ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that conceptions and practices of magic and witchcraft were fundamentally intertwined in pre-modern Europe and the boundaries around terms such as magic, witchcraft, and sorcery reflect intellectual constructs more than common understanding and intellectual practice. It also argues that distinctions and similarities between magic and witchcraft in early modern Europe are based as much on personal relationships and individual background than on broader social paradigms. The personal aspect of the interrelationship between magic and witchcraft may even have been what allowed for the continuation of what has been estimated as tens of thousands of magical practitioners at the same time that magic was being diabolized and witches subject to vicious prosecution. Most western and central European languages distinguished between “magic/magician” and “witchcraft/witch,” and a rich classical Greek and Latin foundation supported such distinctions.
