 The Old Persian form seems to have permeated Ancient Semitic languages as the Talmudic Hebrew "magosh", the Aramaic "amgusha" ("magician"), and the Chaldean "maghdim" ("wisdom and philosophy"); from the first century BCE onwards, Syrian "magusai" gained notoriety as magicians and soothsayers.During the late-sixth and early-fifth centuries BCE, this term found its way into Ancient Greek, where it was used with negative connotations to apply to rites that were regarded as fraudulent, unconventional, and dangerous.The Latin language adopted this meaning of the term in the first century BCE.