英语词汇hocus-pocus的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

hocus-pocus; hoax. “I will speake of one man . . .” wrote Thomas Ady in A Candle in the Dark (1656), “that went about in King James his time . . . who called himself, The Kings Maj- esties most excellent Hocus Pocus, and so was called because that at the playing of every trick, he used to say, Hocus Pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubio, a dark composure of words, to blinde the eyes of the beholders, to master his trick pass the more currantly without discovery.” Whether this juggler’s as- sumed name became the basis for our hocus-pocus, “deception or trickery,” no one really knows. Ochus Bochus, “a wizard and demon of Northern Mythology,” or “a 17th-century magician,” whose identity has been established in neither case, has also been nominated. Neither is there proof positive that hocus- pocus is a blasphemous Scandinavian corruption of the first words of the consecration in the Catholic Mass, Hoc est corpus (filii), “This is the body [of the Son of God].” Many scholars lean to this last theory, pointing out that hokus-pokus-fileokus is still unwittingly used in Norway and Sweden, just as hocus- pocus-dominocus (for hoc est corpus Domini, “this is the body of the Lord”), is an expression common in children’s play in America. (I remember the possibly euphemistic hocus-pocus- minniocus.) Perhaps the word does originally come from the perversion of the sacramental blessing, reinforced by the nick- name that the ancient juggler assumed from his diverting pseudo-Latin patter, and further strengthened by the names of other successful jugglers and magicians named after him. We do know that many Tudor conjurors famous for their legerde- main were called Hocus Pocus or Hokas Pocas after their prede- cessor and that Master Hocus Pocus became a symbol of illu- sion and deceit. From hocus-pocus came, in all probability, the words hoax, “a trick”—hoax is merely hocus said quickly—and hokum, which is a blend of hocus-pocus and “bunkum” or “bunk.”

词汇	hocus-pocus
词源	hocus-pocus; hoax. “I will speake of one man . . .” wrote Thomas Ady in A Candle in the Dark (1656), “that went about in King James his time . . . who called himself, The Kings Maj- esties most excellent Hocus Pocus, and so was called because that at the playing of every trick, he used to say, Hocus Pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubio, a dark composure of words, to blinde the eyes of the beholders, to master his trick pass the more currantly without discovery.” Whether this juggler’s as- sumed name became the basis for our hocus-pocus, “deception or trickery,” no one really knows. Ochus Bochus, “a wizard and demon of Northern Mythology,” or “a 17th-century magician,” whose identity has been established in neither case, has also been nominated. Neither is there proof positive that hocus- pocus is a blasphemous Scandinavian corruption of the first words of the consecration in the Catholic Mass, Hoc est corpus (filii), “This is the body [of the Son of God].” Many scholars lean to this last theory, pointing out that hokus-pokus-fileokus is still unwittingly used in Norway and Sweden, just as hocus- pocus-dominocus (for hoc est corpus Domini, “this is the body of the Lord”), is an expression common in children’s play in America. (I remember the possibly euphemistic hocus-pocus- minniocus.) Perhaps the word does originally come from the perversion of the sacramental blessing, reinforced by the nick- name that the ancient juggler assumed from his diverting pseudo-Latin patter, and further strengthened by the names of other successful jugglers and magicians named after him. We do know that many Tudor conjurors famous for their legerde- main were called Hocus Pocus or Hokas Pocas after their prede- cessor and that Master Hocus Pocus became a symbol of illu- sion and deceit. From hocus-pocus came, in all probability, the words hoax, “a trick”—hoax is merely hocus said quickly—and hokum, which is a blend of hocus-pocus and “bunkum” or “bunk.”
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