inkpenavenger
First Post
There's always the "Harry Potter" system for magic words: like a computer program.
The spell is somehow "encoded" in the very fabric of magic. Speaking the incantation is like typing in the filename on DOS (yes, I'm old enough to remember DOS) or selecting the file from a menu or list. Then you "press return" by channelling your will thorugh your implement, and BOOM! The program runs.
As long as your machine meets the program's system requirements (i.e. You possess suficient skill and power to enact the spell), and you entered the program execution command correctly (i.e. you said the incantation and moved your hands the right way), the program will run as expected (i.e. the spell functions properly).
By this explanation, it makes sense that spells be ranked at advancing "levels" because more powerful spells require greater skill and power. It also enables the possibility that one could cast a spell without acutally knowing what it does first (as Harry does when he casts sectumsempra in HBP).
On a side note in regards to the actual words of an incantation: the language the incantation is based on seems to suggest the relative age of the spell. In the world of Harry Potter, most spells used today were probably standardized by the wizards of the Roman Empire, so Latin forms the basis for the incantations. Other spells, like Voldemort's spell to conjure the Dark Mark (morsmordre) and the "four-point spell" to use your wand as a compass (point me) are in modern languages (French and English, respectively), suggesting a more recent invention. Snape used Latin for his "sectumsempra" curse in order to make it "feel" more important, like a grand spell of old.
As for avada kedavra, the Killing Curse, it is actually based on the word abracadabra which, in ancient Hebrew, meant "strike with god's thunder" or "let the thing be destroyed". This very ancient incantation makes sense, due to the fact that, when harnessing a new power or technology, the first thing humans learn to do with it is to kill each other.
The spell is somehow "encoded" in the very fabric of magic. Speaking the incantation is like typing in the filename on DOS (yes, I'm old enough to remember DOS) or selecting the file from a menu or list. Then you "press return" by channelling your will thorugh your implement, and BOOM! The program runs.
As long as your machine meets the program's system requirements (i.e. You possess suficient skill and power to enact the spell), and you entered the program execution command correctly (i.e. you said the incantation and moved your hands the right way), the program will run as expected (i.e. the spell functions properly).
By this explanation, it makes sense that spells be ranked at advancing "levels" because more powerful spells require greater skill and power. It also enables the possibility that one could cast a spell without acutally knowing what it does first (as Harry does when he casts sectumsempra in HBP).
On a side note in regards to the actual words of an incantation: the language the incantation is based on seems to suggest the relative age of the spell. In the world of Harry Potter, most spells used today were probably standardized by the wizards of the Roman Empire, so Latin forms the basis for the incantations. Other spells, like Voldemort's spell to conjure the Dark Mark (morsmordre) and the "four-point spell" to use your wand as a compass (point me) are in modern languages (French and English, respectively), suggesting a more recent invention. Snape used Latin for his "sectumsempra" curse in order to make it "feel" more important, like a grand spell of old.
As for avada kedavra, the Killing Curse, it is actually based on the word abracadabra which, in ancient Hebrew, meant "strike with god's thunder" or "let the thing be destroyed". This very ancient incantation makes sense, due to the fact that, when harnessing a new power or technology, the first thing humans learn to do with it is to kill each other.
