grimoire

Definition

A book of instructions in the use of alchemy or magic, especially one containing spells for summoning demons.

Etymology

Borrowed from French grimoire, a variant of grammaire, from Old French gramaire (“grammar; grimoire; conjurer, magician”), from Latin grammatica (“grammar; philology”), from grammaticus (“relating to grammar, grammatical”), from Ancient Greek γρᾰμμᾰτῐκός (grămmătĭkós, “knowing one's letters; concerned with textual criticism”), from γράμμα (grámma, “that which is drawn or written; letter; book, writing”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix added to noun stems to form adjectives). γράμμα is derived from γρᾰ́φω (grắphō, “to cut into, scratch; to draw, paint; to write”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to carve”)) + -μᾰ (-mă, suffix added to verbal stems forming neuter nouns denoting the result of, a particular instance of, or the object of an action). The English word is a doublet of glamour, glamoury, gramarye, and grammar.

Example Sentences

• "There is something exceedingly unpleasant in being obliged to answer "No," to a traveller's "Pray, Sir, were you ever abroad?" and to sit mum-chance all the time that he is running over the "grimoire" of outlandish technicalities. For my own part, I am convinced that man is, par excellence, a travelling animal; [...]"
• "One day, a curate of the neighbourhood of Bayeux, who kept up a constant intercourse with the devil, left his grimoire thoughtlessly on the table. His domestic, a lad who was very curious, had long sought an opportunity to open the mysterious book. [...] Scarcely had he pronounced a certain word, which presented itself accidentally to his eyes, when the devil suddenly made his appearance in the form of a great black man, with red eyes, and a terrible mouth. [...] The poor man was nearly dead with fright, and promised readily that he would never again read in the grimoire."
• "The Kabalah for Paracelsus, when it is not something quite fantastic and unimaginable, is a species of practical magic, and here we shall do well to remember that the adept of Hohenheim flourished at a period when, as we have seen, the spurious literature of clavicles and grimoires was fast multiplying."

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