Etymology Corner: Clerics and Sorcerers

Many fantasy settings that include magic distinguish between "divine magic," obtained from a deity as a reward for the practitioner's faith, and "arcane magic," performed by the practitioner directly without going through a divine source. The split can be traced back to the original Dungeons & Dragons, in which the divinely inspired cleric and the secular magic-user employ completely different arts to produce supernatural effects.

Nowadays, the word cleric has become standard in many games to refer to any user of divine magic that belongs to an organized religion. Arcane magic users, on the other hand, don't have any such standard. They may be called wizards, warlocks, summoners, sorcerers, or various other words, depending on exactly how they work their magic.

So why am I singling out sorcerers for this post? Because the etymological connections—and differences—between the words "cleric" and "sorcerer" are quite interesting, and offer some perspective on the supposed divide between the arcane and the divine.

The Words

"Cleric" comes from the Ancient Greek word for clerics, klērikós. The word is in turn derived from klêros, meaning lot (as in drawing lots). This counterintuitive origin is because of the Athenian practice of selecting public officials through drawing lots, rather than election or appointment.

"Sorcerer" comes to us from the Latin root word sors, which also means lot. In this case, it's not drawing lots so much as casting them, as a sorcerer was originally someone who predicted the future through casting lots.

Sors can also mean fate. The connection to drawing lots isn't hard to work out: by drawing lots to predict the future, a sorcerer is seeing what fate has in store. Similarly, if clerics are selected by drawing lots, then one can say that fate is choosing the clerics.

As a bonus, consider the word "divination," meaning to see the future. Sure looks a lot like "divine," doesn't it? Indeed, both words come from the same Latin root, divinus, meaning godlike. To perform divination is to dip your fingers into the realm of the gods, and scoop up a drop of knowledge.

The Thoughts

So what does this tell us? Using the etymology of the words themselves, what might the relationship be between clerics and sorcerers?

The simple version, of course, is to suppose that they're the same sort of thing. Maybe they're different words for the same profession. Or perhaps a sorcerer is a cleric who specializes in the godlike art of divination.

But we began this post with the contrast between divine and arcane magic, between clerics and sorcerers, asking what the words might tell us about how they differ. If clerics and sorcerers are not coworkers, then what are they?

Rather than being the same thing, I imagine that they're two sides of the same coin. Connected, but opposite. The cleric draws lots, is chosen by fate. The sorcerer casts lots and views fate. Or perhaps even chooses fate. After all, if you know what's going to happen, maybe you can change it.

This is not to say that clerics are powerless. They're empowered as leaders of the people, fate's champions. But it's all quite front-loaded, isn't it? Once you're at the top, there's nowhere to go but down. There's no reason to be concerned, of course. As long as you fulfill the duties you were chosen for, fate will see you through. Fate has placed you at the top, and nobody can change fate itself.

Except sorcerers.

Few things, therefore, are as repugnant to the cleric as the sorcerer. Not only is he tampering in fate's domain, not only is he putting on airs by claiming to perform the godlike task of divination, but he's trying to steal your job.

So the clerics will tell you that sorcerer are charlatans, tell stories of self-fulfilling prophecies. Fate cannot be thwarted by such cheap tricks! And even if it could, it would be abominable!

And the sorcerers keep selling their services, and the people keep buying.

Or maybe a cleric is just a Greek sorcerer, and they all meet at divination conferences to swap notes. It would make for a friendlier world.