Etymology Dictionary

MAGI,  priests of the Persians.  (L.,—Gk.,—Pers.)   In P. Plowman, C. xxii. 85.   Borrowed from Lat. magi, Matt. ii. 1 (Vulgate).—Gk. μάγοι, Matt. ii. 1; pl. of μάγος, a Magian, one of a Median tribe (Herod. i. 101), hence, an enchanter, wizard, juggler.   Properly, one of the priests or wise men in Persia who interpreted dreams, &c. (Liddell.)   β. The orig. sense was probably 'great;' from the Zend maz, great (Fick, i. 168), cognate with Gk. μέγας, Lat. magnus, great.—✔MAGH, to have power.   See May (1).   Der. mag-ic, q.v.   ➩ It is interesting to note that the word magus, which Sir H. Rawlinson translates by 'the Magian,' occurs in cuneiform characters in an inscription at Behistan; see Schleicher, Indogerm.   Chrestomathie, p. 151; Nineveh and Persepolis, by W. S. W. Vaux, ed. 1851, p. 405.