"To
enchant
: this word means to bewitch
", declared Richelet in 1680. "To
enchant.
To use magic, diabolical art to work some wonder which stops the course of nature.
The Sirens enchanted with their songs
”, insists Furetière in his Universal Dictionary in 1690. Let us remember that Ulysses had to be tied to the mast of his boat to avoid succumbing to the voice of these bewitching creatures.
Does this mean that the song is the work of the devil?
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What is the origin of the word "enchant"?
It must be admitted that the verb to
enchant,
at the origin of the enchantment, is borrowed from the Latin
incantare
(singing magic formulas, consecrating with charms, bewitching).
However, the latter is itself derived from sorcerer
"the one who, according to the opinion of the people, has an express pact with the Devil", it
is indicated, in 1762, in the fourth edition of the
Dictionary of the French Academy
.
From wand to broom, it is easy to see the work of the Evil One.
But it must be remembered that the sorcerer or the witch is, at the origin,
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