Origin of Mages
January 13th 2009 19:31
Seen this all over the net...if it's not PD, I'll take it down
The word 'mage' has become universally recognized as one of the terms used to describe a practitioner of magic. Most people assume it is and use it as a shorthand term for the word 'magician,' but the word 'mage' actually has deeper roots than that. By looking in the Oxford Dictionary of Etymology I found out its linguistic origins...and it doesn't have a lot to do with the word 'magician.'
Mage comes from the words magi (plural) and magus (singular) which are both Latin words. If you're familiar with the Christmas story in the Bible, the three wise men who came to see baby Jesus were also known as Magi. In Greek, the word was magos. This word was used to describe someone who's a member of a learned, priestly caste from Persia. So in one sense, the word 'mage' simply means wise man, or learned man. This certainly fits the stereotypical persona of mages in fantasy.
But another linguistic link it has is to the Old Persian word 'magush,' which meant magician. Various other links through old languages it has are to the words druid, witch, witchcraft, sorcery, etc. It's pretty interesting to see how a word with such fictitious connotations actually sprang from old words used to describe real types of people, or people who were thought to be able to use magic. Note that I do not believe in "magic" in the real world...I believe in optical illusions, tricks, and medicinal things that might seem like magic; but I do not believe that magic, as it is described in fiction, can actually exist in the real world.
Despite the word's linguistic underpinnings in the real world, the vast majority of modern readers don't know these things. As far as our culture goes, literary and extraliterary, the word 'mage' has been thoroughly fictionalized. It now is associated with a slew of B-list sword-and-sorcery novels, role-playing games, and video games. Therefore, a lot of fantasy writers tend to shy away from using the word mage in their stories, for fear of having their writing associated with video games and such.
R. Scott Bakker called his wizards, well, 'wizards,' and also he used the words magus and magi. I think this was a smart decision, since magus and magi are not the same as 'mage,' according to our culture, and they hearken back to the wise men of biblical times.
It's becoming harder to find terms to describe magic users, and even to describe magic itself, without fear of having the writing be marginalized into the fantasy slush pile. Anyone who can breathe new life into these words, or who can find clever and original new ways of describing magic and the people who use them, kudos to them for accomplishing a difficult task.
P.S.
So, apparently it's Tuesday and not Wednesday...shows what starting a new semester does to my brain. So I'll switch it up this week and talk tomorrow about Fantasy in the media, though in subsequent weeks Tuesday will be about media and Wednesday will be about words. See you tomorrow!
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