Abracadabra! This word, which is associated with magic, actually has an interesting origin. Its roots go back to the second century AD. While the exact origin of the word is still a topic of debate, one of the oldest records found is from a Roman sage named Serenus Sommonicus.
Roman origin
Sommonicus was the physician of the Roman Emperor Caracalla. He attributed people who suffered from malaria to wearing amulets containing the word "abracadabra" written in the shape of a triangle. He was convinced that the power of the amulets could make the deadly disease disappear. According to Wikipedia, other Roman emperors, including Geta and Alexander Severus, were followers of Sommonicus and quite possibly also used the abracadabra spell.
theories
Other theories suggest that "abracadabra" comes from the word "abraksis", whose letters in Greek numerology add up to 365 (the number of days in a year). However, other researchers suggest that the word comes from the Hebrew "Father, Son and Holy Spirit." Phonetically, it can be assumed that the word comes from the Aramaic expression "avra cadavra" (not to be confused with the spell "avada kedavra" from "Harry Potter"). In translation, this means "I will create as I say."
The meaning of the word, according to Aleister Crowley
Although the origins of the word are still shrouded in mystery, it is believed that the "power" of the word has not lost its power. In his work The Book of the Law, Aleister Crowley also mentioned this word, but called it "abrahadabra" (in his opinion, this is exactly its correct spelling). 
Abrahadabra is a word that first appeared publicly in The Book of Laws, the central sacred text of Thelema. Its author, Aleister Crowley, described it as "the word of Aeon, which denotes the change of the great work that has been done." Therefore, abrahadabra is the magical formula of this new age.
The central philosophy of Thelema: "Do what you must, that is the whole law." This is strikingly similar to the concept "I will create as I say." In our time, this seems to be another manifestation of the "Law of Attraction", which is the practice of intentionally creating one's own reality. 
In metaphysical practice, there is a fine line between magical and manifest, creation and attraction. It's entirely possible that abracadabra is a magic word that grants miraculous healing by attracting or creating something new...or maybe it's just a word and nothing more. In any case, the history of this mystery is still interesting.
Abracadabra
Abracadabra (from lat. abracadabra) is a mysterious word to which miraculous power was attributed. In the common sense, this is any incomprehensible word or an incomprehensible set of words, nonsense. Currently, "abracadabra" is used as a meaningless joke word. Another meaning of the word "abracadabra" is an aerobatic maneuver in which the aircraft moves in disorder.
The English scholar of the Old Testament, John Allegro, suggested that it comes from the Mesopotamian expression AB-BA-TAB-BA-RI. This proverb was uttered during religious rites by the ancient Sumerians. Allegro believes that this combination is consonant with the Aramaic word, equivalent to the name of God and found in the New Testament in the prayer "Our Father". There is an assumption that the word "abracadabra" comes from the Celtic language and is formed from the words "Abra" or "Abar" - "god" and "cad" - "saint".
It is also possible that the word "abracadabra" is a later corruption of the sacred Gnostic term "Abraxas", as the Basilidians called the supreme deity. The latter, in turn, is an even earlier distortion of a sacred and ancient Coptic or Egyptian word: a magical formula that meant in its symbolism "Do not touch me", and addressed the deity in its hieroglyphs as the Father. It was usually attached to an amulet or talisman and worn on the chest under clothing.
Corresponds with the mystical divine word of the Gnostics Abraxas. It was one of the names of the Zoroastrian sun god Mithra. On late Roman amulets and gems, he was depicted as a warrior in armor. In one hand he has a round shield, in the other - a whip, denoting respectively wisdom and power.
Abraxas, (Abraxas, Gnost.) - the secret deity of the Gnostics, combining the features of God and Satan. The spell known as Abrasax is the symbol of a Gnostic solar deity with connections to the Jewish Yahweh, the ancient Iranian Mithras, the Celtic Belenus, and also Yeshua (Jesus).
