Wisdom

I didn't even make that thread you're describing. I'm just being etymologically autistic.

Stop playing d&d.

That makes perfect sense. A wizard would be coming from intuition and understanding of the cosmos; a Priest, by contrast, is an academic, and got to his station through long years of study.

*tips fedora*

Why not just have a Magic stat that all casters use?

That means bards get INT, and 90% of bards are borderline retarded gigolos, according to Veeky Forums and their stories.

knowing the etymology of words is high INT, thinking it matters when the meaning of the word has been different for hundreds of years is low WIS.

In most settings you are describing a sorcerer, who have magic in their bloodline, whereas wizards are normal people who had to study magic for years to learn it.

Winning argument irregardless of whether you use the right words is Charisma.

Because they wanted magic types to be more than a spell list and to cover different archtypes. Also to reduce MAD in some cases. At least that's what it seems like. Personally every class should be equally MAD. The issue with some classes is that you can get away with only two good ability scores and then there's Monk where you need good everything scores minus CHA to be kind of decent.