especially in Germany, England, and Scotland; but ultimately, the new theology of Protestantism proved a worse foe to magic by undermining belief in the sort of ritualism that allowed religious rites to be re-purposed towards earthly, magical ends. Scientism, more than religion, proved to be magic's deadliest foe.
More recent periods of renewed interest in magic occurred around the end of the nineteenth century, where Symbolism and other offshoots of Romanticism cultivated a renewed interest in exotic spiritualities. European colonialism, which put Westerners in contact with India and Egypt, re-introduced exotic beliefs to Europeans at this time. Hindu and Egyptian mythology frequently feature in nineteenth century magical texts. The late 19th century spawned a large number of magical organizations, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society, and specifically magical variants on Freemasonry. The Golden Dawn represented perhaps the peak of this wave of magic, attracting cultural celebrities like William Butler Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, and Arthur Machen to its banner.
A further revival of interest in magic was heralded by the repeal, in Great Britain, of the last Witchcraft Act in 1951. This was the cue for Gerald Gardner, now recognised as the founder of Wicca, to publish his first non-fiction book Witchcraft Today, in which he claimed to reveal the existence of a witch-cult that dated back to pre-Christian Europe. Gardner's new religion combined magic and religion in a way that was later to cause people to question the Enlightenment's boundaries between the two subjects.
Gardner's new religion, and many imitators, took off in the atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s, when the counterculture of the hippies also spawned another period of renewed interest in magic, divination, and other occult practices. The various branches of neo-paganism and other new earth religions that have sprung up in Gardner's wake tend to follow his lead in combining the practice of magic and religion. The trend was continued by some heirs to the counterculture; feminists led the way when some launched an independent revival of goddess worship. This brought them into contact with the Gardnerian tradition of magical religion, and deeply influenced that tradition in return.
Modern believers in magic
Many people in the West claim to believe in or practise various forms of magic. The forms of magic they adhere to have been reconstructed from secondary or tertiary sources. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, and their followers are most often credited with the resurgence of magical tradition in the English speaking world of the 20th century, but in their eagerness to reconstruct the lost traditions of the past, they often included elements of questionable authenticity, or manufactured them from whole cloth. Other, similar movements took place at roughly the same time, centred in France and Germany. Thus, any current tradition which acknowledges the natural elements, the seasons, and the practitioner's relationship with the Earth, Gaia, or the Goddess may be correctly regarded as Neopagan, and few such traditions can be sensibly labelled more authentic than any others.
Aleister Crowley preferred the spelling magick, defining it as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will." By this, he included "mundane" acts of will as well as ritual magick. In Magick in Theory and Practice, Chapter XIV, Crowley says:
Although some current practitioners of magic prefer the term pagan, Neopaganism is more correct for scholarly reference to current rituals and traditions. Wicca is a more codified form of modern magic than Neopaganism, again owing much to Crowley and his ilk. Wicca and Neopaganism are very different things from Satanism, which owes its structure and memes primarily to inversions of monotheistic texts.
- What is a Magical Operation? It may be defined as any event in nature which is brought to pass by Will. We must not exclude potato-growing or banking from our definition. Let us take a very simple example of a Magical Act: that of a man blowing his nose.
How does Magic work?
A survey of writings by believers in magic shows that adherents believe that it may work by one or more of these basic principles:
If we analyse the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the Law of Similarity, the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not. [1]
- Natural forces that cannot be detected by science at present, and in fact may not be detectable at all. These magical forces are said to exist in addition to and alongside the four known forces of nature: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force.
- Intervention of spirits similar to these hypothetic natural forces, but with their own consciousness and intelligence. Believers in spirits will often see a whole cosmos of beings of many different kinds, sometimes organized into a hierarchy.
- A mystical power, such as mana, that exists in all things. This power is often said to be dangerous to people.
- A mysterious interconnection in the cosmos that connects and binds all things, above and beyond the natural forces.
- Manipulation of symbols. Adherents of magical thinking believe that symbols can be used for more than representation: they can magically take on a physical quality of the phenomenon or object that they represent. By manipulating symbols, one is said to be able to manipulate the reality that this symbol represents.
