Yea, but Japanese will use mahō even when talking about standard wizard-style magic. So I don't think Sorcerer is the best way to translate the intent.
The word sorcery fits better in my mind, it's as general as magic but it still maintains the malevolent undertones.
And it might just be me, but a sorcerer seems as someone who would fight and use flashy magic. Whereas a mage would be more theoretical in his approach, and a wizard more subtle in his -- i.e. like Gandalf.
Hm, I think we have slightly different connotations for the terms (I picture mage as the most practical and direct, wizard as the most scholarly, and sorcerer a bit more towards the wizard end though perhaps with power either more innate or gained from deals more than from pure research) ... but yea, I think for you, sorcery fits.
Come to think of it, there is some debate between the characters whether the nature of magic is light or dark, especially later on.
I picture Wizards as more scholarly, as well, however, the definition is a very generic one. Consider it the flavorless magical user. It is the male version of a witch but without the negativeness of the connotation associated with a "witch".
"Mage" is the same word as "Magician". Just an older version. They are a bit...weaker as they are generally spell-based. It's slow going stuff: not the instant stuff we are used to with other types of "magic" users in magic stuff.
Sorcerers are the same thing as wizards, by definition. However, in fiction, they are a class of wizard that delve into the dark side of things. Again, this is by definition. So they are 'dark wizards', if you will.
The word mage is based on the word Persian word magus, which is also from where the word magic derived. Mage is the archaic form of magician. Because it's so closely related to the word magic I see mage as being a very general term, much like the word physicist. Hence my mathematical and theoretical approach to it. In practice this would mean that the mage would use very abstract and complex spells tinkering with space-time, but he wouldn't use them often as it would be a chore prepare and he's more interested in the theory than the application.
Sorcerer means caster of lot, implying both soothsaying and the manipulation of people's destinies. Hence why I see them as planers. The sorcerer knows that you're at his castle gate with intention to kill him, he has been preparing for it for centuries before you were born. Making them the scariest in the lot.
The wizards were originally a circle of druids, and it means wise man. Wisdom centers around experience and knowledge, and so I associate the wizards to more literary studies, think Harry Potter -- there are no complex formulas or mathematical deductions in Harry Potter, but simply the memorization of incantations and somatic gestures.
What I mean is that biology and chemistry are essentially subfields of physics and were called physics as well, and the more something is generalized the more theoretical it becomes.
Here are two formulas, the first is generalized and the second is specialized, i.e. only applies for the special case x_1 = 0.
(please log in to view the image)
(please log in to view the image)
The first equation is more difficult to solve, but it's the generalized case and something you'd see theorists tinker with. While the second equation works well practically -- if you're able to model he conditions so that ∂p/∂x_1 = 0 -- since it's easier to solve.
According to the wiki they're called wizards in Viz's translation.
What the? [SPOILER - highlight to read]: I was watching Alexei beat down Laxus, then, like, all these other beat up people appeared! I suspect cheating.
From Fairy Tail.
They must've used some sort of teleportation magic to make it look like Raven Tail broke the rules!
More seriously, I'm surprised Ivan wasn't stronger. I guess he was wasting power on the illusion, but still. The various antis, though... magic canceller was great for taking out big spells like Lucy or maybe Fairy law, but vulnerable to a blitz. None of the others were particularly anti-*Laxus* either, and his lightning speed let him effectively take them all one-on-one. The team was really good at challenges and cheating, you had a reasonably fast melee type who could hit and run well, you had Flare's hair and it's potential uses... and the copy guy. But they weren't actually designed for a drop-down brawl as much as FT's teams are.
Also, I suspect the little guy was the *true* magic canceller, and the big guy was basically a puppet or something.
Hm, and Wendy gets matched against a foe that looks to be on her level. Personally I was curious as to what'd happen if she fought someone that was strong and serious ^^
We all thought he'd struggle and still probably lose. What he did here can't even be called easy. I put more effort into typing this than he did fighting them..
Gonna guess that she's second to Lyon on their team, and that Wendy will pull off some new dragon powers to beat her, upping her rankings.
__________________
"Gonna need more chloroform..."
"If you look down on us, judge us, condemn us... then you shall fear us!"
The first guy Laxus took out has a really powerful ability, but it seems like the team relied too much on the glass cannons.
Well, third at best, Jura and all
Lamia's team is pretty good. Jura's a beast, Lyon's strong, and Yuka gave Natsu trouble back in the day and had really high magazine stats. Only Tobi's a joke.