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From Frencharthame in a 1929 passage from É.-J. Grillot de Givry (see 1931 citation below), apparently from Medieval Latinartavus(“quill-sharpening knife”). Artavus was also mistranslated into artauo in an Italian manuscript. The arthame was conflated with the cortel nero ("black knife") by Grillot de Givry, and that conflation was passed on to Gerald Gardner (the creator of Wicca).
A ceremonial pointed knife or dagger, used especially in Wicca and other neopagan traditions and typically having a black handle with magical symbols on it.
1931, Émile-Jules Grillot de Givry, chapter 7, in JC Locke, transl., Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy:
She is moving with a regal gait, grasping the arthame, or magic knife.