- The principles of sympathetic magic of Sir James George Frazer, explicated in his The Golden Bough (third edition, 1911-1915). These principles include the "law of similarity" and the "law of contact" or "contagion." These are systematized versions of the manipulation of symbols. Frazer defined them this way:
Aleister Crowley wrote that ". . . the exaltation of the mind by means of magical practices leads (as one may say, in spite of itself) to the same results as occur in straightforward Yoga." Crowley's magick thus becomes a form of mental, mystical, or spiritual discipline, designed to train the mind to achieve greater concentration. Crowley also made claims for the paranormal effects of magick, suggesting a connection with the first principle in this list. However, he defined any attempt to use this power for a purpose other than aiding mental or mystical attainment as "black magic".
- Concentration or meditation. A certain amount of restricting the mind to some imagined object (or will), according to Aleister Crowley, produces mystical attainment or "an occurrence in the brain characterized essentially by the uniting of subject and object." (Book Four, Part 1: Mysticism) Magick, as defined previously, seeks to aid concentration by constantly recalling the attention to the chosen object (or Will), thereby producing said attainment. For example, if one wishes to concentrate on a God, one might memorize a system of correspondances (perhaps chosen arbitrarily, as this would not affect its usefulness for mystical purposes) and then make every object that one sees "correspond" to said God.
Many more theories exist. Practitioners will often mix these concepts, and sometimes even invent some themselves. In the contemporary current of chaos magic in particular, it is not unusual to believe any concept of magic works.
- The magical power of the subconscious mind. To believers who think they need to convince their subconscious mind to make the changes they want, all spirits and energies are projections and symbols that make sense to the subconscious. A variant of this belief is that the subconscious is capable of contacting spirits, who in turn can work magic.
Religious ritual and magical thinking
Viewed from a non-theistic perspective, many religious rituals and beliefs seem similar to, or identical to, magical thinking.
Related to both magic and prayer is religious supplication. This involves a prayer, of even a sacrifice to a supernatural being or god. This god or being is then asked to intervene on behalf of the person offering the prayer.
The difference, in theory, is that prayer requires the assent of a deity with an independent will, who can deny the request. Magic, by contrast is thought to be effective:
In practice, when prayer doesn't work, it means that the god has chosen not to hear nor grant it; when magic fails, it is because of some defect in the casting of the spell itself. It is no wonder that magic tends to be more formulaic and less extempore than prayer. Ritual is the magician's failsafe, the key to any hope for success, and the explanation for failure.
- by virtue of the operation itself;
- or by the strength of the magician's will;
- or because the magician believes he can command the spiritual beings addressed by his spells.
Magical practices
The basic mechanism of magical practices is the spell, a spoken or written formula which is used in conjunction with a particular set of ingredients. If a spell is properly executed and fails to work, then the spell is a fraud. However, in most instances, the failure of a spell to bring about the desired effect can be attributed to the failure of the person executing the spell to follow the magic formula to the letter.
Generally speaking, there are two types of magic: contagious magic and sympathetic magic. Contagious magic involves the use of physical ingredients which were once in contact with the object or objects one hopes to influence with a spell, and sympathetic magic involves the use of physical objects which resemble the object or objects one hopes to influence.
Varieties of magical practice
There are several historical varieties of magical practice. Generally, magical intentions can be divided into two general areas. The first is divination, which seeks to reveal information. Varieties of divination include:
Necromancy involves the summoning and conversation with spirits. This can be done either to gain information from the spirits; or it can be done with the intention of commanding those spirits, in which it falls under the second general area of magic; that of casting spells. Included in this broad category are a number of specific magical intentions, such as the weather magic of the rain dance, the physical magic of alchemy, or the making of potions and philtres.
