# abracadabra (magic word)



## Encolpius

Hello, which are *the most common* magic words in your language. Magic word a word said by someone performing a trick to help it work successfully. Thanks.  

*Hungarian*: hókusz-pókusz, abrakadabra, csiribí-csiribá...

*Czech*: čáry máry fuk, abrakadabra, sim sala bim....


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## Perseas

Abrakatabra (Άμπρα κατάμπρα) is also a Greek common magic word.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

*«Άμπρα-κατάμπρα»* ['ambra ka'tambra] (written also as a single word *«αμπρακατάμπρα»* [ambraka'tambra])

 Ancient Greeks of Classical era, used a few meaningless (gibberish) words inscribed on their clothes, or on statues and images of deities as magic words, known as *«Ἐφέσια γράμματα»* (Εphesian words). These magic words were:

*«Ἄσκι-Κατάσκι-Λίξ-Τετράξ-Δαμναμενεύς-Αἴσιον» áskĭ-kătáskĭ-líks-tĕtráks-dămnămĕneús-ǽsiŏn*
or,
*«Βέδυ-Ζάμψ-Χθών-Πλῆκτρον-Σφίγξ-Κνάξβι-Χθύπτης-Φλέγμων-Δρώψ» bédŭ-zámps-kʰtʰṓn-plêktrŏn-spʰíŋks-knáksbĭ-kʰtʰúptēs-pʰlégmōn-drṓps*


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## Grefsen

Perseas said:


> Abrakatabra (Άμπρα κατάμπρα) is also a Greek common magic word.


The most common "magic words" I've heard used by magicians here in the U.S. are "abracadabra" and "hocus pocus."


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
Abrakadabra or hokus pokus/hokus pokus filiokus
_
The hocus pocus is probably from Latin, from the Eucharist words "Hoc est corpus meum" and filiokus from "filioque".


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## Grefsen

AutumnOwl said:


> The hocus pocus is probably from Latin, from the Eucharist words "Hoc est corpus meum" and filiokus from "filioque".


Yes, it could be a corruption of those Latin words, but interestingly enough there are other sources that consider "hocus pocus" to be a reference to the Norse folktale sorcerer Ochus Bochus.


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## arielipi

Hebrew:
its where these all abra kadabra variations come from; its a mispronunciation of two words - evra ka'adaber - I (shall) create (as in creation) as (my mouths) speak.
So, abra kadabra,(<-) alakazem, hokus pokus (bili bokus), shazaam, tadam!, shazam, 
open sesame


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## rusita preciosa

Encolpius said:


> čáry máry fuk


Oy! 

In Russian come to mind:
*фокус покус */fokus pokus/ - "fokus" means "trick"
*крибле крабле бумс */krible krable booms/
*трах тибидох */trakh tibidokh/ - this is an imitation of Arabic magic words from a children's story about an exotic magical character from Baghdad.


We actually have *абракадабра* /abrakadabra/, but it just means "nonsense, gibberish" rather than a magical spell.


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## bibax

Translation of the Czech *"čáry máry fuk"*:

čáry = lines (as the sorcerers usually make magic lines);
máry = biers (it rhymes with čáry);
fuk = verbal noun or interjection derived from the onomatopoeic verb _foukati _(< *fuuu, = to blow), after saying _fuk!_ something (e.g. a coin, rabbit, etc.) will disappear (is blown away);

N.B. fuk is pronounced fook, not fuck!


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## Grefsen

arielipi said:


> Hebrew:
> its where these all abra kadabra variations come from; its a mispronunciation of two words - evra ka'adaber - I (shall) create (as in creation) as (my mouths) speak.
> So, abra kadabra,(<-) alakazem, hokus pokus (bili bokus), shazaam, tadam!, shazam,
> open sesame


Thanks for sharing this *arielipi! *

Another expression I just thought of that is used by magicians in the U.S. when they want something to suddenly change into something else is "presto chango."


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## ahmedcowon

*In Arabic:*

هاروش ماروش /harush marush/
شخارم بخارم /shakharem bakharem/
أشتاتا أشتوت /ashtatan ashtut/

افتح يا سمسم /iftah ya semsem/ from "1001 Arabian Nights"


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## mataripis

There are no common magic words in Tagalog, the abracadabra became common as a result of magic shows in TV and movies. The word of wish in Tagalog are a.) Nawa   and 2.) Papangyarihin  the third one after the wish statement of others  is "Loobin".


