Etymology - Vanish

In 50-70% of all magic tricks I know and have seen something vanishes. The magician with a skilled hand and a magic word seemingly makes an object vanish from the physical universe leaving not a trace. There is an unwritten rule among many magicians that whatever vanishes must come back... in one form or another. But I was never a big fan of this rule. I always thought the trick was kinda easy to figure out when you made an object come back. The real mystery was when something vanished without a trace never to be seen again.

In the same way I always loved stories that end like that, ghost stories that ended with "and she vanished without a trace, never to be seen or heard from again..." I loved the open ended, uncomfortable, mysterious ending that always sent chills down my spine. I loved the vanish in the stories almost as much as the magic trick.

The word vanish comes from the Latin word "evanescere" meaning to 'disappear, die out.' The word comes from 'ex' meaning "out" and 'vanescere' which comes from the word 'vanus' meaning "empty." Vanish literally can mean that something is emptied out of. Something has been removed from view, emptied out of the theater, vanished entirely.

For storytelling it may be appropriate on occasion (especially in ghost stories) for something to vanish, to be emptied out of this world entirely. This should not become a regular occurrence as it is not well played in every scenario but on occasion it has its uses and can be very unnerving and mysterious.