Magic terms

[CopperheadKitty]

I was reading how witch, wizard, warlock, etc mean different things and weren’t actually a gendered thing, but I’m unsure as to what my magic people qualify as. They use wands and basically affect the elements; blasting fire or air, make plants grow rapidly, and healing magic. They can also make potions.

I should probably add that they naturally have magic because they have some fairy blood in them, but require a tool (like a wand) in order to use their magic unlike full blooded fairies

 

[Queshire]

It's 100% up to you.

For example, in Dungeons & Dragons:

>Wizards obtain their magical power through years of study and hard work.

>Sorcerers have magic in the blood. It manifests spontaneously and if they need magic training it's in just how to control their magic, not use it in the first place.

>Warlocks gain their powers from powerful patrons. While classical devils are an option so are options for being granted your power by a fairy queen or an angel.

But in the urban fantasy series of the Dresden Files

>Wizards are the top 10% of magic users. They need to pass certain benchmarks with the power of their magic and different types of magic they can use to be called wizards.

>Sorcerers are magic users that either can't or don't use the settings slower ritual magic. Instead they focus solely on the settings combat magic. Due to that specialization they're seen as lesser than wizards regardless of the power of their magic.

>Warlocks are any magic user that breaks the setting's laws of magic. Basically the evil magic users.

Compared to those two in Harry Potter both Witch & Wizars are just gendered terms and Warlock just refers to any wizard/witch known for their dueling skills along with sometimes being granted as a title of recognization like how people were knighted in ye olde times.

 

[Chasejxyz]

Yeah, it's whatever you want it to be. A lot of people default to the DnD definitions since that's what they know, but usually each word has some perceptions/notions already attached to them. Like a wizard is a really old man who did a ton of academic study to learn magic, a witch is a woman who uses potions, herbs and animal parts to cast hexes and charms, while a sorcerer is probably more likely to be evil. That doesn't mean that you have to use the words like that, but if you're going to do so differently then you'll have to make that clear in the story, as the reader will assume something else and get thrown for a loop when they discover you're talking about something totally else. You can even make up words if you want to, it's your story, do whatever you want.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Because of them being part fairy (in blood at least) you may want to use your own term to describe these characters.

 

[Patrick-Leigh]

In my story setting, the general term for people who use Arcane Magic is "Mage." Spells are categorized by Tier (complexity) and Level (magnitude.) A Mage who can cast Spells above a certain Level is called a Magus while a Mage who can cast Spells of the highest Levels is called a Magnus. A Mage who can cast Spells from each Class (School) of Magic is called an Archmage, with Archmagus and Archmangus indicating how powerful they are. (I'm still not sure how to indicate what Tier of Spells a Mage can cast, though. I haven't found a term that suggests complexity.) Mages come in more than one variety, though. Depending on their areas of specialization, they are given different titles, just like doctors who specialize in different things are called different names.

People who make Arcane Devices are known as Enchanters and Arcane Engineers. Enchanters store Spell parameters inside of Spell Gems (basically magical microchips that hold the "software" of a Spell) while Arcane Engineers build the devices themselves and install the Spell Gems into them. Most Arcane Engineers are able to do enchanting on a basic level, though not always, and some Enchanters may dabble in Arcane Engineering. Then there's Alchemy. Alchemy is a fusion of Arcane Magic and chemistry, where you use Reagents and Spellcasting to create things like Potions, Tonics, Elixirs, Remedies, and other kinds of Alchemical products, like magical glues and solvents, bombs, and other useful things. Within Alchemy, you have different kinds of specializations. Apothecaries are Alchemists who make medicines, for instance. In all cases, however, the Alchemist must be able to control Aethyr on at least a basic level.

