ܡܓܽܘܫܳܐ mgwšʾ mgušā magus
Derivatives: ܡܓܘܼܫܬܵܐ mgwštʾ mguštā maga; ܡܓܘܼܫܘܼܬܵܐ mgwšwtʾ mgušūṯā 1. magic; 2. coll. the Magi; ܡܓܲܫ mgš mgaš to worship according to magian rites, to profess magianism; Pa. 1. to practise magic arts, to celebrate magian rites; 2. to use enchantments, to bewitch; Etpa. to convert to the religion of the Magi, to become a fire-worshipper
OP maguš, Av. moγu- in Av. moγu-±biš- (AirWb 1176) enemy of the Magi. Cf. also NP muγūšā a sect of the Magi; name of a priest of the Magi (Steingass 1282), which—as pointed out by Weryho 1970, 316—was borrowed back from Syriac. — The Aram. expression mgyš lmtrh, corresponding to Gr. ἐμάγευσε Μίθρῃ, appears in a dedicatory inscription of the 1st cent. AD (Röllig 1962, 265). Here the verb mgš means "to perform an act of sacrifice", namely "he sacrificed to Mithra": see Greenfield 1987, 258; Russell 2001–2002, 79 n. 80. Syr. mgwšʾ is a loanword from OP into Off. Aramaic, then passed into Syriac; see s.v. mwhpṭʾ ● mgwšʾ Js 19, 3; Mt 2, 1; ER 10, 21; Jul 182, 28; MP 8, 5; mgwštʾ am 4, 184, 12; Bh car 100, 17; mgwšwtʾ magic Spic 25, 22; Act 8, 11 (Phil), Jul 189, 3; Dion T 93, 3; Magi Narsai 2, 120, 17; mgš Spic 25, 17; MAMQ 25, 14; 66, 1; 71, 2; am 2, 45, 9 and 17; Rechtsb. 3, 266, 1; Pa. AS 3, 50, 35; Act 8, 9 (Phil); to bewitch HS v. 58; Etpa. Bh ce 3, 41, 6 ◆ LS 374b; PS Suppl. 185