‖ Magus
(ˈmeɪgəs)
Pl. Magi (ˈmeɪdʒaɪ); also 4 magy.
[L., a. Gr. µάγος, a. OPersian magu-s.]
1. Hist. A member of the ancient Persian priestly caste, said by ancient historians to have been originally a Median tribe. Hence, in wider sense, one skilled in Oriental magic and astrology, an ancient magician or sorcerer.
| sing. [c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 184 Ther saugh I Hermes Ballenus, Lymote, and eek Simon Magus.] 1621 Quarles Div. Poems, Esther (1638) 93 Tyrant Cambyses being dead and gone,..Mounts up a Magus, with dissembled right. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 214 Let me rather busie my brains in quest of what a Magus was..under which Title, many Witches, Sorcerers..and other Diaboliques have cloakt their trumperies. 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 516 Thy Magus, Goddess! shall perform the rest. 1805 H. K. White Let. 10 Nov. Remains (1816) I. 207, I have as much expectation of gaining it, as of being elected supreme magus over the mysteries of Mithra. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 192 The Magus Zoroaster. |
| plur. [c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 49 Seynt Austyn seiþ þat þis word Magi in the tung of Chaldee is as moche to seye as a Philosophre.] 1555 W. Watreman Fardle of Facions ii. vii. K iv b, [In Persia] their Magi (that is to say men skylfull in y⊇ secretes of nature). 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxiii. vi. 231 In these tracts lye the fertile fields of the Magi. 1614 Sylvester Bethulias Rescue v. 301 You Parthians, Cossians, and Arabians too, By your sad Magi's deep prophetlike Charms Sacredly counsell'd. 1711 Pope Temp. Fame 97 There in long robes the royal Magi stand, Grave Zoroaster waves the circling wand. 1864 Pusey Lect. Daniel vii. 418 Among the Persians, those who are wise as to the Deity, and are its ministers, are called Magi. |
b. Applied by Irish historians to the heathen sorcerers who opposed
St. Patrick.
| 1822 Lanigan Eccl. Hist. Irel. I. 224 Leogaire..set out..with a considerable number of followers and one or two of the principal Magi. 1845 Petrie Round Towers Irel. ii. ii. 132 Quoted as the composition of a certain magus of the name of Con, in the ancient Life of St. Patrick. 1887 Sir D. O. Hunter Blair tr. A. Bellesheim's Hist. Cath. Ch. of Scotl. I. 72 Thereupon the Magi, or Druadh, bitterly reproached the parents for their adoption of Christianity. Ibid. I. 73 Broichan, the Magus of King Brude. |
c. transf.| 1851 Carlyle Sterling ii. ii. (1872) 94 His Father,..the magus of the Times, had talk and argument ever ready. |
2. spec. the (three) Magi: the three ‘wise men’ who came from the East, bearing offerings to the infant Christ.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 81 Wherfore and whi wyse men that tyme, Maistres and lettred men Magy [C. Magi] hem called. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 13 The Magi that came to Christ. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Balthasar,..one of the Magi, or wise-men, vulgarly called the three Kings of Collein. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 405 A golden medal, said to be among the offerings of the eastern magi to Jesus Christ. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 281 Whence the wise men of the East who came to see Christ are called simply Magi. |