late 14th century, "art or act of enchanting by uttering magical words, with ceremonies supposed to have magical power; the formula of words or the ceremony employed"
from Late Latin incantatio "enchantment, spell, (false) statement(Souter), magic formula"
from Latin incanto "to consecrate through a magic formula, to anoint through a spell"
“I myself have seen this woman draw the stars from the sky; she diverts the course of a fast-flowing river with her incantations; her voice makes the earth gape, it lures the spirits from the tombs, send the bones tumbling from the dying pyre. At her behest, the sad clouds scatter; at her behest, snow falls from a summer's sky.”
"The works of Tibullus"
~☉~ | lucid definition; added layer of lucidity, or aethereal context |
⚜ | classic definition |
☣ | artificium definition; usually words which have undergone a warped evolution, or a complete perversion of the original sense |