The Magical Language of the World of Harry Potter
Brett Gallagher July 5 2011 10:03:33 AM
Since 1997, the world has been entranced by JK Rowling's magical creation, Harry Potter. In her series of books, later adapted into movies, following the 'boy who lived,' young Harry discovers that he has magical powers, and on his 11th birthday, he is whisked away to the magical school of Hogwarts to learn how to harness his gift. It is not hard to see how this series has taken the world by storm. The Cinderella-like fantasy of rising from nothing to realize your true destiny is certainly an alluring one. From the start, Rowling immerses her readers in Harry's world. We are taken from the mundane and every day to the magical school of Hogwarts, where young witches and wizards hone their magical skills.
From fascinating new creatures, like Boggarts, Thestrals, Grindylows, and Blast-Ended Skrewts, to some old fantasy favorites, such as Trolls, Giants, Gnomes, and Centaurs, Rowling's ability to create a vast world with intricate details has spawned a new language all its own. One of the first terms you learn in Harry Potter is the difference between Witches and Wizards, and the non-magical 'Muggles,' who are everyday people with no magical talent like you and me. Harry himself being the son of a Wizard father and a Muggle mother. However, even some Muggles can have the ability and talent to learn magic, such as Harry's friend and classmate, Hermione Granger.
Harry's incredible world even has its very own sport: Quidditch, which spawns its own array of unique terminology and game play. Vaguely similar to football, the contact sport takes place entirely in the air, flying around on broomsticks, and attempting to to send a red, football-sized ball (called a Quaffle) into one of three goal hoops, or by capturing the Golden Snitch.
Beyond just new words and names, the series features a whole new language: Parseltongue, the language of the serpents which Harry and his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, speaks. This rare hereditary skill, passed down by Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of the Hogwarts school, when spoken sounds like a series of hisses, much like a snake. The ability to speak Parseltongue is usually seen as a sign of a dark Wizard, since it was spoken by Lord Voldemort and Salazar Slytherin, both famous dark Wizards in the series. Not only can the Parselmouths, as speakers of Parseltongue are called, communicate with other Parselmouths, but they also have the ability to communicate with serpents, as Harry discovered very innocently early on in the first book.
For me, personally, as a fan I find the spells and various magical abilities in Rowling's universe fascinating. Each spell is different and requires a different skill set, from actually speaking an incantation to having to physically 'flick and swish' your wand a particular way, each spell is unique. Further, even more fascinating is the varying etymologies Rowling pulled her spells from. Just to pull a couple of examples:
Aguamenti is a spell used to produce a jet of water from the spell caster's wand. 'The Latin word aqua (water) combined with augmentum (compare with English augment), an increase, from augere, to increase; see aug- in Indo-European roots, meaning: 'increasing the water (flow)', this combination explains the QU/GU alteration in aqua- ' agua- (see agua e. g. in Portuguese and Spanish). -menti is the genitive form of the suffix 'mentum.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spells_in_Harry_Potter
Wingardium Leviosa is used to levitate objects by the spell caster. Made famous in the first movie when Hermione scolded Ron on his form and pronunciation, the spell involves particu lar movements and strict emphasis on particular vowels. The suggested etymology is a deformation of the English world 'wing', and the Latin words arduus meaning 'tall', and levis meaning 'light'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spells_in_Harry_Potter
Expecto Patronum, the emotionally-bound spell which allows the user to protect themselves from the soul-stealing Dementors, the goulish guards of the Wizarding world's most notorious prison: Azkaban. 'Expecto Patronum is correct classical Latin for 'I await a protector'. It is related to 'pater' (father) and Harry's Patronus indeed takes the same form as that of his father's animagus form (a stag).'
Avada Kedavra, as one of the three Unforgivable Curses, this is the deadliest, literally able to kill a person instantly once cast. In the book series, only two people have ever survived this curse, Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, the latter only saved by an object, whereas Harry was saved by his mother's love. Rowling has been quoted as saying that Avada Kedavra is an ancient spell in Aramaic, and the source for the phrase 'abracadabra', meaning let the thing be destroyed'; the 'thing' in this case, being a living thing.
Priori Incantato is used to emanate an echo of the last spell cast by the owner of a particular wand. The spell evolved from the Latin words prior, meaning 'former' and incanto, meaning 'to enchant'.
I picked a few of my favorite examples to get a break down of how these spells of fantasy have some grounding in real life languages, which helps to add some sense of realism to the series. Harry Potter has been fascinating many people of all ages through the books and movies now for nearly 15 years. With the recent release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, and as the end of the movies draws nearer, the impact the story of this young boy and his world has created all new words and ways of speaking in our own. If you are fascinated to learn more about the amazing world of Harry Potter beyond just the books and movies, there are a slew of resources out there diving into even more depth on many of the items I have mentioned in this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spells_in_Harry_Potter
http://www.squidoo.com/languageofmagic
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
Written by Amanda Weber
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