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Abracadabra

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This article is about an incantational word. For other uses, see Abracadabra (disambiguation).

A silver talisman from the 6th or 7th century, inscribed with words similar to abracadabra

Abracadabra is a magic word, historically used as an apotropaic incantation on amulets and common today in stage magic. It is of unknown origin.

Etymology

Pronunciation
Male native of Poland pronouncing Abracadabra
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Abracadabra is of unknown origin, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, its first known occurrence is in a second-century work of Serenus Sammonicus[1] (see below).

Several folk etymologies are associated with the word:[2] from phrases in Hebrew that mean "I will create as I speak",[3] or Aramaic "I create like the word" (אברא כדברא),[4] to folk etymologies that point to similar words in Latin and Greek such as abraxas[5] or to its similarity to the first four letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha-beta-gamma-delta or ΑΒΓΔ).[6] According to the OED Online, "no documentation has been found to support any of the various conjectures."[5]

Historian Don Skemer suggests that the word could originate from the Hebrew phrase “ha brachah dabarah”, which means "name of the blessed", which was said to be a magical phrase. [7]

Professional Aramaic linguist Steve Caruso argues that Abracadabra can neither be Aramaic nor Hebrew, and suggests that the popularisation of the mistaken etymology is a result of an extended discussion on an early internet message board, which credits rabbi Lawrence Kushner with publishing a modern etymology.[8][9]

History

Abracadabra written in a triangular form as represented in Encyclopædia Britannica

The first known mention of the word was in the second century AD in a book called Liber Medicinalis (sometimes known as De Medicina Praecepta Saluberrima) by Serenus Sammonicus,[10] physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who in chapter 52 prescribed that malaria sufferers wear an amulet containing Abracadabra written in the form of a triangle.[11][12]

The power of the amulet, he claimed, makes lethal diseases go away. Other Roman emperors, including Geta and Severus Alexander, were followers of the medical teachings of Serenus Sammonicus and may have used the incantation as well.[10]

It was used as a magical formula by the Gnostics of the sect of Basilides in invoking the aid of beneficent spirits against disease and misfortune.[13] It is found on Abraxas stones, which were worn as amulets. Subsequently, its use spread beyond the Gnostics.

A Jewish codex from 16th century Italy entitled as Ets ha-Da’at ('The Tree of Knowledge'), described as a collection of magical spells, contains the word for an amulet. It was described as a "cure from heavens" for "all sorts of fever[s]", consumption, and fire.[14] [15]

The Puritan minister Increase Mather dismissed the word as bereft of power. Daniel Defoe also wrote dismissively about Londoners who posted the word on their doorways to ward off sickness during the Great Plague of London.[16]

The religion of Thelema speaks of the word 'Abrahadabra', and considers it the magical formula of the current Aeon.[17] The religion's founder, Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), explains in his essay Gematria that he discovered the word (and his spelling) by qabalistic methods. The word 'Abrahadabra' also appears repeatedly in the 1904 invocation of Horus that led to the founding of Thelema (The Equinox I, no. 7. 1912).

In the early 1800s the word was used as an example of what magicians would say. [18] Abracadabra is now more commonly used in the performance of stage magic as a magic word at the culmination of a trick.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "abracadabra", Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2009
  2. ^ Elyse Graham (December 30, 2016), "Magic words: performative utterance in fact and fantasy", Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press, archived from the original on February 26, 2017
  3. ^ Kushner, Lawrence (1998). The Book of Words: Talking Spiritual Life, Living Spiritual Talk. Jewish Lights Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 1580230202.
  4. ^ Lew, Alan (August 2003). This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780759528215. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  5. ^ a b "abracadabra", Oxford English Dictionary Online, retrieved September 1, 2017
  6. ^ Flanders, Judith (2020). A Place for Everything:The Curious History of Alphabetical Order. Basic Books. p. xxv. ISBN 9781541675070.
  7. ^ "The ancient—and mysterious—history of 'abracadabra'". NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 2, 2024. Medieval historian Don Skemer, a specialist in magic and former curator of manuscripts at Princeton University, suggests abracadabra could derive from the Hebrew phrase "ha brachah dabarah," which means "name of the blessed" and was regarded as a magical name.
  8. ^ Caruso, Steve (29 January 2014). "Abracadabra is NOT Aramaic".
  9. ^ The Straight Dope Message Board (1 March 1999). "Abracadabra".
  10. ^ a b Sammonicus, Quintus Serenus (1786). Quinti Sereni Samonici De medicina praecepta salvberrima. In bibliopolio I.G. Mülleriano. p. 4.
  11. ^ Shah, Sonia (10 July 2010). "The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  12. ^ Bartleby Archived November 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abracadabra" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  14. ^ Buda, Zsófi (August 19, 2020). "The Tree of Knowledge: magic spells from a Jewish potion book". British Library Asian and African studies blog. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  15. ^ "The ancient—and mysterious—history of 'abracadabra'". National Geographic. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 2, 2024. A 16th century Jewish manuscript from Italy records a version of the abracadabra spell for an amulet to prevent fever
  16. ^ Daniel Defoe. A Journal of the Plague Year. London, Dent, 1911 (1722)
  17. ^ "The ancient—and mysterious—history of 'abracadabra'". NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 2, 2024. But the word seems to have lost its usefulness as a remedy, and in the early 1800s it appeared in a stage play written by William Thomas Moncrieff, as an example of a word magicians would utter. Its only notable reference in the 20th century may be in the Thelema religion founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley. The occultist often used the word "abrahadabra" in his 1904 Liber Al Vel Legis ("Book of the Law,") saying it was the name of a new age of humanity; and he claimed to have derived it from the numerology system known as Hermetic Qabalah, which induced him to swap out the C of abracadabra for an H.
  18. ^ "The ancient—and mysterious—history of 'abracadabra'". NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
  19. ^ Randi, James (1995). An encyclopedia of claims, frauds, and hoaxes of the occult and supernatural: decidedly sceptical definitions of alternative realities. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-15119-5.
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