magic [LME] The Magi [OE] were the ‘wise men’ from the East who visited the infant Jesus soon after his birth. They were said to have been kings, called Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, who brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The singular form is magus, and it was originally a term for a member of a priestly caste of ancient Persia regarded as having unusual powers, and the word, filtered through Greek and Latin, is the origin of our magic and magician [LME]. Magic has been used for something remarkable, as in the expression a magic touch, since the mid 19th century and as an exclamation of approval meaning ‘excellent’ since the 1950s.