OT: Latin (was Re: Sinistra and PI)

[Scott]

No: HPFGUIDX 12515

Firebolt wrote:
"Correction: Amos cast 'Prior Incantato', not Priori Incantatem. 
Subtle Latin differences which someone who has, unlike me, taken 
Latin within the past two years will have to explain. Anyway, my 
guess is that Prior Incantato shows the last spell any wand has cast, 
and Priori Incantatem is the phenomenon which occurs when two wands 
sharing cores are forced to battle - namely, one of the wands is 
forced by the other to regurgitate all the spells it has ever cast, 
in reverse order, until the connection is broken."

--You really want to know this eh? Ok the best way I can explain this 
is that incantatem (I couldn't actually find this word in a latin 
dictionary- anyone?) is a third declension noun accusative singular 
(used for objects) or a nominative (subject and predicate nominative) 
ending (em). Priori is an adjective meaning former, and unless I'm 
way off base the 'i' ending indicates that it is modifying a noun.  

Hmmmm, now that I'm looking over this I guess it doesn't make sense. 
The 'o' is not a third declension ending. Is incantatem a real latin 
word that was simply omitted from my handy dandy Oxford Pocket latin 
Dictionary? I'm getting really confused...

Scott