cantrip

The story

1. Latin · derived fromcantō“to sing, chant, play an instrument”
2. Scottish Gaelic · derived fromcanntaireachd
3. Scots · borrowed fromcantrip, cantrap“a magic charm; a trick”
4. English todaycantrip

From Middle Scots cantrip, cantrap (“a magic charm; a trick”). Further origin obscure, but likely a corruption of Scottish Gaelic canntaireachd (identical to Irish cantaireacht), referring to a system of musical notation consisting of a series of otherwise meaningless syllables memorised by pipers in learning their tunes; this was then used similarly to abracadabra. Regardless of details, ultimately derived from Latin cantō (“to sing, chant, play an instrument”).