sorcery

English

Etymology

From Middle English sorcery, borrowed from Middle French sorcerie, ultimately derived from Latin sors (“fate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind”). Cognate with serō, seriēs, sermō. Compare also French sorcier.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: sôr'sərē, IPA^(key): /ˈsɔɹ.sə.ɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔː.sə.ɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

sorcery (countable and uncountable, plural sorceries)

1. Magical power; the use of witchcraft or magic arts.

   The tale is full of magic and sorcery.

   In the Middle Ages, people were often accused of practicing sorcery.

2. Black magic.

Synonyms

• black magic
• hexcraft
• magic
• spellcasting
• spellcraft
• warlockry
• witchcraft
• wizardcraft
• wizardry

Derived terms

• sword and sorcery

Related terms

• sorcerer
• sorceress
• sort

Translations

magical power

Akkadian: 𒆠𒅖𒁍 m pl (kišpū) Arabic: سِحْر (ar) m (siḥr) Egyptian Arabic: سحر (siḥr) Armenian: կախարդություն (hy) (kaxardutʻyun) Bulgarian: вълшебство (bg) n (vǎlšebstvo), магьосничество n (magjosničestvo) Burmese: ပယောဂ (my) (pa.yau:ga.) Catalan: fetilleria f Chichewa: matsenga class 6 Chinese: Mandarin: 妖術 / 妖术 (zh) (yāoshù), 巫術 / 巫术 (zh) (wūshù), 魔術 / 魔术 (zh) (móshù), 魔法 (zh) (mófǎ),魔力 (zh) (mólì) Danish: trolddom c, hekseri c, magi (da) c, heksekunst c Dutch: tovenarij (nl) f, hekserij (nl) f, wichelarij (nl) f Egyptian: (ḥkꜣ m) Esperanto: sorĉado Ewe: dzosasa Finnish: noituus (fi), noitavoima French: sorcellerie (fr) f Galician: magacía f, meiguería (gl) f, feiticeiría f, xorxinería f, bruxeiría f, bruxaría (gl) f, bruxedo m German: Zauberei (de) f, Hexerei (de) f Gothic: 𐌻𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍃𐌴𐌹 f (lubjaleisei) Greek: Ancient: μαγεία f (mageía), γοητεία f (goēteía) Hindi: माया (hi) f (māyā) Hungarian: varázslás (hu), mágia (hu), kuruzslás (hu) Ingrian: noijitus, noijitos Irish: draíocht f, asarlaíocht f Italian: stregoneria (it) f Japanese: 魔術 (ja) (まじゅつ, majutsu), 巫術 (ふじゅつ, fujutsu), 魔法 (ja) (まほう, mahō) Korean: 마법(魔法) (ko) (mabeop), 요술(妖術) (ko) (yosul) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سیحربازی (sîḧirbazî) Latin: magia (la), veneficium n, magice, artes magicae f pl, artes magae f pl, (harmful) maleficium Maori: mākutu, whaiwhaiā Middle Persian: [script needed] (yʾtwkyh /⁠jādūgīh⁠/) Ngarrindjeri: ngadhungi Norman: chorchell'lie f Norwegian: trolldom m Old English: drȳcræft m Persian: جادو (fa) (jâdu), فرهست (fa) (farhast) Plautdietsch: Hakjsarie n, Hakjsenkonst f, Zaubarie f Polish: czary (pl), czarnoksięstwo (pl) n, czarna magia (pl) f, magia (pl) f Portuguese: feitiçaria (pt) f, bruxaria (pt), bruxedo m, magia (pt) f, mágica (pt) f Russian: колдовство́ (ru) n (koldovstvó), волшебство́ (ru) n (volšebstvó), ча́ры (ru) f pl (čáry), ма́гия (ru) f (mágija), ворожба́ (ru) f (vorožbá), чароде́йство (ru) n (čarodéjstvo) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: врачарство n, врачање n, врачарија f, враџбина f Roman: vračarstvo n, vračanje (sh) n, vračarija (sh) f, vradžbina (sh) f Spanish: brujería (es) f, magia (es) f Swedish: trolldom (sv) c Tibetan: མཐུ (mthu) Turkish: büyü (tr), yada (tr), efsun (tr), sihir (tr) Vietnamese: yêu thuật (vi) (妖術), ma thuật (vi) (魔術) Welsh: dewiniaeth f

See also

• Sorcery in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sorcerye, sorcerie, sorcere, socerry, soserye, socerye

Etymology

From Middle French sorcerie, from Old French sorcerie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɔrsəˈriː(ə)/, /sɔrsəˈreː(ə)/
• (with /rs/→/s/) IPA^(key): /sɔsəˈriː(ə)/, /sɔsəˈreː(ə)/

Noun

sorcery (plural sorceries)

1. sorcery, wizardry, magic
2. A supernatural event

Related terms

• sorcerere
• sorceresse

Descendants

• English: sorcery
• Scots: sorcery

References

• “sorcerī(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 11 April 2018.