Creating spells

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 186044

In post 186040, Carol wrote:

Geoff:
> > To kickstart the thread, in HBP for example, Harry used the  
> > Sectumsempra spell which we learn was invented by Snape. 
> > This for a long time has posed the question for me "How do 
> > you invent a spell?"

<Snip>

> > What are the thoughts of fellow members on this?

Carol:
> Apparently, any old incantation won't do (maybe the Latin has 
> to be at least intelligible to the wand?) since HBP notes that at 
> least one spell had given "the Prince" some trouble and he 
> seems to have tried out several versions of the incantation before 
> it worked the way he wanted it to. 

<snip>

> And some spells, such as Wingardium Leviosa, seem needlessly 
> complex. Why not just use the Latin for "I hover" (in the sense of 
> a transitive verb requiring an unstated object)?

Geoff:
One of the things I notice about JKR's spells is that often the Latin 
is distorted and occasionally mixed with other sources – Wingardium 
Leviosa is a good example. I'm not totally certain where the first 
element came from but the use of the letter "w" in Latin is almost 
unknown. Other examples are "Finite Incantatem" and also "Priori 
Incantatem" for which the accurate Latin would see the use of 
"Incantamentum".  

"Avada Kedavra" is a good example of a non-Latin spell. there was 
discussion on this some long while ago (round about post 84780) 
and it was suggested that it was derived from "Abracadabra" and 
was a Middle East language – Hebrew or Aramaic as possibilities? 

In post 186041 eggplant wrote:

Geoff: 
> > How do you invent a spell 

Eggplant: 
> You and I don't have the magic gene so there is no way we can 
> answer that question; we couldn't even make a simple potion 
> even if we read it out of a book because we'd soon get hopelessly 
> confused. People asked Beethoven how he wrote his music and 
> Einstein how he came up with his theory and neither could explain 
> how they did it, they just did it. If you have to ask you can't. 

Geoff:
I think you're ducking the issue here. When I said "How do you invent 
a spell" I thought it was clear that I was looking at it from a Wizarding 
World point of view and not "ours". I also feel that if we were given the 
relevant ingredients and the instructions for a potion, we ought to be 
able to make it; why should we become hopelessly confused? 

I'm not sure that I buy into your composition analogy. In our world, folk 
know about music and could write down a string of notes on a clef. 
Whether that made a tune would be judged by the hearer. If a Beethoven 
fanatic listens to Schoenberg, he or she might query whether the latter 
is strictly "music". But that has nothing to do with the performance of 
the piece.

If a witch or wizard puts together a series of Latin words, which let us 
assume make sense, what is the likelihood that, when pronounced, they 
would perform a spell? What effort or magical ability needs to be put 
behind it for it to be effective? To reiterate, my point was that if 
spellmaking was easy, the magical world could be swamped in spells 
which hardly anyone knew about and were just "floating" around. And 
what would happen if someone else happened to say those words with 
a wand in their hand?

In the words of Linus "the theological implications alone are staggering."
:-)