MAGICIANS

These guys aren't actually called "mages" in the Japanese version, but their names can be translated as such. For the sake of clarity, I'm using the more familiar "mage", which is used in the official English translations. Thusly, it's be rather irrelevant if I went into the etymology of the word "mage".

Black and white magic are phrases for magic used for detrimental or benificial purposes respectively, hence black and white mages, while the idea of calling someone who uses both black and white magic a red mage appears to have originated in FF.

The word "sorcerer" is derived ultimately from the Latin for fortune, and originally referred to a fortune teller. Later on, however, it became applied to any kind of magician, especially one who is aided by evil spirits and practices black magic.

The word "wizard" is derived from "wise", and was originally used to describe any wise person. Over time, however, it became applied strictly to magicians. Black and white magic are phrases for magic used for detrimental or benificial purposes respectively, hence black and white wizards (and possibly dark wizards), while the idea of calling someone who uses both black and white magic a "red wizard" appears to have originated in FF.

More translaton problems: apparently, the character class wizards and enemy wizards are, in Japanese, identified by two different words, both of which can be translated as "wizard". As I can't read Japanese, however, I'm not entirely sure what these words are, or whether or not one of them is the English word "wizard".