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Magical Foreign Words: Difference between revisions
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** The language used is pure preference, with other characters shown using pseudo-Egyptian, pseudo-Aztec, and pseudo-Japanese.
** It's the pseudo-ness that's important: the more you know of the language, the less protection it gives you. People are known to make up their own completely nonsensical languages for that express purpose.
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' also uses [[Canis Latinicus]] (and Greek, and Aramaic, and bad jokes in English) for magic words.
** According to [[J. K. Rowling]], "Avada Kedavra" is based on an Aramaic phrase meaning "I will destroy as I speak", but it appears she may have been thinking of the Chaldean phrase "abbada ke dabra", which translates to "perish like the word".
* This trope is justified in [[Patricia C. Wrede]]'s ''Mairelon the Magician'' and sequels. It doesn't matter what language incantations are in, as long as it's not the native language of the spellcaster; if you try to cast a spell using your own native language, it becomes uncontrollable.
* Poul Anderson's ''[[Operation Chaos]]'' states that "exotic tongues are necessary for the more powerful spells--which is why so many African and Asian students come here to learn American slang...."
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