Harry potter.....the secret????? Why are all of the Harry Potter spells in Latin if they're English?

Report Abuse by JimPetti... This is actually a well-established Western tradition. When the Roman empire "fell", Europe entered the "dark ages". The general consensus was that considerable knowledge had been lost (which it had), and that such knowledge was accessible only to those who read Latin, the lingua franca of Europe for centuries (and centuries).

There is a great deal of "overlap" when it comes to knowledge. Where do you draw the line between magic and science? To the thoroughly uneducated, there *is* no difference. Thus, in Europe, the idea grew pervasive that magic, hidden knowledge, was (like *all* other hidden knowledge) to be found in Latin texts. Additionally, Latin was the language of The Church, and what is more magical than the miracles of Christianity (to a Christian, anyway)? Thus, magic and Latin were inseparable in the minds of Western Europeans for lots and lots of centuries.

Nearly *all* of the really famous magicians in Europe up until the modern age used Latin for their spells (there are a few Scandinavian and Welsh exceptions). This became so thoroughly ingrained in our Western culture that you can hardly find a TV show or movie - at all - that does not use Latin for the casting of spells.

So, JKR was just following the *very* well-established and common tradition. I would have been far more impressed if she, like the Scandinavians and Welsh, made music the language of magic....

Jim
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