sorcerer
pronunciation
How to pronounce sorcerer in British English:
UK [ˈsɔ:sərə(r)]
How to pronounce sorcerer in American English:
US [ˈsɔrsərə(r)]
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- Noun:
- one who practices magic or sorcery
Word Origin
- sorcerer
- sorcerer: [16] A sorcerer is etymologically a drawer of ‘lots’ – for the word comes ultimately from Latin sors ‘lot’ (source also of English sort). The plural sortēs was used for the ‘responses made by oracles’, and this formed the basis of the Vulgar Latin noun *sortārius ‘priest of the oracle’, hence ‘caster of spells’. It passed into English via Old French sorcier as sorser, which was later extended to sorcerer.=> sort
- sorcerer (n.)
- early 15c., "conjurer of evil spirits," displacing earlier sorcer (late 14c.), from Old French sorcier, from Medieval Latin sortarius "teller of fortunes by lot; sorcerer" (also source of Spanish sortero, Italian sortiere-; see sorcery). With superfluous -er, as in poulterer, upholsterer; perhaps the modern form of the word is back-formed from sorcery. Sorcerer's apprentice translates l'apprenti sorcier, title of a symphonic poem by Paul Dukas (1897) based on a Goethe ballad ("Der Zauberlehrling," 1797), but the common figurative use of the term (1952) comes after Disney's "Fantasia" (1940).
Example
- 1. To nitze 's chagrin , the apprentice had disobeyed the sorcerer .
- 2. Or how about this : what if you got blowback from torturing the sorcerer ?
- 3. Sponsored by china central television and mengniu zhenguoli , a soft drink popular with young chinese , the six-day festival opens with " the sorcerer and the white snake " starring kung fu idol jet li .
- 4. There was an evil sorcerer and a great battle , and my parents were saviors .
- 5. A mix of live action and cg animation , the story starts in the middle ages , when the maladroit sorcerer gargamel ( hank azaria ) finally discovers the location of smurf village .