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## OneStroke

In Cantonese, it must be the phrase pronounced maa1 li1 maa1 li1 hum1. I have no idea where it comes from, what it means, or even whether it's really Cantonese. (It does sound a bit like 'om mani padme hum', though. )


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## bibax

^Interestingly it has the same number of syllables and the same vowels like Czech "čáry máry fuk", where the first two words are pronounced slowly (with prolongated áá) waving the magic wand, the last word is pronounced shortly.


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## ancalimon

In Turkish we also have "abra kadabra" and "hokus pokus".

abra and arba means to cast magic spell or to deceive in Turkic.


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## OneStroke

bibax said:


> the first two words are pronounced slowly (with prolongated áá) waving the magic wand, the last word is pronounced shortly.



Yes, that applies to the Cantonese phrase as well.


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## SuperXW

OneStroke said:


> In Cantonese, it must be the phrase pronounced maa1 li1 maa1 li1 hum1. I have no idea where it comes from, what it means, or even whether it's really Cantonese. (It does sound a bit like 'om mani padme hum', though. )


It's from here.  A Sanskrit mantra of Buddhism.
Oh, looks you already know "om mani padme hum". I'm sure the Cantonese version is from here.

In Chinese Mandarin, it's often 天灵灵，地灵灵，xxxx快显灵…… 
Literally: Heaven ling ling, earth ling ling, xxxx please show your effectiveness already...
灵 ling2 has multiple meanings related to spirits, effectiveness, answering prayers...

However, the above piece sounds too obvious and ridiculous, like the atheists deliberately make it up to mock the practitioners. A "real" magician doesn't seem to be using this words. 

The Sanskrit mantra "oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ" (唵嘛呢叭咪吽) and "open sesame" (芝麻开门) are also well-known...


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## tFighterPilot

arielipi said:


> Hebrew:
> its where these all abra kadabra variations come from; its a mispronunciation of two words - evra ka'adaber - I (shall) create (as in creation) as (my mouths) speak.
> So, abra kadabra,(<-) alakazem, hokus pokus (bili bokus), shazaam, tadam!, shazam,
> open sesame


It's not a mispronunciation, it's simply Aramaic.


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## origumi

The etymology of abra kadabra is not agreed. See several interesting suggestions in the (Hebrew) Wikipedia: http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/אברקדברה


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## DearPrudence

In *French*, we just use '*abracadabra*'.

It gave two adjectives: 'abracadabrant' & 'abracadabrantesque'.


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## Encolpius

How about other languages?


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## ger4

Encolpius said:


> Hello, which are *the most common* magic words in your language. Magic word a word said by someone performing a trick to help it work successfully. Thanks.
> 
> *Hungarian*: hókusz-pókusz, abrakadabra, csiribí-csiribá...
> 
> *Czech*: čáry máry fuk, abrakadabra, sim sala bim....


German has very similar expressions:
- Hokus-Pokus
- Abrakadabra [a:braka'da:bra]
- Simsalabim [zimzala'bim]


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## 810senior

In Japanese:
ちちんぷいぷいChichin puipui


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## ancalimon

origumi said:


> The etymology of abra kadabra is not agreed. See several interesting suggestions in the (Hebrew) Wikipedia: http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/אברקדברה



I do not know about the second part "kadabra",but the word itself is semantically related with Turkic word to me since it is about deceiving and magic.


Proto-Turkic: *ar-
Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology





Meaning: 1 to make magic, cast spells 2 to deceive
Russian meaning: 1 колдовать, заклинать 2 обманывать
Old Turkic: ar- 2 (Orkh., OUygh.), arvɨš 'magic' (OUygh.)
Karakhanid: ar- 1 (MK, KB), arva- 1 (MK)
Turkish: arpaɣ 'magic' (dial.)
Tatar: arbɨ- 1 (Sib., КСТТ 103)
Middle Turkic: arba- 1 (Sangl., Бад.)
Uzbek: avra- 1, 2
Uighur: a(r)ba- 1
Sary-Yughur: arva- 1 (ЯЖУ 16)
Turkmen: arvax dial. 'evil spirit'
Khakassian: arba- 1
Shor: arba- 1, arbɨš 'magic'
Oyrat: arba-n- 'to scold'
Yakut: arbā- 1 (Пек. I 139 'to praise for magic purposes')
Kirghiz: arba- 1, 2
Kazakh: arba- 1, 2
Bashkir: arba- 1
Karakalpak: arba- 1, 2
Comments: EDT 193, 199, VEWT 24, ЭСТЯ I 168-170. Turk. > MMong. arba- 'to put spells' (SH 8); Turk. arbɨš > Mong. arbis 'knowledge' (Clark 1980, 41).

