[HPforGrownups] Re: Creating spells

[Philip]

No: HPFGUIDX 186068

Geoff Bannister wrote:
> There surely must be some way that new spells are
> "registered" by the magic environment of the
> Wizarding World for want of a better term. There
> must have been a time when spell creation was in
> its infancy. For instance, is it to do with the
> will of the wizard to really want the result, to
> really mean what the spell was for - as Bellatrix
> pointed out to Harry in the battle at the Ministry
> when he tried to use Crucio on her?

Miles:
Just look at the language question. Why are most spells using Latin? What is

magical about Latin? Did manhood have no magic before Latin was spoken? How 
could there be ancient wizards in Egypt, before there was something like 
"Latin" at all? Aren't there indigene wizards in America and Africa, who 
will not know of Latin at all? And if Latin is important, why is this Latin 
so messed up? And if the language is not important, why aren't there working

spells in English?

Philip replies:

Perhaps most of the spells are in Latin because Latin was where the concepts
and ideas were introduced. My thought is that once something is discovered,
it is given a name. This name then becomes magical, to use this word is to
invoke the power of the thing behind the name.
In the same way, the word Voldemort has its own magic. It shocks people and
stuns them - perhaps not physically though. While Voldemort existed this
name held power. Something physical, an element of the world doesn't die, it
continues onwards. Therefore until all fire on earth is destroyed, the word
fire still invokes a meaning upon us. So the Flagrante curse has power.
This power becomes real over time, until it is so powerful it creates a
physical effect. 
The strongest spells are associated with deep elements of the human psyche,
control, death and pain. So they have an easily visible and destructive
magical power when the word that has longest been associated with it is
given out.
This is, I think a fairly reasonable explanation. Over time, more magical
words will come into being and increase in power and some, like Voldemort
will die out.