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The Greeks took the Phoenician letters and created their own script from them. These letters of the Greeks ultimately gave rise to both the Latin and Runic scripts. They called these letters "gramma," which meant pictures in the their language. Knowledge of these letters and how to use them was called "grammatikos." This was carried over into Latin, where "grammatica" meant a systematic learning of language. Moving over to English, through the French "gramaire," we get the Middle English "gramere," which refered to learning the classical languages. Only the classical languages were studied in a systematic approach. This, by the way, might help account for the massive variation in English through the ages. During these times, the learning of Latin and Greek outside of the church was viewed with suspicion. Classical learning was intimately associated with occult pursuits. Thus, grammar became quite synonymous with occult learning. We cannot entirely blame this prejudice and suspicion against classical learning, however, as the occult connotations are already seen in French and we must remember that "grammatica" could denote any systematic learning. The word's position in French is shown by the word "grimoire," which meant a book of grammar, but more commonly became known as a book of spells or incantations. Besides meaning grammar, the word "gramarye" was a general term for occult learning in the Middle English of the 14th to 15th centuries. It gave rise to a Scottish variant "glamoury," first recorded in the work of Sir Walter Scott. "Glamoury" meant spellcraft but was more tied into the arts of the eyes, and what can be done to and with them. It was particularly tied into the arts of deception. The word took many variant forms, such as "glamourie," "glammerie" and "glaumerie." To "glamour" someone meant to bewitch or fascinate them. "Glamour-craft" came to mean spellcraft, "glamour-might" came to mean magic power and "glamour-gift" came to mean a natural ability to charm or enchant. "Glamourous" or "glamorous" meant magical, in its original sense, but we have seen it sink to a completely warped meaning in Modern English. When one hears of "glamour" today, they rarely think of spellcraft and even less of Latin and Greek. The downfall was a natural one, however. It is similar to the descent of the word "charm," which we have already discussed. "Having a compelling charm," as a dictionary entry, just doesn't convey the same meaning as it once would have. We now associate "Glamor" with make-up, overdone hairstyles and a magazine stocked next to Vogue and Cosmopolitan. How the mighty have fallen, to the wiles of women, no less. |