Need to cast a spell? There are several useful words to know that have long magical histories. The roots of the word “magic” itself can be found in Magi or mage, a hereditary
class of Zoroastrian priests of the ancient Medes or Persians. Magi was later
used to describe men with special abilities such as king, priest or astrologer
who could read omens in the skies. The word “magic” goes back to the 1300s, and
it originally referred to rituals, incantations, or actions thought to give the
user control over the natural world, but the definition has changed through the
centuries. By the 1700s, it also
referred to an actual supernatural power.
In the 1800s, sleight of hand and card tricks became popular and stage
performers used the word to imply they had special arcane abilities.
No one is sure of the origin of the strange word
abracadabra, although believed to be Hebrew or Aramaic origin. It
is possibly derived either from the Hebrew words ab (father), ben (son),
and ruach hakodesh (holy spirit), or
from the Aramaic avra kadavra, “it
will be created in my words”. In the Harry Potter series, Rowling played with
the Aramaic version to create a death spell, Avada Kedavra, which was supposed to mean
“let this thing be destroyed.”
The earliest use of abracadabra is in a Latin poem in a
medical book. The word was a written charm to protect against bad luck,
illness, or evil. It was often worn as an amulet and resembled a “v” with the
final letter dropped on each line until only “a” remained.
Abracadabra
Abracadabr
Abracadab
Abracada
Abracad
Abraca
Abrac
Abra
Abr
Ab
A
Hocus pocus first appeared in the early 1600s as Hocas
Pocas, the common name for a magician or juggler. In 1634, a book appeared
entitled Hocus Pocus Junior - The Anatomy
of Legerdemain. The author was anonymous but was later dubbed Hocus Pocus
after the book's title. It’s also possible hocus pocus evolved from nonsense
words that sounded exotic and magical.
Another explanation for the origin of the term came from
John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1694. In his Sermons he accuses it of being a parody of the consecration of the
Catholic Mass and wrote, “In all probability those common juggling words of
hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of
the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation.” That Archbishop
Tillotson was miffed at both stage performers and Catholics isn’t surprising,
and there’s little evidence of his claims.
On a side note, hocus is also believed to be the source for
the word hoax, but the word doesn't appear until 1796 and, like Archbishop Tillotson’s claim, there’s no direct evidence for a link.
Alakazam is an invocation of magical power to indicate an
instantaneous transformation or appearance that occurs as if by magic. This
word has the most mysterious origin. Because alakazam can be a proper name,
some suggest it was used to invoke the powers of a particular person. Others
trace the origin to a Hindu word meaning “flawless” or the Arabic al qasam, meaning oath. However, the
first known appearance was in 1902 and appears likely that it was merely
invented by stage magicians to evoke a sense of the mystical power of the
Orient.
L. A. Kelley writes science fiction and fantasy adventures with humor,
romance and a touch of sass. Her magic words of choice are sim salla bim.
3 comments:
Very cute and informative post. Enjoyed.
Fun post with lots of great info. Loved the graphics.
Loved the post! Very informative.
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