The Picatrix is a genuine classic of occult literature
Originally written sometime in the ninth century by an anonymous Arab Mage
in North Africa or Spain, it was credited in the fashion of the time to the notable Sufi
and scholar alMajriti, and given the title Ghayat alHakim, "The Goal of the
Sage."
Eventually, this text found its way to Europe and was translated into Spanish and Latin at the court of
Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile, in the year 1256.
It was at this time it received the new title of Picatrix, a name whose meaning still remains debated and
uncertain.
The most plausible explanation is that it is the Latin version of an Arabic transliteration, of a Greek
original, perhaps Buqratis,.
Some think it may even allude to Harpocrates, the Hellenistic Egyptian god of silence and mystery.
In the end, we are only left to surmise.

From Christopher Warnock's Picatrix, Liber Atratus, Book 1