hocus-pocus

The earliest known English-language work on magic, or what was then known as legerdemain (sleight of hand), was published anonymously in 1635 under the title Hocus Pocus Junior: The Anatomie of Legerdemain.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34375/34375-h/34375-h.htm|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hocvs Pocvs Iunior (author unknown).|website=www.gutenberg.org}} Further research suggests that "Hocus Pocus" was the stage name of a well known magician of the era. This may be William Vincent, who is recorded as having been granted a license to perform magic in England in 1619.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hocuspocusjr.com/hocvspocvsjr.htm|title=Hocus Pocus, Jr.|website=www.hocuspocusjr.com}} Whether he was the author of the book is unknown.

The origins of the term remain obscure. The most popular conjecture is that it is a garbled Latin religious phrase or some form of 'dog' Latin. Some have associated it with similar-sounding fictional, mythical, or legendary names. Others suggest it is merely a combination of nonsense words.

File:Peter Paul Rubens - De overwinning van de eucharistie over de ketterij - P001697 - Museo del Prado.jpg, by Peter Paul Rubens, circa 1625]]

One theory is that the term is a corruption of hax pax max Deus adimax, a pseudo-Latin phrase used in the early 17th century as a magical formula by conjurors.The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 2nd ed, 2005, {{isbn|9780191727047}} [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198609810.001.0001/acref-9780198609810-e-3366 s.v.]

Another theory is that it is a corruption or parody of the Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, which contains the phrase "Hoc est enim corpus meum", meaning This is my body.Online Etymology Dictionary [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hocus-pocus] http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hocus-pocus This explanation goes at least as far back as a 1694 speculation by the Anglican prelate John Tillotson:{{Quote|In all probability those common juggling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation.Oxford English Dictionary "hocus-pocus"{{cite web |last1=MacIsaac |first1=Margaret |title=abracadabra; hocus pocus |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991007 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905211827/www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991007 |archive-date=5 September 2008}}}}

This theory is supported by the fact that in the Netherlands, the words Hocus pocus are usually accompanied by the additional words pilatus pas, and this is said to be based on a post-Reformation parody of the traditional Catholic rite of transubstantiation during Mass, being a Dutch corruption of the Latin words "Hoc est corpus meum" and the credo, which reads in part, "sub Pontio Pilato passus et sepultus est", meaning under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried.In de Kou, Godfried Bomans en Michel van der Plas over hun roomse jeugd en hoe het hun verging, Amsterdam, 1969 In a similar way the phrase is in Scandinavia usually accompanied by filiokus, a corruption of the term filioque,{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} from the Latin version of the Nicene Creed, meaning “and from the Son”. The variant spelling filipokus is common in Russia, a predominantly Eastern Orthodox nation, as well as certain other post-Soviet states.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} Additionally, the word for "stage trick" in Russian, fokus, is derived from hocus pocus.[http://www.slovopedia.com/22/212/1644348.html Etymological dictionary of the Russian language]

Others believe that it is an appeal to the folkloric Norse magician Ochus Bochus:{{Quote|text=It is possible that we here see the origin of hocus pocus, and Old Nick.}} According to Sharon Turner in The History of the Anglo-Saxons, they were believed to be derived from Ochus Bochus, a magician and demon of the north.{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Sharon |title=The History Of The Anglo Saxons Vol II |date=1807 |publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme |location=London |page=17 |edition=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AP9azWe4l74C&dq=ochus+bochus+sharon+turner&pg=PA17 |accessdate=23 February 2019}}

As an alternative to other theories, it may simply be pseudo-Latin with no meaning, made up to impress people:{{Quote|text=I will speak of one man... that went about in King James his time ... who called himself, "The Kings Majesties most excellent Hocus Pocus", and so was he called, because that at the playing of every Trick, he used to say, "Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo", a dark composure of words, to blinde the eyes of the beholders, to make his Trick pass the more currently without discovery, because when the eye and the ear of the beholder are both earnestly busied, the Trick is not so easily discovered, nor the Imposture discerned.|author=Thomas Ady |source= A Candle in the Dark, 1656{{Cite web|url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hocus-pocus.html|title='Hocus-pocus' – the meaning and origin of this phrase|first=Gary|last=Martin|website=Phrasefinder|date=11 December 2023 }}}}

• Abracadabra
• Barbarous name

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{{Wiktionary}}

• [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/carson.01687.1 Hocus Pocus or The Whole art of Legerdemain.] From the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/carson.html Marion S. Carson Collection] in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the Library of Congress
• [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/houdini.10760.1 Hocus Pocus Junior: the Anatomie of Legerdemain] From the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/122.html Harry Houdini Collection] in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the Library of Congress

Category:17th-century neologisms

Category:Magic (illusion)

Category:Magic words