- astrology
- augury
- cartomancy
- dowsing
- fortune telling
- geomancy
- I Ching
- omens
- tarot cards
Another method of classifying magic is by "traditions," which in this context typically refer to complexes of magical belief and practice associated with various cultural groups and lineages of transmission. These traditions can compass both divination and spells. Examples of these traditions include:
Some of these traditions are highly specific and culturally circumscribed. Others are more eclectic and syncretistic. When dealing with magic as a tradition, the line often becomes blurry between magic and folk religion.
- hermeticism
- seid
- hoodoo
- New Age
- pow-wow (folk magic)
- ritual magick
- Santeria
- Vodun
- Wicca
Magic in fiction
In considering magic as tradition, a related category concerns magic in fiction, where it serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests. Magic has long been a subject of fictional tales, especially in fantasy fiction, where it has been a mainstay from the days of Homer and Apuleius, down through the tales of the Holy Grail, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and to contemporary authors from J. R. R. Tolkien to Mercedes Lackey and J. K. Rowling (see Magic (Harry Potter)). There may be a well-developed system in fictional magic, or not. It is by no means impossible, moreover, for fictional magic to leap from the pages of fantasy to actual magical practice; such was the fate of the Necronomicon, invented as fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, who sold it so well that there have been several attempts to produce this fabled and dangerous grimoire.
Many mythological or historical magicians have appeared in fictional accounts as well.
See: List of occultists
See also: magical thinking, skepticism, fetishism, animism.
Links: The Academic Study of Miracles and Magic: http://morgan.somethingeasytoremember.co.uk/index.html
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Magic (paranormal)."
Synonyms: SorcerySynonyms: black art (n), black magic (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Sorcery | Verb: practice sorcery;Noun: cast a nativity, conjure, exorcise, charm, enchant; bewitch, bedevil; hoodoo, voodoo; entrance, mesmerize, magnetize; fascinate; (influence); taboo; wave a wand; rub the ring, rub the lamp; cast a spell; call up spirits, call up spirits from the vasty deep; raise spirits from the dead. |
Noun: sorcery; occult art, occult sciences; magic, the black art, necromancy, theurgy, thaumaturgy; demonology, demonomy, demonship; diablerie, bedevilment; witchcraft, witchery; glamor; fetishism, fetichism, feticism; ghost dance, hoodoo; obi, obiism; voodoo, voodooism; Shamanism, vampirism; conjuration; bewitchery, exorcism, enchantment, mysticism, second sight, mesmerism, animal magnetism; od force, odylic force; electrobiology, clairvoyance; spiritualism, spirit rapping, table turning. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Sorcery |
| English words defined with "sorcery": Diabley ♦ Girru ♦ magician ♦ necromancer ♦ obeah, obi, obiism ♦ priest-doctor ♦ sabbat, shaman, sorcerer, Sorceries, Sorcering, sorcerise, sorcerize ♦ Taoism ♦ Veneficious ♦ witchcraft, witchery, witches' Sabbath, wizard. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "sorcery": Coral Beads ♦ INADMISSIBLE ♦ Magic ♦ Needfire ♦ trial ♦ Werewolf. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "sorcery": Voodooism. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Orphen: Scion of Sorcery (2000) Teen Sorcery (1999) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Theater & Movies | |||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | Haiti | Accusations of sorcery, particularly in rural areas, have resulted in mob violence and killings. (references) |
Zimbabwe | The law defines witchcraft as "the use of charms and any other means or devices adopted in the practice of sorcery," and provides punishments for intending to cause disease or injury to any person or animal through the use of witchcraft. (references) | |
