Enervate/Ennervate

[dfrankiswork at netscape.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 27811

Jen Faulkner wrote:

> The spell, however, is not *enervate*; it eNnervate.  Spelling, in 
this
> case, *counts*.

and Steve Vander Ark agrees both onlist and in the Lexicon.

Not in my GOF, British first edition, it ain't.  Dumbledore revives 
Krum and Crouch with 'Enervate'.  Flitwick and Hermione have 
unaccountably not mentioned whether spelling is important when 
spelling.

So first question: do the UK and other English Language versions 
differ here?  If so, and Dumbledore tried to use the spell in 
America, would he send the patient further into unconsciousness?

I doubt very much that etymology is the answer here - surely neither 
Latin nor mediaeval French (nor Hawaiian) is a particularly magical 
language.  I think the point is connotation - enervate *sounds* like 
getting the nerves going, whatever it may mean in the dictionary.

But this does raise the question - how do the words for spells 
arise?  Why does pronunciation matter?  Do Krum, or Ali Bashir, or 
the African wizards use the same vaguely Romance spells that British 
(English?) wizards do?

David, wondering idly how mediaeval L.O.O.N.s kept their blood 
pressure down in the days when nobody cared about spelling