Assigned to Mordor Planning/Discussion Thread

[piosenniel]

Some references on dweomer:

Do you know the exact meaning and etymological roots of the word dweomer? It is often used in fantasy literature as a synonym for "magic spell", but I was unable to find the word in any dictionary. Can you help?

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Of course we can help but, boy, those fantasy novels certainly go out of their way to use obscure words! What's wrong with straightforward words like cantrap? We are not surprised that you couldn't find this word in a dictionary. As far as we can tell, it occurs only once in medieval literature - in a work from around 1205. Even then it does not occur alone but in the compound term dweomer-craeften meaning "magic art". It is thought to be related to the Old English gedwimer (or gedwomer) "sorcery".

from: Take OUr Word For It - E-zine

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From The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, Volume 1 (A-O); 18th Printing, 1979; Library of Congress catalog number 76-188038:

Dweomercraeft. Obs. [f. O.E. *dwimer, *dweomer, in zedwimer, zedwomer, illusion, sourcery, necromancy, zedwinere, juggler, sourcerer + craeft, CRAFT.] Juggler, magic art.

c.1205 LAY. 30634 And Pelux hit wiste anan purh his dweomer-craeften.

Related: Dweomerlayk = Demerlayk

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The Encyclopedia of Arda has a section on archaic words:

dwimmer-crafty --- skilled in the arts of magic