Zimbabwe | Since 1997 the Zimbabwe National African Traditional Healers' Association (ZINATHA) has proposed amendments to the 1989 revised law that would redefine witchcraft only as the practice of sorcery with the intent to cause harm, including illness, injury, or death; however, such legislation reportedly has been opposed by mainstream Christian churches. (references) | |
Economic History | Democratic Republic of Congo | Traditional religions embody such concepts as monotheism, animism, vitalism, spirit and ancestor worship, witchcraft, and sorcery and vary widely among ethnic groups; none is formalized. (references) |
Human Rights | Haiti | Moreover, arrests sometimes are made on charges (for example, sorcery or debt) that have no basis in law. (references) |
Burkina Faso | On several occasions during the year, vigilantes destroyed the property of persons accused of sorcery or witchcraft and expelled them from their communities. (references) | |
Women | India | The youth told police that he suspected the woman caused his father's prolonged illness by sorcery. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TRIAL, n. A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the blameless characters of judges, advocates and jurors. In order to effect this purpose it is necessary to supply a contrast in the person of one who is called the defendant, the prisoner, or the accused. If the contrast is made sufficiently clear this person is made to undergo such an affliction as will give the virtuous gentlemen a comfortable sense of their immunity, added to that of their worth. In our day the accused is usually a human being, or a socialist, but in mediaeval times, animals, fishes, reptiles and insects were brought to trial. A beast that had taken human life, or practiced sorcery, was duly arrested, tried and, if condemned, put to death by the public executioner. Insects ravaging grain fields, orchards or vineyards were cited to appeal by counsel before a civil tribunal, and after testimony, argument and condemnation, if they continued in contumaciam the matter was taken to a high ecclesiastical court, where they were solemnly excommunicated and anathematized. In a street of Toledo, some pigs that had wickedly run between the viceroy's legs, upsetting him, were arrested on a warrant, tried and punished. In Naples and ass was condemned to be burned at the stake, but the sentence appears not to have been executed. D'Addosio relates from the court records many trials of pigs, bulls, horses, cocks, dogs, goats, etc., greatly, it is believed, to the betterment of their conduct and morals. In 1451 a suit was brought against the leeches infesting some ponds about Berne, and the Bishop of Lausanne, instructed by the faculty of Heidelberg University, directed that some of "the aquatic worms" be brought before the local magistracy. This was done and the leeches, both present and absent, were ordered to leave the places that they had infested within three days on pain of incurring "the malediction of God." In the voluminous records of this cause celebre nothing is found to show whether the offenders braved the punishment, or departed forthwith out of that inhospitable jurisdiction. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Sorcery" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Sorcery" is used about 99 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 99 | 32,870 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "sorcery": practise sorcery. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "sorcery": sword-and-sorcery. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "sorcery"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | magji (bewitchment, black magic, cantrip, conjuration, enchantment, glamor, glamour, hex, incantation, magic, medicine, necromancy, pishogue, spell, witchcraft, witchery, wizardry). (various references) | |
Arabic | سحر (attractiveness, bedevil, bewitch, bewitchment, catch, charm, conjure, diablerie, enamor, enamour, enchantment, fascinate, fascination, glamor, glamour, incantation, infatuation, loveliness, magic, magnetize, matinee, mesmerize, necromancy, overlook, pleasantness, prestige, quaintness, ravishment, relish, smite, spell, spellbind, temptation, weirdness, witch, witchcraft, witchery, wiz, wizardry, zest), شعوذة (hankey-pankey, hanky panky, jugglery, juggling, magic, quackery, voodoo, witchery). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | магьосничество (diabolism, magic, pishogue, witchcraft). (various references) | |
