Abracadabra (sometimes spelled Abrakadabra) is a word used as an incantation.
History
The word is now commonly used as an incantation by stage magicians. In ancient times, however, it was taken much more seriously as an incantation to be
used as a cure for fevers and inflammations. The first known mention was in the 2nd century A.D. in a poem called
De Medicina Praecepta by Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who prescribed that the sufferer from the disease wear an amulet
containing the word written in the form of an inverted cone:
A B R A C A D A B R A
A B R A C A D A B R
A B R A C A D A B
A B R A C A D A
A B R A C A D
A B R A C A
A B R A C
A B R A
A B R
A B
A
This, he explained, diminishes the hold of the spirit of the disease over the patient. Other Roman emperors, including Geta and Alexander Severus, were followers of the medical teachings of Serenus Sammonicus and are likely to
have used the incantation as well.
Etymology
Theories about the source of the word are:
"I create as I speak"
A possible source is Aramaic: אברא כדברא avra kedabra which means "Creating
as speaking" which is thought to be in reference to God creating the universe (in
some belief systems, ex nihilo), by speaking (see also Fiat Lux). An alternative spelling is avda K'Davarah. One may also view it as "I transgress as I
speak" in the Aramaic עבריה כדבריה which is phonetically closer.
The curse and the pestilence
There is the view that Abracadabra derives from the Hebrew, ha-brachah, meaning "the blessing" (used in this sense as a
euphemism for "the curse") and dabra, an Aramaic form of the Hebrew word dever, meaning "pestilence." They point to
a similar kabbalistic cure for blindness, in which the name of Shabriri, the demon of blindness, is similarly diminished. Other scholars are
skeptical of this origin and claim that the idea of diminishing the power of demons was common throughout the ancient world, and
that Abracadabra was simply the name of one such demon.
Other phrases that have been suggested as possible origins
Abracadabra may have been from:
• a corruption of the Hebrew avar k'davar which means roughly "it will be according to what is spoken;"
• abrakha adabra - Hebrew for "I shall bless, I shall speak."
• abreq ad Habra - Arabic meaning "hurl your thunderbolt even unto death."
Disappear like this word
Some have argued that the term may come from the Aramaic אבדא כדברא abhadda
kedhabhra, meaning 'disappear like this word'. Rather than being used as a curse, the Aramaic phrase is believed to have been
used as a means of treating illness.
Abraxas
It has also been claimed that the word comes from Abraxas, a Gnostic word for God (the source of 365 emanations, apparently the Greek letters for Abraxas add up to 365
when deciphered according to numerological methods). It has also been claimed to come from
Abracalan (or Aracalan) who is said to have been a Syrian god.
Thelema
-
The occult movement of Thelema spells the word "Abrahadabra", and considers it the magical formula of the current Aeon. The
movement's founder, Aleister Crowley, explains in his essay Gematria that he
discovered the word (and his spelling) by kabbalistic methods. He appears to say that this
happened before his January 1901 meeting with Oscar Eckenstein, one of his teachers.
(At this meeting, Eckenstein ordered him to abandon magick for the moment and practice meditation
or concentration.) The Word Abrahadabra appears repeatedly in the 1904 invocation of Horus that
led to the founding of Thelema. (The Equinox I, no. 7. 1912) It also appears in a 1901
diary that Crowley published in The Equinox.
The essay Gematria gives Hindu, Christian, and "Unsectarian" versions of the problem that Crowley intended this magick
word to answer. He also gives a kabbalistic equivalent for each phrasing, and a brief symbolic
answer for each. The unsectarian version reads, "I am the finite square; I wish to be one with the infinite circle." Its
equivalent refers to "the Cross of Extension" and "the infinite Rose." Crowley's numerological explanation of ABRAHADABRA focuses
mainly on this last formulation and the answer to it.
Jamrach Holobom, quoted by Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
By _Abracadabra_ we signify
An infinite number of things.
'Tis the answer to What? and How? and Why?
And Whence? and Whither? -- a word whereby
The Truth (with the comfort it brings)
Is open to all who grope in night,
Crying for Wisdom’s holy light.
Whether the word is a verb or a noun
Is knowledge beyond my reach.
I only know that 'tis handed down.
From sage to sage,
From age to age --
An immortal part of speech!
Of an ancient man the tale is told
That he lived to be ten centuries old,
In a cave on a mountain side.
(True, he finally died.)
The fame of his wisdom filled the land,
For his head was bald, and you'll understand
His beard was long and white
And his eyes uncommonly bright.
Philosophers gathered from far and near
To sit at his feat and hear and hear,
Though he never was heard
To utter a word
But "_Abracadabra, abracadab_,
_Abracada, abracad_,
_Abraca, abrac, abra, ab!_"
'Twas all he had,
'Twas all they wanted to hear, and each
Made copious notes of the mystical speech,
Which they published next --
A trickle of text
In the meadow of commentary.
Mighty big books were these,
In a number, as leaves of trees;
In learning, remarkably -- very!
He’s dead,
As I said,
And the books of the sages have perished,
But his wisdom is sacredly cherished.
In _Abracadabra_ it solemnly rings,
Like an ancient bell that forever swings.
O, I love to hear
That word make clear
Humanity’s General Sense of Things.
The "Killing Curse" in the Harry Potter stories may have been taken by
J. K. Rowling from an Aramaic form "avada
kedavra" or similar, which roughly means "what I speak is destroyed," influenced by the Latin word
cadaver, meaning "corpse". This form differs from the "I create as I speak" form ("Avara Kedavra") by a single letter in
the English transliteration; it is one of the few spells in Harry Potter not derived entirely from Latin.
(see also possibly "Disappear like this word", above.)
References
External links
See also
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