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Wizard Lore - Linguistics of Note

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Wizard Lore
An Introduction | What's In A Wizard? | Spell Categories | Linguistics of Note | Natural Predators | Loose Ends | Concluding Q&A

You may not be able to tell the difference between a wizard and a warlock, but they can, and mixing up the two in front of either is insulting yes, but also a good way of finding yourself several feet shorter with an unusual craving for flies. Unfortunately for you, the English language boasts more words than any other on earth, and all those extra words have to refer to something. Equivalent designations for wizard under appropriate circumstances may include: conjurer, enchanter, summoner, mage, and spell-caster. Most other terms carry dangerous connotations with them.

While a wizard might very well be a necromancer, it's best to make absolutely sure before you go around accusing the White Wizard of Snow and Sustenance of dealing in death magic.

Druids have come to be more associated with nature than wizardry nowadays.

Mage and magus are more titles than they are classifications, and it may be noted that mage rhymes with sage not by coincidence. In more barbaric times, when people were still uneducated enough to believe in it, it was assumed that fortune telling, astrology, and any other type of clairvoyance were a simple trick for fellows of the wizardly vocation, and these kinds of wizards (the ones without '1-900' numbers) may be called diviners, soothsayers, prophets, fortune tellers, psychics...etc.

Magician is a fine title for any wizard that prefers tricks over substance, but it is not suitable for the more powerful wizards that flourish under the school of illusionary magics, and so they may be better called illusionists.

A hedge -izard is a wizard with very limited potential in the magical field and he would be as helpless as the next mortal excepting a simple spell or two. While an arch mage is going to be a particularly powerful, wise, and/or simply high-ranking wizard.

Sorcerer and shaman may sometimes be used to refer to any magic-user, but that doesn't mean it's technically correct. Shaman usually alludes to anyone capable of altering or communicating with the spiritual realm. A sorcerer is usually able to use the same magic a wizard can, but they go about it in an entirely different manner, relying on the power of their emotions and inner psyche, as opposed to their intelligence like a wizard does.

Contrary to what JK Rowling would have you and every other muggle believe, witches are not female wizards. This is a ridiculous notion and the kind of mistake one would not expect from an intelligent selfless individual who appreciates the magical world and would never dumb her books down for the mainstream market. A female wizard would simply be given the designation of wizardess, with the same casual effort one would use when referring to a waitress or an actress. It's so casual really that one might almost be embarrassed they hadn't found it an intuitive act. Witches are much closer to being sorceresses, as are warlocks to being sorcerers (but with a more demonic connotation).

There are certainly additional ways to get a wizard's attention, but it's probably best not to get too obsessive. Slyly sticking in the word thaumaturge while flirting will not get you the ladies/guys (none of these other words will either if it must be known).

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