Chinese | "术 (magic, magical, magically, Sorceries). (various references) | |
Czech | kouzelnictví (magic, sortilege, witchcraft), èarodìjnictví (wizardry), èáry (devilry, magic). (various references) | |
Dutch | toverij (enchantment, witchcraft, wizardry), toverij (magic, witchcraft, wizardry), toverý (enchantment, magic, witchcraft, wizardry). (various references) | |
Esperanto | sorĉo, sorĉado (enchantment, magic, witchcraft, wizardry). (various references) | |
Farsi | جادوگری (Incantation, Voodoo, Witchcraft, Wizardry), افسونگری (Grace, Witchcraft, Wizardry). (various references) | |
Finnish | taikuus (magic, witchcraft), noituus (witchcraft). (various references) | |
French | sortilège, sorcellerie, enchantement, charme. (various references) | |
German | Zauberei (bewitchment, conjuring trick, magic, necromancy, witchcraft, wizardry). (various references) | |
Greek | γοητεία (allurement, bewitchment, charm, fascination, mesmerism, mystique, spell, witchery), μαύρη μαγεία (black art, black magic), μαγεία (bewitchment, fascination, magic, mystique, obi, philtre, theurgy, witchcraft, witchery, witching, wizardry), μαγία. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מקסם (attraction, magic), מכשפות (witchery), אוב (leather bag, magic, necromancy, skin), אשפות (wizardry), כשוף (bewitched, enchanted, enchantment, incantation, magic, spell, witchcraft, witchery), כשפות (magic, witchcraft). (various references) | |
Hungarian | boszorkányság (cantrip, medicine, witchcraft). (various references) | |
Indonesian | sihir (magic). (various references) | |
Italian | stregoneria (spell, witchcraft), sortilegio (spell, witchcraft), magia (charm, enchantment, fascination, glamor, glamour, magic, witchcraft, wizardry). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "法 (magic, witchcraft). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | まほう (magic, witchcraft), まじゅつ (black magic), ふじゅつ (divination, witchcraft), ようじゅつ (black art, black magic, witchcraft), じゅじゅつ (incantation, magic), み"よせ (necromancy, spiritism). (various references) | |
Korean | 마법 (Sorceries). (various references) | |
Manx | obbeeys (charming, enchantment, incantation, magic, occultism, spell-casting, witchcraft, wizardry), obbee (charming), fyssaght. (various references) | |
Papiamen | magia, bruheria. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | orcerysay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | magia (diablerie, incantation, magic, medicine, spell, witchery, wizardry), feitiço (abracadabra, bewitchment, charm, conjuration, enchantment, fetish, juju, witchcraft, witchery), feitiçaria (bewitchment, diabolism, medicine, pishogue, witchcraft, witchery, wizardry), encanto (allurement, amenity, appeal, attraction, beauty, bewitchment, charm, delectation, delight, dribblet, enchantment, endearment, enticement, grace, loveliness, medicine, niceness, pleasantness, prettiness, rapture, ravishment, relish, seduction, spell, style, witchcraft, witchery), bruxaria (bewitchment, diablerie, diabolism, magic, pishogue, spell, witchcraft, wizardry, wonder), artes mágicas (devilry, deviltry, diabolism, magic). (various references) | |
Romanian | vrãjitorie (diabolism, necromancy, spell-work, witchcraft, witchery), magie neagrã (black magic, devilry). (various references) | |
Russian | колдовство (bewitchment, conjuration, enchantment, hoodoo, incantation, magic, medicine, pishogue, sorceries, sortilege, voodoo, voodooism, witchcraft, witchery, wizardry). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | vradžbina (charm, obi, pishogue, spell, theurgy), vračanje (divination, sortilege, witchcraft, witchery), čarolije (witchcraft, witchery). (various references) | |
Spanish | hechicería (bewitchment, wizardry). (various references) | |
Sranan | takrusani (enchantment, magic, witchcraft, wizardry), mapokro (enchantment, magic, witchcraft, wizardry). (various references) | |
