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Word Nerd: "exorcist"
Context and Language Videos
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 322-328

An explanation of the origin of the word "exorcist" in Act 2, Scene 1 of myShakespeare's Julius Caesar

myShakespeare | Julius Caesar 2.1 Word Nerd: Exorcist

Ligarius

By all the gods that Romans bow before,
I here discard my sickness.  Soul of Rome,
Brave son, derived from honorable loins,
Thou like an exorcist hast conjured up
My mortified spirit. Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impossible,
Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?
Video Transcript: 

The word exorcise derives from the Greek word exorkizein, meaning to drive out an evil spirit by invoking holy names. That’s still how we generally use the term exorcise today. But Ligarius is using the word in another sense, which we no longer use. In Shakespeare’s time, to exorcise also meant to conjure up the spirit of the dead in order to communicate with it. Ligarius is saying that he was almost dead from illness, but that Brutus has brought his spirit back to life.