Why Latin For magic? (was: Identifying with Muggles in Potterver se - Humanities)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 158256

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tonks" <tonks_op at ...> wrote:
>
> > James Muses:
> 
> > I've always pondered why a lot of the magic seems to be Latin in 
> origin. There are definitely hints that wizards existed before 
> Latin, so why Latin?
> > 
> (snip) I believe wizards could in theory use any language
> > for spell craft, Latin is useful and common for spell craft 
> exactly because it's a dead language that nobody speaks. 
> > 
> 
> Tonks:
> That is an interesting theory.
> 
> Botanical names for plants and the names for parts of the human body 
> are also in Latin.  And Latin was the official language for the 
> Roman Catholic Church until the 1950's.  So there is a common trend 
> here as well as in the WW.  As to the underlying reason why, I 
> really have never thought about it. But I think the reason has to do 
> with the fact that like English today, in the past Latin was the 
> universal language.

Geoff:
I think Tonks has provided the answer. During the currency of the 
Roman Empire, a large number of countries were under the control 
of the Empire. These countries spoke their own languages and thus 
the Empire, for the purposes of administration and rule made Latin 
a lingua franca. Since the early Christian church was also expanding 
at this period in history, a similar thing happened and, of course, 
Latin is often still used in the same capacity in the Catholic church
even today.

So, it is understandable that Latin spells would have developed in 
the same way. It needs to be remembered that a huge number of 
technical words in contemporary English use Latin - and sometimes 
Greek - roots in their construction.

Although I spent my professional career as a teacher of Maths and 
later Computing, I took Latin at grammar school to exam level in the 
Fifth Year and have never ever regretted doing so. It is a marvellous 
portal to understanding language.

Kenneth:

But how does magic "know" that a certain Latin phrase means a
specific magical event/spell? 

Geoff:
Simply because it /is/ magic.