excursus

Pronounced: ik-SKUHR-suhs (alt: ek-SKUHR-suhs), noun

Notes: A useful word to add to one’s vocabulary

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Yesterday’s word

The word theurgy is “the working of a divine or supernatural agency in human life”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Our word struck a chord of memory; I was thinking of thaumaturgist – another word I came across reading Rex Stout’s books featuring Nero Wolfe. I didn’t remember the spelling of thaumaturgist (I had to look it up), but I remembered that it was a fancy word for magician, so I thought that might be the definition of our word. However, our word seems to be more the opposite of a deist (as I understand the term, it refers to a belief that God created the word, but no longer is involved with any aspect of that creation). Christianity stands in stark contrast to deism, and claims that God is very involved in His creation. Anyway, our word comes from the Latin word theūrgia, which comes from the Greek word theourgeía (magic)… so perhaps my first inclination wasn’t quite as far off as I was thought it was.