Amulets and seals depicting Abraxas have been in widespread use since the end of the first century AD. In the thirteenth century, the symbol of Abraxas was used in the seals of the Knights Templar. In the Middle Ages, the spell was recognized as demonic and classified as black magic. Abraxas is one of the gods of the Egyptian pantheon, associated with dragon slayers.
Basilides (II century) - supporters of Basilides (Pythagorean from Alexandria) - considered Abraxas their supreme god - the highest of the seven gods. Solar deity. His name consists of seven Greek letters, where A=l, B=2, R=100, A=l, X=60, A=l, S=200, and adds up to 365, equal to the number of days in a year.
He has 365 virtues - one for each day. Like the Sanskrit Abhimani, he is the first principle, the first element. It is also associated with the creator Brahma.The word Abraxas is related to the mystical word Abracadabra, one of the names of the god Mithras.Also found in the symbolism of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
It is also likely that "abracadabra" comes from the Aramaic phrase "abreg ad habra", which means "swords with lightning even into death." Some see in "abracadabra" the spell "avrakadavra", which means "hide away, father of evil." In the Hebrew transmission, the original phrase was written as avda kedavra, "what has been said must be done," or avra kedavra, with a rough translation of "what is said must be done." In Hebrew and Aramaic, b and v could interchange, hence the variant abra kedabra and further abracadabra.
The concept of "abracadabra" first appears in a verse medical treatise written around 208 AD. Quintus Meren Sammonikos, physician to the Roman emperor Septimius Severus. The poem Sammonika gives the rules for using this spell. The word was to be written on a small piece of paper, tied around the neck, and not removed for nine days. Then the paper had to be thrown over the shoulder into a stream that flows east. The magic word was written in such a way that in each subsequent line one letter was discarded until only the last "A" remained. Usually "abracadabra" fit into an inverted triangle or lined up so that a triangle was formed as follows:
Just as the word was gradually disappearing, so the disease was to disappear. According to Sammonikos, an incense with the word "abracadabra" cures fevers. The word "abracadabra" and in modern times is found in amulets.
The pronunciation of this word was also considered a conspiracy. Among Russian sorcerers, according to whom each sound during the pronunciation of this word calls one spirit from hell, it is written mainly in the form of a quadrangle formed from the two triangles described above, folded with their bases, and in one of the triangles the last line (base) is thrown out. It is believed that witches sing "Abracadabra" when they converge on Bald Mountain.
Abracadabra was also seen as the key to the pentagram. E. Levy offered the following interpretation of the magic triangle: "A separate represents the unity of the first principle, i.e., an intellectual, or active, agent. A in conjunction with B is the fertilization of the biner by the unit. P is the sign of Turner, since it represents hieroglyphically the outflow 11, the number of the letters of this word, adds the initiate's unit to the Pythagorean ten, and the number 66, the sum of all the letters added together, forms the Kabbalistic number 12, Turner's square, and is therefore the mystical squaring of the circle. that the author of the Apocalypse, this key of the Christian Kabbalah, makes up the number of the beast, i.e., idolatry, by adding 6 to the double sener of abracadabra, which Kabbalistically gives 18 - the number corresponding in the Tarot to the hieroglyphic sign of "night" and "profanes", "Moon, dog , wolf and cancer," is a mysterious and dark number, of which the Kabbalistic key 9 is the number of initiation."
Actually, if you think about it and take into account the attitude of most of the enlightened humanity towards spells, then the current meaning of this word becomes clear. But here's another interesting fact. The word abracadabra is surprisingly consonant with the Aramaic phrase avra cedavra, which means "what is said must be done." Considering that in Aramaic the letters v and b could be replaced by one another, then the version of the origin of the word abracadabra from this phrase seems to me quite convincing.
