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[Maestro]

The English translations and Hebrew in Strong’s Concordance treats the word ‘sorcery’ kind of like we might treat the word ‘horse’ as if you should know what it is by simply living everyday life. Well, horses were not taboo; so we kept them around. Now when I try to search the words for their etymology like the Hebrew ‘meownen’ I get “to practice soothsaying” from ‘anan’ which has definitions like “bring” and another says “to bring clouds”. What is going on? These things don’t seem the same or derivative.

[jimwalton]

Brevard Childs, in his commentary on Exodus, says, "Sorcery [was a type of witchcraft]. ... It remains a question, however, how precisely the distinctions between soothsaying, augury, sorcery, etc. were understood in Israel." The categories overlap and are not always clearly defined.

In Leviticus 19.26, the term used is te’onenu, and refers to a person who was adept at reading omens (often nature's occurrences) with the purpose of altering the future with incantations (in contrast to divination, which was used to predict the future).

In Deuteronomy 18.10, the word is me'onin (or as you transliterated, meownen). It was generally meant to be harmful. Sorcerers used potions, figurines, and curses designed to bring bad luck, disease, injury, or death.

As far as its etymology, the idea of "bringing clouds" is about right. The sorcerer would observe natural phenomena and then use various incantations or rituals to pronounce harm (bring clouds).