Exorcists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who perform rituals to drive out evil spirits or demonic entities from a person or a place
2. Practitioners of spiritual rites aimed at liberating an individual or space from malevolent forces
3. Those who engage in supernatural ceremonies to cleanse and restore a person or location to a state free from harmful influences

Etymology: "Exorcists" is the plural of "exorcist," and the one-line answer is that the word is a Greek agent noun, built from a verb meaning to make someone swear an oath. The Greek "exorkizein" combined "ek," meaning "out," with "horkos," an oath, so an exorcist was originally one who bound a spirit out of a body by solemn adjuration rather than one who simply drove it away by force. That oath-taking sense survives in the older idea of compelling a spirit by naming and swearing it. The word reached Latin as "exorcista," a term used in the early Church for a minor clerical rank whose duties included casting out demons from the baptismal candidates and the possessed. From there it passed into Middle French as "exorciste," and English borrowed it from that French form. The Latin and Greek roots show clearly in the spelling, though the English word came through French rather than directly from the classical languages.

Synonyms: spiritualists, healers