why were spells of the past in latin?

[pastlifewizard]

why were spells of the past in latin?

[Creator]

This is my theory (not necessarily true)

There was a time when Latin was the only possible language for either liturgy or theology. Romans practiced a great deal of religious "magic" (although witchcraft was a capital offense) and since their language which was Latin, dominated the religious world at the time, it came to represent a higher level of spiritual communication between "God" and man I guess. Also, Latin was not commonly known and used by simple folks out in the villages, so it gave the practicioners a bit of privacy and secrecy keeping their knowledge to themselves.

Why is it still used? Since Latin isn't widely spoken and hasn't been for hundreds of years, it has changed very little or not at all. This means that spells that are really old still have the same meaning as was originally intended. In modern languages words change meaning with time - just think of what the English word GAY meant in the 1930:ies and compare it to what it means now. Should that happen to a spell, then the original meaning and the future meaning would differ. If you choose to use an old ancient spell that is. Would it then have the same impact as it once had, if the user do not quite understand the original meaning? Latin doesn't evolve much and is pretty much guaranteed to stay the same through the centuries. If you want something that will last forever and be passed on for generations - you may use Latin.

However, you can use any language you want in a spell. it's the emotion and energy you put into it that makes it succeed or fail.

A lot of people have read too much Harry Potter and believe that the "made up" Latin there is for real and that spells must be in Latin to work. The HP spells are invented. They only sound Latin, but they are not real Latin. Nevertheless, they are recognisable Latin, probably because they heavily use Latin morphemes. But one must remember that these are children's books, and whether magic words are spoken in Latin, Welsh, or Chinese probably goes beyond the level of education that the target reader has had the opportunity to attain.