This is just Arcane Magic. Another form of magic is Psionics, which uses Psi-Energy (usually just called Psi) to power Technics. There are two main branches of Psionics - Psychic and Phrenic. Psychic Psionics are obviously mental in nature while Phrenic Psionics are physical. Practitioners of the former are called Psychics and practitioners of the latter are called Phrenics. Most Psions fall into one of these two categories but do have at least one or two Technics they can use from the other category. So, a Psychic Psion might be able to use Psychokinesis (a Phrenic Technic) while a Phrenic Psion might be able to use Telepathy or Empathy (both of which are Psychic Technics.)

Next you have Divine Magic, which is powered by Holy or Profane energy. There's a whole bunch of variety in this category, but most people who use Divine Magic are called Clerics, Priests/Priestesses, Oracles, or Sages. A subcategory of Divine Magic is the Dark Arts, which only use Profane energy that is granted by Demons with whom a person has made a pact. Practitioners of the Dark Arts are collectively called Maleficar. These are your classic Witches, Warlocks, Witch Doctors, etc., though I'm trying to avoid those terms since I know some people will throw a fit if I do but mostly because Maleficar just sounds better to my ear. Regardless of what they're called, these are the people who can do things like Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses. The Dark Arts are also very quid pro quo in how they work, requiring payment of some kind to the Demons in order to obtain the power to perform them.

My point in sharing all this is to demonstrate how different types of magic can and probably should result in different names for those who use it. Different kinds of scientists are given different titles, after all, so why should the same not also be the case for magic users?

 

[Chasejxyz]

I've decided that the term for a magic-user in my setting is....nothing. The majority of sapient species have the ability to use magic, and to them it's as natural as walking on 2 (or 4) legs or breathing air. You don't have a special term for those things, it's just a part of your being. Yeah there's fancy terms like "biped" but that's only suitable for fancy academic talk, you don't see a fellow person walking around and think "ah yes, that is a biped." Specific terms are based on the applications of it. Healer, Seer, shapechanger etc. Like how we say jogger, marathoner, power walker, works on their feet all day. You can say "magic user" if you need to call it a thing, but it's generally assumed you can do it if you're species X.

This all makes sense in my situation because of the world I have (7 "origin" sapient species plus a number of hybrid/descendent kinds) and the context of the story itself (an academic is sharing the results of her research on a lost kingdom's history, and you, dear reader, have a casual interest in such things). The assumption of the (fictional) author is that you probably can use magic, or that you've learned of it in school, and that you're not of the sort to assume that the ability to use magic is what separates sapient kinds from mere animals (or that if you do then the book will change your opinion on that matter). The framing story/context of the story gives me a lot of interesting options for word choice which has freed me from having to make up a bunch of new words, which is something I am very bad at doing. It's always good to play to your strengths and weaknesses.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

In my story setting, the general term for people who use Arcane Magic is "Mage." Spells are categorized by Tier (complexity) and Level (magnitude.) A Mage who can cast Spells above a certain Level is called a Magus while a Mage who can cast Spells of the highest Levels is called a Magnus. A Mage who can cast Spells from each Class (School) of Magic is called an Archmage, with Archmagus and Archmangus indicating how powerful they are. (I'm still not sure how to indicate what Tier of Spells a Mage can cast, though. I haven't found a term that suggests complexity.) Mages come in more than one variety, though. Depending on their areas of specialization, they are given different titles, just like doctors who specialize in different things are called different names.

People who make Arcane Devices are known as Enchanters and Arcane Engineers. Enchanters store Spell parameters inside of Spell Gems (basically magical microchips that hold the "software" of a Spell) while Arcane Engineers build the devices themselves and install the Spell Gems into them. Most Arcane Engineers are able to do enchanting on a basic level, though not always, and some Enchanters may dabble in Arcane Engineering. Then there's Alchemy. Alchemy is a fusion of Arcane Magic and chemistry, where you use Reagents and Spellcasting to create things like Potions, Tonics, Elixirs, Remedies, and other kinds of Alchemical products, like magical glues and solvents, bombs, and other useful things. Within Alchemy, you have different kinds of specializations. Apothecaries are Alchemists who make medicines, for instance. In all cases, however, the Alchemist must be able to control Aethyr on at least a basic level.

