English Language & Usage Asked on November 28, 2020
Wizard:
Origin and usage:
The word wizard comes from the Middle English word ‘wys’ meaning ‘wise’. In this sense, it first appeared in English in the early 15th century. As a word used to describe a man with magical powers, wizard did not start to be used until around 1550 – MacMillan Blog
The word wizard is derived from wise.
Wizard -> wise + ard
Wikitionary says wisard is archaic form of wizard.
Wize: Obsolete form of ‘wise’ — Wiktionary
The ‘s’ in wisard changed to ‘z’ and ‘z’ in wize changed to ‘s’.
Questions:
A smart* person might have cogni(z|s)ance of another word where the original s changed to a z. According to the OED, this change (in the spelling of cognisance) was due to the fact that the s sounds like a z. But a spelling with the original s also survives.
There are many such words, usually where the z spelling is used in the US and s is used in the UK. In some cases, like seize/seise plus their adjective forms seizable/seisable, the original s spelling is only used in a niche meaning.
I think therefore that wizard switched to a z because that’s what it sounds like. And other words like wise did not because they just kept their old spelling.
* Or someone who knows how to search in the right places :p
Correct answer by Laurel on November 28, 2020
OED:
wise, adj. (n.3 and adv.)
The standard pronunciation with voiced s (z) is presumably derived from the oblique cases. The normal representative of Old English wís with (s), as in ice (Old English ís), survives in some northern dialects; the regular Scots pronunciation is /weis/.
Wizard: Etymology: late Middle English wysar(d, < wys, wis, wiss, wise adj. + -ard suffix. The pronunciation with voiced s (z) follows wisdom and wise.
Answered by Greybeard on November 28, 2020
Because wisard is pronounced as wizard. Wise is also pronounced with z sound. There are many words in which s is pronounced z. like rose = roze but it is not written as roze because the s already gives z sound.
Answered by user382280 on November 28, 2020
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