The magic word ‘Abracadabra’ was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever.
Remember going to a stage show when you were little, and seeing a magician pull rabbits or other assorted animals out of their hat, after chanting that magic word, “abracadabra”? Well, it wasn’t all that magical in the beginning. Nor was it used in producing sleight of hand tricks. It actually had medicinal properties. And if you believe that, we have a used rabbit to sell you.
While used in modern times as an incantation for trickery, it was originally inscribed on a piece of paper, in the shape of an inverted pyramid, and worn in a locket around the neck as a cure for ague, or fevers. The first recorded mention of this is in the unusual poem “De Medicina Praecepta”, by Serenus Sammonicus. The third century work, which is largely unfinished, is a composite of common illnesses and remedies, recorded in hexameters.
But where did the word itself come from? There are a number of theories, all of which are plausible, because quite simply, nobody knows for sure. Some sources attribute it to the Aramaic phrase “avara kehdabra”, or “I create as I speak”. Others favor the Aramaic expression “abhadda kehdabra”, or “disappear like this word”.
The phrase even appears in the highly popular Harry Potter series, when Potter uses a killing curse “avada kehdabra”, also Aramaic. Only one letter differentiates the translation “what I speak is destroyed”, from the other interpretation which deals with creation. Potter aficionados note that this is one of the rare incantations in the books, not derived from Latin.
