{"id":7271,"date":"2026-02-22T02:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T02:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=7271"},"modified":"2026-02-22T03:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T03:06:51","slug":"word-of-the-day-magi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2026\/02\/22\/word-of-the-day-magi\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Magi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day is magi<\/em>. Pronounced \/ \u02c8me\u026a d\u0292a\u026a \/ or \/ \u02c8m\u00e6d\u0292 a\u026a \/, with a soft g<\/em>, magi<\/em> is the plural of magus<\/em> and means \u201cthe class of Zoroastrian priests in ancient Media and Persia, reputed to possess supernatural powers\u201d or \u201cpeople who are believed to have expertise in interpreting the assumed influence of the stars, moon, and planets on human affairs; astrologers\u201d or \u201cin the Bible, the astrologers who paid homage to the young child Jesus, traditionally assumed to be three in number and to be named Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/magi<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merriam-Webster gives \u201ca member of a hereditary priestly class among the ancient Medes and Persians\u201d and \u201cone of the traditionally three wise men from the East paying homage to the infant Jesus\u201d (https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/magus<\/a>). It also offers as synonyms magician<\/em> and sorcerer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word first appears in English \u201cc. 1200, \u2018skilled magicians, astrologers,\u2019 from Latin magi<\/em>, plural of magus \u2018<\/em>magician, learned magician,\u2019 from Greek magos<\/em>, a word used for the Persian learned and priestly class as portrayed in the Bible (said by ancient historians to have been originally the name of a Median tribe), from Old Persian magush \u2018<\/em>magician\u2019 (see magic<\/strong>). Also, in Christian history, the \u2018wise men\u2019 who, according to Matthew, came from the east to Jerusalem to do homage to the newborn Christ (late 14c.)\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/Magus<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magic first appears \u201clate 14c., magike<\/em>, \u2018art of influencing or predicting events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces,\u2019 also \u2018supernatural art,\u2019 especially the art of controlling the actions of spiritual or superhuman beings; from Old French magique \u2018<\/em>magic; magical,\u2019 from Late Latin magice \u2018<\/em>sorcery, magic,\u2019 from Greek magik\u0113 <\/em>(presumably with tekhn\u0113 \u2018<\/em>art\u2019), fem. of magikos \u2018<\/em>magical.\u2019 This is from magos \u2018<\/em>one of the members of the learned and priestly class,\u2019 a borrowing of Old Persian magush<\/em>, which is possibly from PIE root *magh-<\/strong> \u2018to be able, have power.\u2019
\u201cThe transferred sense of \u2018legerdemain, optical illusion, etc.\u2019 is from 1811.
\u201cIt displaced Old English wiccecr\u00e6ft <\/em>(see witch<\/strong>); also drycr\u00e6ft<\/em>, from dry \u2018<\/em>magician,\u2019 from Irish drui \u2018<\/em>priest, magician\u2019 (see Druid<\/strong>)\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/magic<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighty years ago this month, \u201cthe Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer, capable of performing thousands of calculations per second\u201d (https:\/\/entechonline.com\/historical-events-in-february\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of ENIAC\u2019s most revolutionary contributions was its ability to be reprogrammed to solve complex numerical problems. Specifically, what set it apart from other machines of the time was that it could be rewired to perform different calculations rather than being fixed for a single task. ENIAC could execute \u2018conditional branches\u2019\u2014operations that allowed it to switch between different calculations based on intermediate results. In other words, ENIAC could perform \u2018if this, then that\u2019 operations\u201d (https:\/\/penntoday.upenn.edu\/news\/penns-eniac-worlds-first-electronic-computer-turns-80<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarlier machines were sophisticated but limited, relying on clunky gears and rotating shafts that had to physically mesh to perform a calculation. This reliance on the physical world limited their speed.
\u201cENIAC, however, harnessed the flow of electrons. Using more than 17,000 vacuum tubes as near-instant switches, it was able to perform calculations far faster than mechanical relays, accelerating the development of the hydrogen bomb (known as the \u2018Super\u2019) and ushering in the digital age\u201d (ibid.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Programming this flexibility required what historians have described as a ‘physical hack’ of the hardware, and the work fell to six pioneering women: Frances Bilas Spence, Jean Jennings Bartik, Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum, Betty Snyder Holberton, Kay McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, and Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer. As the first digital-age programmers, they translated logic into electronic signals for ENIAC to interpret\u201d (ibid.). It\u2019s interesting that the first real computer programmers were women since the stereotype is that programmers are men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder what the engineers and programmers who created ENIAC would think of the prevalence of computers today\u2014smart phones, cars, the internet of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third of Arthur C. Clarke\u2019s three laws states, \u201cAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Clarke%27s_three_laws<\/a>). \u201cIt was published in a 1968 letter to Science<\/em> magazine and eventually added to the 1973 revision of the “Hazards of Prophecy” essay,\u201d an essay that Clarke wrote in 1962 which contained his first two laws. He added to it with the third law later. ENIAC would certainly have seemed like magic to people of the past, and the iPhone might seem like magic to people in the 1940s. And I guess the users of the iPhone would look like magi to them, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s image is of \u201cENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer, undergoing maintenance.\u201d The caption in the article says, \u201cReplacing a bad tube meant checking among ENIAC\u2019s 19,000 possibilities\u201d (https:\/\/entechonline.com\/historical-events-in-february\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day is magi. Pronounced \/ \u02c8me\u026a d\u0292a\u026a \/ or \/ \u02c8m\u00e6d\u0292 a\u026a \/, with a soft g, magi is the plural of magus and means \u201cthe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[238,954,395,284,953],"class_list":["post-7271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-dictionary","tag-eniac","tag-etymology","tag-linguistics","tag-magi","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7273,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271\/revisions\/7273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}