grimoire

English

Etymology

Mostly thought to come from the Frankish word *grīma (“mask, sorcerer”) which is also the origin of the word grimace. Another source could be the Italian word rimario ("book of rhymes") which eventually adopted a hard "g" as it moved to France. Either way, the word melded with the French word grimaire an old spelling of the word grammaire (“grammar”), Génin, as well as Littré, suggest "grammar" in the meaning of "study of Latin" and "profound and occult science".

Borrowed from French grimoire, from Old French gramaire, from Ancient Greek γραμματικός (grammatikós, “knowing how to read and write”). Doublet of grammar, glamour, and grammatic.

Pronunciation

• enPR: grĭmʹwä(r)ʹ, IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɪmˌwɑː(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪmwɑː(ɹ)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

grimoire (plural grimoires)

1. A book of instructions in the use of magic or alchemy, especially summoning demons.

Translations

book of instructions in the use of magic

• Czech: grimoár
• Finnish: taikakirja, loitsukirja (fi)
• French: grimoire (fr) m
• German: Grimoire (de), Zauberbuch (de)
• Italian: grimorio (it)
• Japanese: 魔導書 (まどうしょ, madōsho), グリモワール (gurimowāru)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: grimuaras
• Polish: grymuar m
• Portuguese: grimório
• Russian: гримуа́р (ru) m (grimuár), колдовска́я кни́га f (koldovskája kníga)
• Slovene: knjiga urokov f
• Spanish: grimorio (es)

See also

• bestiary
• Necronomicon
• gramarye

---

French

Etymology

Mostly thought to come from the (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Frankish word *grīma (“mask, sorcerer”) which is also the origin of the word grimace. Another source could be the Italian word rimario ("book of rhymes") which eventually adopted a hard "g" as it moved to France. Either way, the word melded with the French word grimaire an old spelling of the word grammaire (“grammar”), Génin, as well as Littré, suggest "grammar" in the meaning of "study of Latin" and "profound and occult science". (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French gramaire, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek γραμματικός (grammatikós, “knowing how to read and write”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁi.mwaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

grimoire m (plural grimoires)

1. grimoire

Further reading

• “grimoire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.