This is just Arcane Magic. Another form of magic is Psionics, which uses Psi-Energy (usually just called Psi) to power Technics. There are two main branches of Psionics - Psychic and Phrenic. Psychic Psionics are obviously mental in nature while Phrenic Psionics are physical. Practitioners of the former are called Psychics and practitioners of the latter are called Phrenics. Most Psions fall into one of these two categories but do have at least one or two Technics they can use from the other category. So, a Psychic Psion might be able to use Psychokinesis (a Phrenic Technic) while a Phrenic Psion might be able to use Telepathy or Empathy (both of which are Psychic Technics.)

Next you have Divine Magic, which is powered by Holy or Profane energy. There's a whole bunch of variety in this category, but most people who use Divine Magic are called Clerics, Priests/Priestesses, Oracles, or Sages. A subcategory of Divine Magic is the Dark Arts, which only use Profane energy that is granted by Demons with whom a person has made a pact. Practitioners of the Dark Arts are collectively called Maleficar. These are your classic Witches, Warlocks, Witch Doctors, etc., though I'm trying to avoid those terms since I know some people will throw a fit if I do but mostly because Maleficar just sounds better to my ear. Regardless of what they're called, these are the people who can do things like Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses. The Dark Arts are also very quid pro quo in how they work, requiring payment of some kind to the Demons in order to obtain the power to perform them.

My point in sharing all this is to demonstrate how different types of magic can and probably should result in different names for those who use it. Different kinds of scientists are given different titles, after all, so why should the same not also be the case for magic users?

Patrick-Leigh, at it again. Seriously, when you publish your book I desperately want to read it.

 

[Patrick-Leigh]

Well, I'm planning to get started on the first draft for National Novel Writing Month, so, hopefully, it won't be long before you can!

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

Hip Hip....ow! My hip! Hooray!

 

[Mad Swede]

I was reading how witch, wizard, warlock, etc mean different things and weren’t actually a gendered thing, but I’m unsure as to what my magic people qualify as. They use wands and basically affect the elements; blasting fire or air, make plants grow rapidly, and healing magic. They can also make potions.

I should probably add that they naturally have magic because they have some fairy blood in them, but require a tool (like a wand) in order to use their magic unlike full blooded fairies

I'd suggest to you that your magical people qualify as whatever you want them to be. After all, it's your fantasy world and your rules and definitions apply. The only thing you really need to do is ensure your system of magic is fully worked out and relatively consistent with the rest of the world you've created. Examples of this sort of thing might be the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Belgariad and the First Law series - these all have their own definitions and structure for magical people.

 

[Aldarion]

CopperheadKitty

You could draw on etymology (I often do). For example:

