An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Zauber

by Friedrich Kluge

Zauber, masculine, ‘charm, enchantment, magic,’ from Middle High German zouber (zouver), Old High German zoubar (zoufar), masculine, ‘magic, charm, spell’; compare Dutch tooveren, ‘to enchant,’ Old Icelandic taufr, neuter, ‘magic.’ For the meaning, the corresponding Anglo-Saxon teáfor, ‘vermilion,’ is important; hence Zauber is perhaps literally ‘illusion by means of colour’; others suppose that the runes were marked with vermilion, so that Zauber would mean literally ‘secret or magic writing.’ No cognates of the specifically Teutonic taufro-, taubro- (Aryan root dū̆p, not dū̆bh), have been found.