μάγος
Ancient Greek edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐏁 (m-gu-š /maguš/).[1][2]
Pronunciation edit
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /má.ɡos/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈma.ɡos/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈma.ɣos/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈma.ɣos/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈma.ɣos/
Adjective edit
μάγος • (mágos) m or f (neuter μάγον); second declension
Declension edit
Number | Singular | Dual | Plural | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case/Gender | Masculine / Feminine | Neuter | Masculine / Feminine | Neuter | Masculine / Feminine | Neuter | ||||||||
Nominative | μᾰ́γος mágos |
μᾰ́γον mágon |
μᾰ́γω mágō |
μᾰ́γω mágō |
μᾰ́γοι mágoi |
μᾰ́γᾰ mága | ||||||||
Genitive | μᾰ́γου mágou |
μᾰ́γου mágou |
μᾰ́γοιν mágoin |
μᾰ́γοιν mágoin |
μᾰ́γων mágōn |
μᾰ́γων mágōn | ||||||||
Dative | μᾰ́γῳ mágōi |
μᾰ́γῳ mágōi |
μᾰ́γοιν mágoin |
μᾰ́γοιν mágoin |
μᾰ́γοις mágois |
μᾰ́γοις mágois | ||||||||
Accusative | μᾰ́γον mágon |
μᾰ́γον mágon |
μᾰ́γω mágō |
μᾰ́γω mágō |
μᾰ́γους mágous |
μᾰ́γᾰ mága | ||||||||
Vocative | μᾰ́γε máge |
μᾰ́γον mágon |
μᾰ́γω mágō |
μᾰ́γω mágō |
μᾰ́γοι mágoi |
μᾰ́γᾰ mága | ||||||||
Derived forms | Adverb | Comparative | Superlative | |||||||||||
μᾰ́γως mágōs |
μᾰγώτερος magṓteros |
μᾰγώτᾰτος magṓtatos | ||||||||||||
Notes: |
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Descendants edit
- Latin: magus
Noun edit
μάγος • (mágos) m (genitive μάγου); second declension
- (common, nonspecific) magician, and derogatorily sorcerer, trickster, conjurer, charlatan
- (common, specific) a Zoroastrian priest. Compare e.g. Herodotus Hist. 1.132f, Xenophon Cyropedia 8.3.11, Porphyry Life of Pythagoras 12, Heraclitus apud Clemens Protrepticus 12, etc.
- (hapax) name of one of the tribes of the Medes. This usage is only attested once; Herodotus Histories 1.101.
Usage notes edit
- Meanings #1 and #2 overlap in classical usage— both derive from the Greek (and generally Hellenistic) identification of "Zoroaster" as the "inventor" of astrology and magic. The first meaning ('magician') derives from the sense of "practitioner of the Zoroaster's craft", and the second meaning ('priest') from the sense of "practitioner of Zoroaster's religion".
- Meanings #2 and #3 were frequently conflated as one in 18th/19th/early 20th-century usage, giving "name of a Median priestly tribe" or similar. This combined meaning is no longer used in current scholarship.
Declension edit
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ὁ μᾰ́γος ho mágos |
τὼ μᾰ́γω tṑ mágō |
οἱ μᾰ́γοι hoi mágoi | ||||||||||
Genitive | τοῦ μᾰ́γου toû mágou |
τοῖν μᾰ́γοιν toîn mágoin |
τῶν μᾰ́γων tôn mágōn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῷ μᾰ́γῳ tôi mágōi |
τοῖν μᾰ́γοιν toîn mágoin |
τοῖς μᾰ́γοις toîs mágois | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὸν μᾰ́γον tòn mágon |
τὼ μᾰ́γω tṑ mágō |
τοὺς μᾰ́γους toùs mágous | ||||||||||
Vocative | μᾰ́γε máge |
μᾰ́γω mágō |
μᾰ́γοι mágoi | ||||||||||
Notes: |
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Derived terms edit
- μαγικός (magikós)
Descendants edit
- Greek: μάγος (mágos)
- → Coptic: ⲙⲁⲅⲟⲥ (magos)
- → Latin: magus (see there for further descendants)
- → Russian: маг (mag)
References edit
- ^ Kent, Roland G. (1950) Old Persian: grammar, texts, lexicon, New Haven: American Oriental Society
- ^ Tolman, Herbert Cushing (1908) “magu”, in Ancient Persian lexicon and the texts of the Achaemenidan inscriptions transliterated and translated with special reference to their recent re-examination (Vanderbilt Oriental Series; 6), New York/Cincinnati/Chicago: American Book Company, pages 115-116
- “μάγος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- G3097 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- Joseph Bidez and Franz Cumont, Les Mages hellénisés I, Paris, 1973.
Greek edit
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
μάγος • (mágos) m (plural μάγοι, feminine μάγισσα)
Declension edit
declension of μάγος
Related terms edit
- μαγεία f (mageía, “magic”)
- μαγεύω (magévo, “cast a spell, bewitch”)
- μαγικά (magiká, “magically”)
- μάγια f (mágia, “ferment, yeast”)