athame
/ɑˈθɑ.meɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.55 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A ceremonial pointed knife or dagger, used especially in Wicca and other neopagan traditions and typically having a black handle with magical symbols on it.
Example Sentences
- "She is moving with a regal gait, grasping the arthame, or magic knife."
- "Agia was quicker, making a cut at my neck with an athame before his weapon was free of the scabbard."
- "The athame is a black-handled ritual knife—one of the most common distinguishing marks of the Neopagan Witch."
- "Tradition says an athame should never have drawn blood."
Etymology
From French athamé in a 1929 passage from É.-J. Grillot de Givry (see 1931 citation below), apparently from Medieval Latin artavus (“quill-sharpening knife”). Artavus was also mistranslated into artauo in an Italian manuscript. The arthame was conflated with the cortel nero (“black knife”) by Grillot de Givry, and that conflation was passed on to Gerald Gardner (whose 1954 book Witchcraft Today introduced Wicca to the public).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɑˈθɑ.meɪ/
- British English: /əˈθeɪmeɪ/