Swahili | uchawi (enchantment, magic, witchcraft, wizardry). (various references) | |
Swedish | trolldom (conjuring, deviltry, enchantment, hoodoo, magic, witchcraft, wizardy). (various references) | |
Thai | วิชาการใช้เวทมนตร์. (various references) | |
Turkish | sihir (charm, conjuration, enchantment, fascination, glamor, glamour, incantation, magic, sortilege, spell, witchery), büyücülük (conjuration, diablerie, magic, myalism, necromancy, the black art, voodooism, witchcraft, witchery, wizardry), büyü (charm, enchantment, fascination, glamor, glamour, hex, hoodoo, incantation, magic, maya, medicine, romance, sortilege, spell, the black art, voodoo, witchcraft, witchery). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | чарівництво (bewitchment, cantrip, conjuration, witchcraft, wizardry). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | yêu thuật (devilment, devilry, deviltry, theurgy), phép phù thuỷ. (various references) | |
Welsh | swyn.gyfaredd (amulet, witchcraft). (various references) | |
Yucatec | u meyah xwaay. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | devotione, magia, magice, venefici, veneficia, veneficiis. (various references) |
| Provenal | 1000-Modern | mascoto. (various references) |
| Portugese | 1100-Modern | fetio. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Acts Chapter 8, Verse 9 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Anhr de tiV onomati simwn prouphrcen en th polei mageuwn kai existwn to eqnoV thV samareiaV legwn einai tina eauton megan |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Vir autem quidam nomine Simon qui ante fuerat in civitate magus seducens gentem Samariae dicens esse se aliquem magnum |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Therfor greet ioye was maad in that citee. But there was a man in that citee, whos name was Symount, a witche, that hadde disseyued the folc of Samarie, seiynge, that him silf was sum greet man. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And ther was a certayne man called Simon which before tyme in the same cite vsed witche crafte and bewitched the people of Samarie sayinge that he was a man yt coulde do greate thinges |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | But there was a certain man called Simon, who before in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | But there was a certain man named Simon, who in the past had been a wonder-worker and a cause of surprise to the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was a great man: |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Acts Chapter 8, Verse 9 |
| Albanian | Prej kohësh në atë qytet ishte një njeri që quhej Simon, i cili merrej me magji dhe i bënte të çuditeshin njerëzit e Samarisë, gjoja sikur ishte njeri i madh. |
| Cebuano | Apan sa wala pa kini, dihay usa ka tawo nga ginganlan si Simon nga tigsalamangka didto niadtong lungsora; ug siya nakapahibulong gayud sa mga tawo sa Samaria, ug nag-ingon nga siya gayud maoy usa ka dakung tawo. |
| Chinese | 有 一 個 人 、 名 叫 西 門 、 向 來 在 那 城 裡 行 邪 " 、 妄 自 尊 大 、 使 '' 瑪 利 亞 的 百 " 驚 奇 ． |
| Croatian | Èovjek se neki, imenom imun, u gradu veæ duže bavio èarobnjaštvom i opèaravao narod tvrdeæi da je neki veliki. |
| Danish | Men en Mand, ved Navn Simon, var i Forvejen i Byen og drev Trolddom og satte Samarias Folk i Forbavselse, idet han udgav sig selv for at være noget stort. |
| Dutch | En een zeker man, met name Simon, was te voren in de stad plegende toverij, en verrukkende de zinnen des volks van Samaria, zeggende van zichzelven, dat hij wat groots was. |
| Finnish | Mutta ennestään oli kaupungissa muuan mies, nimeltä Simon, joka harjoitti noituutta ja hämmästytti Samarian kansaa sanoen olevansa jokin suuri; |
| French | Il y avait auparavant dans la ville un homme nommé Simon, qui, se donnant pour un personnage important, exerçait la magie et provoquait l`étonnement du peuple de la Samarie. |
| German | Es war aber ein Mann, mit Namen Simon, der zuvor in der Stadt Zauberei trieb und bezauberte das samaritische Volk und gab vor, er wäre etwas Großes. |
| Haitian Creole | Nan lavil sa a te gen yon nonm yo rele Simon. Metye l' se fè maji. Simon sa a te yon sezisman pou tout moun Samari. Li te fè tèt li pase pou yon grannèg. |
