Hocus-pocus

Origin of: Hocus-pocus

Hocus-pocus

This conjurors’ incantation from the early 17th century can now mean meaningless talk, nonsense or anything designed to deceive or mislead. Hocus Pocus was the stage name of William Vincent a famous conjuror of his day who was appointed to entertain James I in 1619. Hocus Pocus Junior. The Anatomy of Legerdemain was also the title of a book that he wrote on conjuring 1634. The phrase was certainly around before William Vincent adopted it as his stage name and no one knows the origin. Some people, notably John Tillotson Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691-1694, believed that the incantation derived from a corruption of the words of consecration from the Latin Mass, Hoc est enim corpus meum “For this is my body.” This, however, may have been anti-Catholic propaganda on the archbishop’s part rather than an exercise in etymology. While the origin of hocus pocus remains uncertain and obscure, it appears to have given the word hoax to the language. During the late 18th century, hoax meaning a trick or deception was derived from the contraction of hocus.