Goetia
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Goeteia (goēteia, γοητεια) is an Ancient Greek word for "magic, witchcraft, jugglery". Goēs means "sorcerer" or "quack". probably related is goētēs "wailer" (Aeschylus, Ch.), ultimately from a PIE root *gevh2 "shout, howl".
During the Renaissance goeteia (Latinized goetia, French goétie, English goety) was sometimes contrasted with magia as Black (evil) vs. White Magic.
"Ars Goetia" is the title of the first section of the 17th century grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon.
The term plays a certain role in the discussion of magic in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, because it appears in an unsent letter draft (Letters, no. 155), apparently in a sense corresponding to sanwe-latya, but it was not used by Tolkien in any other known instance.
External links
- entry in yourdictionary.com (http://www.yourdictionary.com/wotd/wotd.pl?date=2004-10-28)