For hundreds of years the monks treated people with Abracadabra. "Abracadabra", written and pronounced in the system of disappearance from the full name to one letter, was symbolically sacrificed and could entail the throwing out of weakness and all the evil energies that torment the body and soul. Now no one believes in a word. They ask for either a document with a seal, or money right away. And before - the word was worth more than money. In the old days, early in the morning, on an empty stomach, they went out into the open field, washed themselves with morning dew or spring water, bowed to all four cardinal points, turned their faces to the east towards the rising sun and uttered incantatory words. The ancestors believed the word - they ate and were treated from the word. Proof of this is the magical formula of the pendulum - the chanting of sounds that, with their vibrations, carry them into the corresponding states of the spirit.
abracadabra
abracadabra
abracadab
gibberish
abracade
abraca
abrak
abra
abr
ab
a
This word was written in the form of a triangle on paper, then folded so that the inscription was not visible. A person had to wear a note in an amulet around his neck for eight days, and then throw it into the river without turning it around and turning away from the water. If he fulfilled all the necessary conditions, the strength of a person and his resistance increased many times over. The specificity of this phenomenon was not in sound, but in conducting energy to the intended target through sound, through the human voice. Such words served as elements of the martial art of concentrated shouting...
The origin and meaning of the magical formula "abracadabra" is unknown and so far no one has been able to translate or explain it in such a way that it looks convincing. Therefore, anyone who wants to understand the meaning of the famous formula builds his own theory on this matter, or is content with an existing one. This uncertain situation was taken advantage of by some "enthusiasts" who are fond of Kabbalah, as a result of which the now famous magical formula began to look like this:
Encyclopedia of symbols, signs, emblems M. 2003 p. 14
In addition, they "explained" the origin of the word abracadabra from the Hebrew abrtg as babra - "(swords) lightning and in death." In addition, he proposed several other options: from the Hebrew words ab (father), ben (son) and ruach acadsch (Holy Spirit) or from the Aramaic avada kedavara - “a thing can be destroyed”, etc.
Of course, such statements are more like a joke from the series “everything in the world was invented by the Jews,” but until there is a convincing explanation of the “abracadabra”, claims for its Hebrew origin will not look so ridiculous among other options. Especially when you consider that in terms of the level of argumentation, they are no better. Suffice it to recall the "etymologies" that trace the word abracadabra to the Gnostic deity Abracas or to the bull (Taurus) - Abr-acbad-abra which means Abr - bull, acbad - the only one.
In order to show the inconsistency of the theories of the “Hebrew origin” of abracadabra and to appreciate the whole anecdote of the situation, it is necessary to discover the meaning of the formula, which has been hidden for almost two thousand years, and maybe more. The most interesting thing is that this is not difficult to do. However, when the riddle is solved, the solution always seems simple.
The secret of abracadabra
To start, a little history. The first mention of the ABRACADABRA formula occurs in a medical treatise written in verse around 208 AD. Greek Quintus Serenus Sammonikos, physician to the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. In his poem Sammonicus cites the word ABRACADABRA as a remedy for fever.
The formula should be written on a piece of paper, tied around the neck and not removed for nine days. After that, he had to be thrown behind his back over his shoulder into a stream or river that flows to the east. The formula itself looks like this:
There is one fact in this story, the importance of which is difficult to overestimate. Namely, that now the spelling of the word ABRACADABRA, due to the ease of memorization, is exactly the same as in the Sammonik recipe, which is almost 1800 years old. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that it was originally different.
Since there is no such word in any language, it seems quite logical to assume that ABRACADABRA from the very beginning is nothing but a distorted word or phrase. It is for this reason that it is considered as incomprehensible and meaningless, and all searches for its initial meaning are reduced to the selection of words with a similar pronunciation. These are the so-called "etymologies":
ab ben ruach acadsch
How biased they are is obvious. It is clear that looking for the meaning of "abracadabra" in this way is at least a dubious occupation, since hundreds of "etymologies" can be given, and it is simply impossible to understand which is correct. It was at this stage that many researchers abandoned their attempts to penetrate the mystery, considering it impossible. And in vain.
