Magical Latin

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 186106

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Bruce Alan Wilson" <bruce_alan_wilson at ...> wrote:

BAW:
> "Hocus pocus" is  itself corrupted Latin, from "hoc est 
> corpus"--"This is the Body," what the priest says when 
> he touches the bread at Mass.
> 
> "Abracadabra" is Semitic--either Hebrew or Aramaic.  
> "Aba-beni-ruach-akadosh"--Father Son & Holy Spirit.
> 
> So even our 'real world' "magic words are Latin and 
> Hebrew/Aramaic.

Geoff:
Wikipedia seems to take a different line to you and, 
interestingly enough, closer to JKR's spelling and use:

'The original Aramaic was either ב 9;, avda kedavra, 
which means, "what was said has been done," or  ;, 
avra kedavra, which means "what was said has come to pass" 
or "caused to perish like the word."'