clairvoyant

Clairvoyant is French, from clair (clear, from Latin clarus) and voyant (seeing, present participle of voir, from Latin videre). In French, clairvoyant can simply mean perceptive or clear-sighted — a clairvoyant person is someone who sees things clearly, literally or figuratively. The supernatural meaning — seeing events at a distance or in the future — was layered on top of this ordinary meaning in the eighteenth century.

The supernatural use of clairvoyant became prominent through Franz Mesmer and his followers in the late 1700s. Mesmer's theory of 'animal magnetism' — that an invisible fluid connected all living things — was debunked, but his practices led to the development of hypnosis. Mesmer's followers claimed that hypnotized subjects could perceive distant events (clairvoyance) or remote locations (remote viewing). The word entered English with these specific claims.

The nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement made 'clairvoyant' a household word. Clairvoyants offered paid readings, appeared at séances, and advertised in newspapers. Some, like Daniel Dunglas Home, became international celebrities. The word was both a description and a job title. A clairvoyant was someone who charged money to see what you could not.

Modern English uses 'clairvoyant' in three registers: the supernatural (a person with psychic vision), the ironic ('I'm not clairvoyant, how should I know?'), and the admiring ('she had clairvoyant business instincts'). The French word for clear sight has been stretched to cover everything from psychic readings to shrewd investment strategies. The supernatural and the complimentary coexist without conflict.