The assumption that ABRACADABRA is a word or several words in an unknown language, although it seems very logical, is just an assumption. Here it is necessary to pay attention also to the following. Very often, "abracadabra" is called not only incomprehensible words, but also a meaningless set of letters. Oddly enough, but this is the key to the secret.
Those. ABRACADABRA is not a word. This is a set of letters. And here is the most important thing - the letters "abracadabra" are arranged in a certain order, to understand which means to unravel the whole trick.
The solution is very simple.
11 letters: A - 5, B - 2, R - 2, C - 1, D - 1.
Or like this: A, B, R, C, D But most likely like this:
A, B, C, D ... R - the order of the letters is exactly the same as in the Latin alphabet.
In abracadabra, the first and last letter is "A". In addition, the letters B and R are "paired". Let's look like this:
A, B, C, D and R from left to right and A, B, D, C and R from right to left. The discrepancy is only one letter, but in general the alphabetical order is preserved. And if not, what is the mystery?
Everything else is even easier to explain. Three additional letters "A" make the formula not only easy to pronounce, but also difficult to decipher:
ABRCDBRA or ABRACADABRA
The letter "R" is also obvious. Here's what happens if you replace it with "E":
There is nothing to unravel here. And so before us is a simple, but original riddle.
That's all.
Especially for Kabbalists
There can always be a "specialist" in Kabbalah who wants to tell everyone that the order of the letters of the Latin alphabet is borrowed from the Hebrew and therefore abracadabra is still of Hebrew origin. Of course, such statements are worth no more than the "writing" of abracadabra in Hebrew letters given as an example at the beginning of the article (Fig. No. 1) If anyone has not noticed, then let them pay attention to the fact that in the "Hebrew" abracadabra "translators" two "a"s.
Site materials used: http://alhimik.ru/
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A huge number of words come to us from abroad, and in the last twenty years there has been just some kind of flurry of borrowings. However, in the past, strange foreign terms also came to us, though much less often than now. Some of them are still used by people today, although their meaning and origin is hidden in the fog. This time, let's talk about one more word, this is Abracadabra, you can read the value a little later. On the site resource you can find many more decodings of mysterious expressions and other slang concepts. Therefore, be sure to add this site to your browser bookmarks.
However, before I continue, I would like to advise you to read a couple more sensible articles on the subject of phraseological units. For example, what does it mean He flew away, but promised to return; what does a big giraffe mean, he knows better; how to understand Love is submissive to all ages; the meaning of the expression Who does not work does not eat, etc.
So let's continue the meaning of the word Abracadabra? This term was borrowed from the late Latin word " abracadabra".
Abracadabra- this is a kind of magic formula, a mysterious spell, to which magical power was attributed
Abracadabra- this word in everyday speech usually means some kind of nonsense, a simple set of letters or numbers
When conjurers and wizards reach the completion of their trick, they exclaim " Abracadabra! By this, it is implied that this mysterious power is summoned to perform the necessary magic. In our information age, in which you can see how almost any trick works, we don't take the use of magical powers too seriously. However, in the distant past, this was not entirely true. At that time, the word "abracadabra" was the first in common use to refer to the performance of some kind of spell.
Medieval people believed in magic as an everyday fact, and any unusual event they couldn't explain was thought to be the result of some form of enchantment. The sorcerers used the spell " Abracadabra” to denote such an attitude, as well as a means to prolong life. During the act of witchcraft, this word was repeated several times, each time one sound was removed until only the letter “a” remained. It was believed that the strength of the disease decreased as the term became shorter. The spell was sometimes written on paper and worn in an amulet or sewn into clothing.
Today, no one is really sure of the origin of this strange word. abracadabra". It is known to have been used in Latin in the 4th century, but there are several theories about the origin of this concept.
First theory. The Roman sages, in particular Serenus Sammonicus, coined this word, and developed a formula for repeated words in the second century AD.
Second theory. This is related to another magic word - " abraxas". In the Greek system of alphabetic numerology, this term is of great importance because it contains the letters that make up the number 365, that is, the number of days in a year.
