Language barriers

[mlle_bienvenu]

No: HPFGUIDX 54161

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "larryngocnguyen83" 
<larryngocnguyen at h...> wrote:
> Hey Everyone its me again with another random question that probably
> was already discussed.
> 
> It seems much of the words spoken for spells and magic like "lumos" 
or
> "accio" are based in Latin or greek phrases in a western speech
> vernacular. I wonder how Southeast Asian, African, or other
> non-western wizarding populations with drastically different 
languages
> are able to perform magic when the words spoken are european based.
> Are translations of the spells used, or is there a substitute that
> closely equals those words in terms of creating the same effect? 
>      LArry

I would imagine that since there is more than one spoken language in 
the world, there would also be more than one spell-language in the 
world. The only reason I can see for using latinate language for 
magic is that the language would have evolved from medieval times 
when Latin was the 'scholarly language' throughout Europe.

Also, I always had the feeling, although I don't think there is any 
cannon to support this, that the words themselves are less important 
than the intent. That is, for a spell such as 'Lumos', it would be 
theorhetically possible to say 'light' and it would work as long as 
the intent and belief was there.

Just an idea. 

Mlle Bienvenu (who is new to the board and is enjoying the in depth 
conversations here)