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magic

The magi were a priestly caste of ancient Media and Persia; Greeks used their name for sorcerers, and Latin magicus gave us magic. Aramaic and Arabic kept the older meaning, 'Zoroastrians', while the Romance languages, German, Russian and Japanese took the sorcery.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Old Persian to Aramaic, Arabic

From Ancient Greek to Koine Greek

From Ancient Greek to Russian

From Latin to Italian

From Latin to Spanish

From Latin to Portuguese

From Old French to French, German

From English to Japanese

520 BCEOld Persian

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

The road to English

From Old Persian to Aramaic, Arabic

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