Third theory. Some believe that the word has its origin in Hebrew or Aramaic, which comes either from the Hebrew words "ab" (father), "ben" (son), and "ruach hakodesh" (holy spirit), or from the Aramaic " avra cadavra", which means "it will be created in my words."
Unfortunately, none of these theories is suitable for close scrutiny, and the actual documentary evidence is as thin as isolated fragments of a medieval manuscript.
For the first time in English, this term appeared in 1582, it is contained in " The Uncomfortable Journey of Captain Every Rimington Taylor» author Edward Fenton:
"Banester said he healed 200 people at one time by hanging an abracadabra around his neck."
Belief in the power of the word continued well into the 18th century. In his Journal of the Plague Year (1722), Daniel Defoe was saddened by the continuing superstition of the population, which faced the threat of the plague:
"People have been deceived, and that was in wearing Charms, Filters, Exorcisms, Amulets, and I don't know such ways to strengthen the 'Body with them against the Plague'. As if the Plague was just some kind of Evil Spirit's Possession, and what is it could be stopped by Crosses, Signs of the Zodiac, Papers connected with so many Knots; and some Words or Numbers written on them, as in particular the Word of Abracadabra, formed in a Triangle or Pyramid..."
Over time, faith in the power of "abracadabra" receded, and in the XIX century this concept became
ABRACADABRA- a magic formula written in the form of a cone with its apex down. Used as an amulet. It comes from the name of the Greek-Egyptian god Abraxas. According to another version, it is of Persian origin, being one of the names of Mitra. Some esotericists believe that it represents a modification of the Chaldean spell "ab bada ke daabra" - "perish like a word." Another variant of its interpretation was the Hebrew phrase: Abreg as habra - "Swords with your lightning even into death."
It was used to spell various diseases, and above all fever. In this capacity, the Roman physician Serenius Sammonik first used abracadabra in the 3rd century BC.
In medieval black books, abracadabra was considered a formula for invoking evil spirits. It was believed that with each breath when casting this spell, one demon flies out of the infernal world. Aleister Crowley and other occultists have deciphered abracadabra as a formula for alchemy. True, at the same time, the spelling was somewhat modified - abrahadabra. The gematric sum of the latter was 418, which corresponded to the Great Work.
Abracadabra was also seen as the key to the pentagram. E. Levy offered the following interpretation of the magic triangle: "A separate represents the unity of the first principle, i.e., an intellectual, or active, agent. And in conjunction with B - the fertilization of the biner by the unit. P - is Turner's sign, since it represents hieroglyphically the outflow 11, the number of the letters of this word, adds the initiate's unit to the Pythagorean ten, and the number 66, the sum of all the combined letters, forms the Kabbalistic number 12, Turner's square, and is therefore the mystically squaring the circle. that the author of the Apocalypse, this key of the Christian Kabbalah, makes up the number of the beast, i.e., idolatry, by adding 6 to the double sener of abracadabra, which gives kabbalistically 18 - the number corresponding in the Tarot to the hieroglyphic sign of "night" and "profanes", "Moon, dog , wolf and cancer "- a mysterious and dark number, of which the Kabbalistic key 9 is the number of initiation."
Source: Papus. Practical magic. M., 1998.
Definitions, meanings of the word in other dictionaries:
A large dictionary of esoteric terms - edited by d.m.s. Stepanov A.M.
(gnostic), the symbolic word first appears in a poetic medical treatise by Samonik, who lived under the emperor Septimius Severus. It comes from Abra, or Abar, a god in the Celtic language and above - a saint, this word was used as a spell and was engraved on cameos in...
Philosophical Dictionary
(Gnost.) This symbolic word first appears in a medical treatise in the verses of Samonicus, who lived under the emperor Septimius Severus. Godfrey Higgins states that it is from Abra or Abar "God" in the Celtic language and qad "holy"; it was used as a spell and...