• WARLOCK. From Middle English warloghe, warlowe, warloȝe, from Old English wǣrloga (“traitor, deceiver”, literally “truce-breaker”) 1. So due to negative implications of the original word, warlock might be a practicioner of dark arts; you might also draw onto alternative if unlikely etymological interpretation of Old Norse varðlokkur, which is a caller of spirits. So basically a dark wizard which enslaves spirits of the deceased and uses them to do his bidding.
• WITCH. From Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“sorceress, witch”) f. and wicca (“witch, sorcerer, warlock”) m., deverbative from wiccian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell, warn”), Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse, divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; separate”);[1] akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”). 2 So witch could be a person who is capable of seeing into the future, of foretelling events through magic; basically a soothsayer but capable also of influencing the events. Due to the links to consecration and separation (weyk, vinakti) and life-force (viekas), witches would also be magic users which focus primarily on healing, including removal of curses and spells which cause ailments or make objects dangerous.
• WIZARD. From Middle English wysard, wysarde, equivalent to wise +‎ -ard. WIS, From Proto-Germanic *wīsaz, from Proto-Indo-European *weydstos (“knowledgeable”), an extension of *weyd- (“to see, to know”). In other words, wizard would be a "wise person", but in this interpretation it could mean "person wise to the ways of the world", "holder of arcane knowledge". In other words, a user of magic but not just any user of magic, but rather one who studies the magic, its nature, hidden ways, and uses this knowledge to advance magic - creating new spells, acting as a mentor to young magic users, and so on.
• SORCERER. From Middle English sorcerere, borrowed from Old French sorcier, from Vulgar Latin *sortiarius, from Latin sors, sortis (“oracular response”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sort, lineup”). SORS, SORTIS, From Proto-Italic *sortis, from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind”). Cognate with serō, seriēs, sermō. So basically a person who "binds"; most obvious possibility for this would be a magic user who uses spirits and ghosts to do his bidding and commune with them, but without the negative implications of a warlock (in other words, rather than "enslaving" spirits as warlock does, sorcerer would enter a "contract"). "Sors" also means fate, destiny, so sorcerer could also be a person who communes with spirits in order to gain knowledge of the future (thus overlapping with a witch, above).
• MAGICIAN. From Middle English magicien, from Middle French magicien; equivalent to magik +‎ -ien. A general(ist) magic user, one who uses magic but does not fit into any of the above categories.
  
  

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

CopperheadKitty

You could draw on etymology (I often do). For example:

• WARLOCK. From Middle English warloghe, warlowe, warloȝe, from Old English wǣrloga (“traitor, deceiver”, literally “truce-breaker”) 1. So due to negative implications of the original word, warlock might be a practicioner of dark arts; you might also draw onto alternative if unlikely etymological interpretation of Old Norse varðlokkur, which is a caller of spirits. So basically a dark wizard which enslaves spirits of the deceased and uses them to do his bidding.
• WITCH. From Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“sorceress, witch”) f. and wicca (“witch, sorcerer, warlock”) m., deverbative from wiccian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell, warn”), Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse, divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; separate”);[1] akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”). 2 So witch could be a person who is capable of seeing into the future, of foretelling events through magic; basically a soothsayer but capable also of influencing the events. Due to the links to consecration and separation (weyk, vinakti) and life-force (viekas), witches would also be magic users which focus primarily on healing, including removal of curses and spells which cause ailments or make objects dangerous.
• WIZARD. From Middle English wysard, wysarde, equivalent to wise +‎ -ard. WIS, From Proto-Germanic *wīsaz, from Proto-Indo-European *weydstos (“knowledgeable”), an extension of *weyd- (“to see, to know”). In other words, wizard would be a "wise person", but in this interpretation it could mean "person wise to the ways of the world", "holder of arcane knowledge". In other words, a user of magic but not just any user of magic, but rather one who studies the magic, its nature, hidden ways, and uses this knowledge to advance magic - creating new spells, acting as a mentor to young magic users, and so on.
• SORCERER. From Middle English sorcerere, borrowed from Old French sorcier, from Vulgar Latin *sortiarius, from Latin sors, sortis (“oracular response”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sort, lineup”). SORS, SORTIS, From Proto-Italic *sortis, from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind”). Cognate with serō, seriēs, sermō. So basically a person who "binds"; most obvious possibility for this would be a magic user who uses spirits and ghosts to do his bidding and commune with them, but without the negative implications of a warlock (in other words, rather than "enslaving" spirits as warlock does, sorcerer would enter a "contract"). "Sors" also means fate, destiny, so sorcerer could also be a person who communes with spirits in order to gain knowledge of the future (thus overlapping with a witch, above).
• MAGICIAN. From Middle English magicien, from Middle French magicien; equivalent to magik +‎ -ien. A general(ist) magic user, one who uses magic but does not fit into any of the above categories.
  

To expand on your terms, an enchanter is historically someone who puts things under long-lasting spells- such as a curse or an imbued ability, the latter being focused on mainly by the media (specifically as it regards objects)