Why did 's' in 'wisard' change to 'z'
Wizard:
- a man in stories who has magic powers
- someone who is very good at something
Origin and usage: The word wizard comes from the Middle English word 'wys' meaning 'wise'. In this sense, it first appeared in English in the early 15th century. As a word used to describe a man with magical powers, wizard did not start to be used until around 1550 - MacMillan Blog
The word wizard is derived from wise.
Wizard -> wise + ard
Wikitionary says wisard is archaic form of wizard.
Wize: Obsolete form of 'wise' — Wiktionary
The 's' in wisard changed to 'z' and 'z' in wize changed to 's'.
Questions:
- Why did the 's' in 'wisard' change to 'z'?
- Why did the 'z' in 'wize' change to 's'?
A smart* person might have cogni(z|s)ance of another word where the original s changed to a z. According to the OED, this change (in the spelling of cognisance) was due to the fact that the s sounds like a z. But a spelling with the original s also survives.
There are many such words, usually where the z spelling is used in the US and s is used in the UK. In some cases, like seize/seise plus their adjective forms seizable/seisable, the original s spelling is only used in a niche meaning.
I think therefore that wizard switched to a z because that’s what it sounds like. And other words like wise did not because they just kept their old spelling.
* Or someone who knows how to search in the right places :p