And if there is a Turkic connection at all, "kad" part of kadabra could be related with:

Proto-Turkic: *Kat-
Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology




Meaning: to mix, add, tie to
Russian meaning: смешивать, добавлять
Old Turkic: qat- (Orkh., OUygh.)
Karakhanid: qat- (MK, KB)
Turkish: kat-
Tatar: qat-
Middle Turkic: qat- (Sangl., MA, Pav. C., Qutb.)
Uighur: qat-
Azerbaidzhan: _Gat-_
Turkmen: _Gat-_
Khakassian: xat-
Shor: qat-
Oyrat: qat-
Chuvash: xodъš 'mixture'
Yakut: xat- (but kɨtar- 'to mix')
Dolgan: kat-
Tuva: qa't-
Tofalar: qa't-
Kirghiz: qat-
Kazakh: qat-
Noghai: qat-
Bashkir: qat-
Balkar: qat-
Karakalpak: qat-
Kumyk: qat-
Comments: EDT 594-595, VEWT 241, ЭСТЯ 5, 336, 337-338, Stachowski 141, Федотов 2, 373-374.
Proto-Turkic: *Kat
Altaic etymology: Altaic etymology




Meaning: layer
Russian meaning: слой
Old Turkic: qat (OUygh.)
Karakhanid: qat (MK, KB)
Turkish: kat
Tatar: qat
Middle Turkic: qat (Houts., AH, IM, MA)
Uzbek: qɔt, dial. qɛt
Uighur: qat
Azerbaidzhan: _Gat_
Turkmen: _Gat_
Khakassian: xat
Oyrat: qat
Chuvash: xut
Yakut: xat 'double, X times'
Dolgan: kat 'X times'
Tuva: qa't
Kirghiz: qat
Bashkir: qat
Karakalpak: qat
Kumyk: qat
Comments: VEWT 241, ЭСТЯ 5, 335-336, TMN 3, 419, Stachowski 140, Ашм. XVI, 250-255, Федотов 2, 371-372. The original meaning must have been "one of two layers" - as witnessed by the Yak. meaning and by external evidence.


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## nimak

Encolpius said:


> *Hungarian*: hókusz-pókusz, abrakadabra, csiribí-csiribá...



These are the most common in *Macedonian* too:

*абракадабра* (_abrakadabra_) ['abraka'dabra]
*хокус-покус* (_hokus-pokus_) ['xɔkus 'pɔkus]
*чирибу-чириба* (_čiribu-čiriba_) ['t͡ʃiribu 't͡ʃiriba], [t͡ʃiri'bu t͡ʃiri'ba]


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## Welsh_Sion

I'm surprised forum member @heypresto has not contributed his (?) own name to this list ...


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## heypresto

Ha! And as if by magic, I turn up in this thread 37 minutes later, to add 'Hey presto! ' to the growing list.   



Welsh_Sion said:


> his (?)


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## Encolpius

Welsh_Sion said:


> I'm surprised forum member @heypresto has not contributed his (?) own name to this list ...



Good morning Sion, are there no abracadabras in Welsh?


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## Welsh_Sion

Boringly, no ... as far as I can see. *'Abracadabra!' *seems universal. There's *'Dyma chi!' *(a little like French* 'Voila !'* or *'Here you are!'* in English) for *'Hey, presto!' *otherwise it's a rather barren field over here ...

I think you sometimes get '*Shazam!' * and *'Kaboom!' *(the former perhaps as some sort of cod Arabic, or something like that) used by English speakers ...


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## Penyafort

In Catalan, no surprise, *abracadabra *too. Sometimes *pota de cabra *(goat leg) is added right after, because rhyme is important in magic spells, you know.

As in French, *abracadabrant *is an adjective derived from it, meaning 'very surprising'.

Some mentioned in previous posts may be heard from time to time, but they aren't rooted in the language. It's rather more common to hear weird rhyming expressions than just one word.


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