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Origin and history of voodoo

voodoo(n.)

1820, Vaudoo, defined as "certain occult practices and the idolatrous worship of an African deity," from Louisiana French voudou, from a West African language such Fon vodun "deity, god." It is attested in 18c. French as a dance performed by African slaves. The verb is attested from 1880.

The spelling vodun in reference to the religion was popularized in 1930s by M. J. Herskovits, in an effort to disassociate it from negative and superstitious connotations of voodoo.

also from 1820

Entries linking to voodoo

hoodoo(n.)

1849, a type of religio-magical practice first attested in Louisiana, and also the name of a dance in which the believers participated. Also by 1869 as the magic spell performed by a practitioner, with attendant verbal forms (he was hoodooed, etc.) By 1858 as "one who practices hoodoo." American English, probably an alteration of voodoo. There is also an isolated use as a regional term for a social dance (1869); compare hoedown. Meaning "something that causes or brings bad luck" is attested from 1880 (compare jinx.). By 2002 as a type of non-religious American folk magic.

As the term for a type of rock formation, documented by 1880.

HOODOO REGION OR GOBLIN LAND is the term that has been applied by miners and trappers to a section of country about forty five miles south east of Baronett's Bridge noted for the countless formations so wild and quaint that they were called Hoodoos or Goblins. [Edwin J. Stanley, Rambles in Wonderland or a Trip Through the Great Yellowstone National Park, 1885.]
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    zombie
    Grand Zombi as the name of a deity in Voodoo practices is in English by 1904....
    hex
    1830, American English, from Pennsylvania German hexe "to practice witchcraft," from German hexen "to hex," related to Hexe "witch," from Middle High German hecse, hexse, from Old High German hagazussa (see hag). Noun meaning "magic spell" is first recorded 1909; earlier it meant
    jinx
    1911, American English, originally baseball slang; perhaps ultimately from jyng "a charm, a spell" (17c.), originally "wryneck" (also jynx), a bird used in witchcraft and divination, from Latin iynx "wryneck," from Greek iynx. Jynx was used in English as "a charm or spell" from 1
    glamour
    1715, glamer, Scottish, "magic, enchantment" (especially in phrase to cast the glamour), a variant of Scottish gramarye "magic, enchantment, spell," said to be an alteration of English grammar (q.v.) in a specialized use of that word's medieval sense of "any sort of scholarship,
    enchant
    late 14c., literal ("practice sorcery or witchcraft on") and figurative ("delight in a high degree, charm, fascinate"), from Old French enchanter "bewitch, charm, cast a spell" (12c.), from Latin incantare "to enchant, fix a spell upon," from in- "upon, into" (from PIE root *en "
    charm
    c. 1300, "incantation, magic charm," from Old French charme (12c.) "magic charm, magic spell incantation; song, lamentation," from Latin carmen "song, verse, enchantment, religious formula," from canere "to sing" (from PIE root *kan- "to sing"), with dissimilation of -n- to -r- b
    march
    "to walk with measured steps or a regular tread," either individually or as a body, early 15c., from Old French marcher "to stride, march, walk," originally "to trample, tread underfoot," a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Frankish *markon or some other Germanic source rela
    cult
    1610s, "worship, homage" (a sense now obsolete); 1670s, "a particular form or system of worship;" from French culte (17c.), from Latin cultus "care, labor; cultivation, culture; worship, reverence," originally "tended, cultivated," past participle of colere "to till" (see colony)
    conspiracy
    mid-14c., "a plotting of evil, unlawful design; a combination of persons for an evil purpose," from Anglo-French conspiracie, Old French conspiracie "conspiracy, plot," from Latin conspirationem (nominative conspiratio) "agreement, union, unanimity," noun of action from past-part
    horizon
    late 14c., orisoun, from Old French orizon (14c., Modern French horizon), earlier orizonte (13c.), from Latin horizontem (nominative horizon), from Greek horizon (kyklos) "bounding (circle)," from horizein "bound, limit, divide, separate," from horos "boundary, landmark, marking

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