Glamouring

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Creating a magical illusion intended to charm or trick others
2. Producing an enchantment that alters perception to impress or mislead
3. Using a spell or glamour to mask reality and captivate attention

Etymology: The most surprising fact here is that "glamour" began as a word for learning. In medieval Latin, "ars grammatica" meant the art of grammar, and in Old French it became "gramaire," which in Middle English turned into "gramere," meaning grammar itself. Because learning in the Middle Ages was closely tied to the occult, scholarly "grammar" came to carry a sense of secret, bookish magic, and in Scots it was reshaped into "glamour," meaning a spell or enchantment. English took the word back in that Scots form, and it kept the sense of a magical charm that alters how things appear. "Gramarye" and "grimoire" are close relatives from the same root, giving a sense of how one ancient discipline split into several meanings. A separate theory links the word to Old Norse "glámr," a poetic name for the moon and also for a ghost. In Grettir's Saga, the hero is cursed by a ghost named Glam, and afterward people said "Glam lends eyes" to describe seeing things not as they truly are. That story is a plausible connection, but the grammar-based origin is the one most scholars accept.

Synonyms: enchanting, fascinating, captivating, charming, alluring

Antonyms: repulsing, repelling, displeasing