| Hungarian | Egy Simon nevû ember pedig már elõbb gyakorolta abban a városban az ördögi tudományt és elámította Samária népét, magát valami nagynak állítván: |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Di kota itu ada seorang laki-laki bernama Simon, yang sudah beberapa waktu lamanya membuat orang-orang Samaria terpesona akan ilmu sihirnya. Ia mengatakan kepada mereka bahwa ia orang yang luar biasa. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka dahulu daripada itu adalah di negeri itu seorang bernama Simon membuat sihir, serta mengherankan bangsa Samaria itu, dan mengatakan dirinya orang besar-besar. |
| Italian | V'era da tempo in citt un tale di nome Simone, dedito alla magia, il quale mandava in visibilio la popolazione di Samaria, spacciandosi per un gran personaggio. |
| Maori | Na i reira tetahi tangata, ko Haimona te ingoa, he mahi makutu tana i mua atu i roto i taua pa, a miharo ana te iwi o Hamaria, i mea hoki ia i a ia he tangata nui. |
| Norwegian | Men der var en mann ved navn Simon, som før hadde gitt sig av med trolldom i byen og satt folket i Samaria i den største forundring, for han sa sig selv å være stor; |
| Portuguese | Ora, estava ali certo homem chamado Simão, que vinha exercendo naquela cidade a arte mágica, fazendo pasmar o povo da Samária, e dizendo ser ele uma grande personagem; |
| Rumanian | Kn cetate era un om, numit Simon, care zicea cq este un om knsemnat; el vrqjea wi punea kn uimire pe poporul Samariei. |
| Russian | оБИП"ЙМУС ЦЕ Ч ЗПТП"Е ОЕЛПФПТЩК НХЦ, ЙНЕОЕН уЙНПО, ЛПФПТЩК ЕТЕ" ФЕН ЧПМИЧПЧБМ Й ЙЪХНМСМ ОБТП" уБНБТЙКУЛЙК, ЧЩ"БЧБС УЕ'С ЪБ ЛПЗП-ФП ЧЕМЙЛПЗП. |
| Shuar | Tura Nú nunkanam uwishin Semun pujumiayi. Nuikkia wi ímianaitjai tusa Samarianmaya aentsun ananniuyayi. |
| Swahili | Basi, kulikuwa na mtu mmoja aitwaye Simoni ambaye alikuwa amekwisha fanya uchawi wake katika mji huo kwa muda na kuwashangaza watu wa Samaria, akijiona kuwa yeye ni mtu maarufu. |
| Swedish | Nu var där i staden före honom en man vid namn Simon, som hade övat trolldom, så att han hade slagit det samaritiska folket med häpnad, och som sade sig vara något stort. |
| Uma | Hi rala ngata toe, ria hadua tomane to rahanga' Simon. Simon toei hadua topobali'mata. Mahae-imi mpopehuwu pake' -na to rapokakonce to Samaria. Mpo'uli' -i, hi'a tauna to bohe baraka' -na. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Misspellings | |
"Sorcery" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Sarcar, socery, sorbey, sorce, sorcer, sorcory, sourcer, sourcery. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sorcery" (pronounced sô"rserē) |
| 3 | -s er ē | accessory, anniversary, Brasserie, Chancery, compulsory, cursory, dispensary, extrasensory, glossary, grocery, illusory, nursery, rotisserie, sensory. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-o-r-r-s-y" | |
-1 letter: corers, crores, rosery, scorer. | |
-2 letters: ceros, corer, cores, corse, cosey, coyer, crore, oyers, score, serry, sorer, sorry, yores. | |
-3 letters: cero, core, cors, cory, cosy, coys, eros, errs, orcs, ores, oyer, oyes, recs, rocs, roes, rose, rosy, ryes, scry, sore, syce, yore. | |
-4 letters: cor, cos, coy, cry, err, ers, oes, orc, ore, ors, ose, rec. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-o-r-r-s-y" | |
+1 letter: corsetry. | |
+2 letters: secretory. | |
+3 letters: carryovers, clearstory, clerestory, cornerways, cryoprobes, precursory, rescissory. | |
+4 letters: barleycorns, cherrystone, chrysoberyl, chrysoprase, controversy, copyreaders, copywriters, corrosively, cryosurgeon, cryosurgery, persecutory, procaryotes, rediscovery. | |
+5 letters: carbohydrase, chemosurgery, cherrystones, chrysoberyls, chrysoprases, consecratory, conservatory, coprosperity, cryopreserve, cryosurgeons, cryptomerias, cyproterones, erythrocytes, hydrospheric, intercessory, microsurgery, nonsecretory, orchestrally, precariously, prediscovery, psychrometer, psychrometry, recessionary, secretionary, spectrometry, synchronizer. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Bible Trace | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
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