Sorcerer comes from Old French sorcier ('sorcerer'), from Vulgar Latin *sortiarius ('one who casts lots, teller of fortunes'), from Latin sors, sortis ('lot, fate, fortune'). The historical chain includes Old French sorcier and Latin sors. The quoted older senses, "sorcerer", "one who casts lots, teller of fortunes", and "lot, fate, fortune", supply the semantic anchors for sorcerer. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word sorcerer carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a person who practices magic by controlling evil spirits or supernatural powers". English derivatives include sorceress and sorcery; related English forms include sorcery and sorcerous. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.