The word ‘fetish’ derives from the Portugues feitiço (“spell”, “amulet”), which in turn derives from the Latin facticius (“artificial”) and is related to feitiçeiro (“sorcerer”) and feitiçaria (“sorcery”). The term became established in Portugal from the Late Middle Ages, and subsequently enjoyed an astonishing career in the early modern period, through to Karl Marx’ “commodity fetishism” in the 19th century [5. 13 f.].