Magic/Languages and Accidental/Wandless magic

[Lisa (Jennings) Mamula]

No: HPFGUIDX 116705


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> LisaMarie wrote:
> <snip>
> > > Magic and languages.  This makes me wonder: Are there language
> barriers in the magical world?  <snip> Are the spells universal (read:
> accessible to users of any language), or are they language-specific? 
> An example may help me illustrate my question.  I'll use Bill Weasley.
> ><discussion of Bill's job as curse on Egyptian tombs snipped by
> Christopher>


<Christopher's excellent response snipped by LisaMarie>
 
> Carol responds:
> I think Christopher (along with Geoff in his response) has pretty much
> covered the "language of magic" as a lingua franca of sorts from early
> Christian times, or even pre-Christian early Roman times, to the
> present. But the Egyptian curses that Bill is breaking predate both
> Christianity and the Romans. They would have to be recorded in
> heiroglyphic form, if recorded at all, and the spoken language would
> most likely have been Coptic or some earlier form of Egyptian. Which
> brings us back to Lisa Marie's question about Bill: Can he break the
> curses using the Latin/Aramaic hypbrid language used in the modern
> spells? Or would he have to know the countercurses in the original
> languages? Obviously we can't answer the question definitively, but
> what does anyone think and why?
>

LisaMarie returns:
Carol- 
Christopher and I took our discussion off-list, but one of the conclusions we 
came to is that there *must* be some underlying magic force or power (or at 
least we think so), and that the "magic words," in whatever language, only 
help the user to tap into that power, instead of the words themselves 
producing some magical effect.  Of course, we don't have conclusive canon 
on this subject (AFAIK), so we could be totally off, but there you go.  :)

I also think that the instances of "accidental" or "wandless" magic could add to 
this idea of an underlying force, since they nearly always relate to a wizard 
under extreme stress/danger/emotion or to a wizard who is really powerful.  
(Forgive me for not using actual references to the locatons of my examples, 
but my books are at home and I'm in my classroom.  Sorry.)

Harry is our best example of "accidental" magic, and the list is extensive: 
growing his hair back; getting on the school roof; making the glass disappear 
at the zoo; blowing up Aunt Marge.  All of these were magical acts, and, 
AFAWK, Harry did all of these things accidentally, at times of extreme emotion 
or need.  Indeed, the first three events occured before Harry even knew he 
was a wizard!  So, needless to say, there were no words or spells spoken, but 
the magic occured, just the same.  (JKR also gives us the example of Neville, 
distressed by being dropped out of a window, performes or possesses magic 
that saves him from injury.  I expect that most wizarding children show these 
tendencies, displaying the fact that they possess magical powers without their 
using spells.)

The wandless magic is, to me, an intriguing part of this investigation.  (As I 
mentioned earlier, I am 20 miles away from my books, and, being a Muggle, 
am unable to Summon them to me, so memory will  have to serve.)  I 
remember two examples of wandless magic, both coming from PoA.  The first 
occurs during the Shreiking Shack scene, when Snape conjures ropes (to tie 
Lupin?) and then, using his non-wand hand, /clicks his fingers/ and controls 
the ropes, without his wand.  Now, I believe that Snape is a powerful wizard 
and find it easy to believe that he is powerful enough to perform some magic 
without his wand.  (I wonder if this has anything to do with his "foolish wand-
waving" comment in Harry's first year Potions class.  Hmmmm.)

The second occurance of wandless magic is also in PoA, but much earlier 
and by a much more obscure character, and consequently is much more 
interesting to me.  In the chapter when Harry goes to the Leaky Cauldron 
(shoddy reference, sorry), the inn-keeper, Tom, /clicks his fingers/ to make a 
fire in Harry's room.  Hagrid and Hermione both also conjure fires (in PS/SS), 
but use wands to do so.   What's with all this /finger clicking/?!?

Of course, these examples /prove/ nothing, but I think they go a long way to 
contribute to the idea that magic is a force, whether within the wizard or 
existing as an outside force (probably both, I think), and not just the result of 
some carefully spoken and employed words or phrases.

Have fun "Unfogging"  this post!!

LisaMarie, hoping that everyone hasn't fallen asleep and/or sworn to stop 
reading her posts!