On terms for "magic" in Indo-European languages

On Terms for “Magic” in Indo-European Languages · In the past twenty years the so-called magic texts of various Indo-European linguistic traditions (Greek, Latin, Indic and Ancient High German especially) have been the object of intense philological and exegetical research which have led to the publication of new texts, the expansion of existing corpora and new interpretations of known texts. Taking its cue from Michaela Essler’s study, this paper discusses various terms referring to witchcraft used in ancient languages (Greek, Latin, Indic, Hittite), for which it suggests new interpretations. Special attention is given to the etymology of the Vedic words krtya- “witchcraft” and yātú- “witchcraft/witchcraft-maker” (with yātudhana- “witchcraft-maker”), as well as to the word family of the Vedic car-+abhí “to bewitch” (with nominal derivations). As regards the first term, in conclusion, not only is the traditionally acknowledged etymology confirmed, but the existence of the meaning “to bewitch” of the root kar- can be traced back to Indo-European. As for yātú- (with yātudhana-), by analysing the attestations and comparing them with their Iranian equivalents, it is possible on one hand to trace the word back to the root yat-; on the other, to suppose that its semantic specialization in the magic sense is to be attributed to the Indo-Iranian period. Finally, concerning car-+abhí, it can be observed that it has the technical meaning of “to bewitch” from the very first attestations and, in order to explain the semantic difference between Ved. abhicara- “magician, sorcerer” and Class. Skt. abhicara- “servant”, the existence of two meanings of the word in accordance with the context of usage is suggested.