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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 158272

Geoff wrote:
> 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.
>
Carol responds:
I agree with Geoff's explanation and was intending to say something
similar. I would add that having Latin as the language of the standard
spells would help European Wizards to retain their common culture.
Having the spells in the individual languages would tend, IMO, to
erode the sense of unity in at least the European portions of the WW.
(Interestingly, English appears to be the modern lingua franca in the
WW, just as it is in the real world. The students and teachers from
Beauxbatons and Durmstrang all speak it, but few of the Hogwarts
students seem to speak Franch and none seem to speak Bulgarian or
Russian or whatever the native language of the Durmstrang students
happens to be--not German, despite the name of their school, if we
look at the few names we're given.)

As for magic being conscious, I think it's more that the wand is
sentient. It can not only sense a nonverbal spell, it also senses
intention (which is why the students need to concentrate on their
objective rather than simply saying the words). But perhaps the core,
a "powerful magical substance," understands the Latin words just as
magical animals such as Hedwig and Cookshanks, seem to understand English.

I realize that the part about intention seems to be contradicted by
Sectumsempra working when Harry spoke the words for the first time,
but he knew that it was "for enemies" and I'm pretty sure that he
intended to hurt Draco, if not to slash his face and chest so deeply
that he could have bled to death. Unfortunately, Harry's only
"intention" in casting Levicorpus (nonverbally) was to find out what
the spell did, so we're back to the wand or wand core understanding
the Latin words.

Don't blame me. Blame JKR. ;-)

Carol, wondering if early Hogwarts classes were taught in Latin so
that the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman kids had a common language