Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic

K. Stollznow

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781137404848
• eBook ISBN: 9781137404862
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Social Sciences

Can a bump on the head cause someone to speak with a different accent? Can animals, aliens, and objects talk? Can we communicate with gods, demons, and the dead? Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic is a curio shop full of colourful superstitions, folklore, and legends about language.

Part I

Magical Language

Introduction

It’s tempting to think that a belief in magic isn’t common anymore, although we reveal a tradition of superstitious thinking in our everyday language. We expose our linguistic past in our present when we respond to a sneeze with “Bless you!”, when we insult someone with “Damn you!”, or we tell them to “Go to Hell!”.

Language is a crucial catalyst in magical belief, thinking, and performance. From ancient Greece to modern America, these chapters explore language believed to have miraculous powers. Spells, St Jude novenas, affirmations, and online prayer requests are hoped to change the world around us. Divination and prophets are believed to predict the future, while charms attract good luck and repel bad luck. Blasphemy, curses, and chain letters are thought to have the ability to harm, and a sentimental song is said to drive people to commit suicide.

1

Curses, Charms, and Taboos

Spells and incantations are written or spoken words and formulas that are believed to have magical powers. A spell isn’t inherently positive or negative, although specific kinds of spells do have connotations of good or evil. Charms, cures, and blessings are specifically intended to be good, or are hoped to counteract bad spells. Curses, hexes, and jinxes are always underpinned by bad intentions, like wanting someone dead, or wanting them to become fat.

Charm your pants off

Nowadays, “charm” tends to conjure up images of jewelry, or a rabbit’s foot carried for good luck. We might think of “to charm”, that is, to win someone over, or a charm school that teaches outdated etiquette. We might even picture the Prince Charming of fairy tales, or a snake charmer sitting cross-legged as he plays his flute to a cobra that looks ready to strike. If something has a “certain charm” it doesn’t really have any charm at all.

Medieval charms

Before there were charm bracelets, lucky charms, and breakfast cereals by that name, early charms were spoken or written magical spells intended for a range of purposes. It became common practice to write down a charm and place it into a pendant, ornament, stone, or other kind of amulet, an object used for protection or to attract good luck. The charm itself might be a picture, such as a pentagram or astrological symbol. It might be a word, name, or phrase, written in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, or gibberish if you couldn’t spell. The charm was drawn on papyrus, parchment, or paper; or inscribed on communion hosts, leaves, sticks, knife handles, metal, or gemstones. These charmed amulets were worn or carried close to the body for many specific or general purposes: to attract good luck, exorcise demons, cure illness, ensure safe travel, improve memory or sexual prowess, to rid oneself of vermin, to guard against wild animals, avoid sudden death, protect against evil spirits, protect property, to bind thieves so they couldn’t enter a house, or to ensure protection from general misfortune. A form of white magic, charms were created for good, not evil.

A charmed life

Healing charms were probably the most common type of charm. In those days, without doctors, charms were intended to alleviate pain or cure disease. Protective charms were prophylactic: to ward off disease, and to protect a pregnant woman against miscarriage, a difficult birth, or having disabled children. Healing charms were like the folk remedies and old wives’ tales that still do the rounds today, such as “feed a cold and starve a fever”, and the belief that you can scare away hiccups with “Boo!”.

Scripture was popularly used in healing charms. Religious texts are often believed to be divinely inspired and holy books are credited with miraculous powers, especially the ability to heal. The alleged curative powers of these divine texts were transferred through contact with the body, so a copy of the Bible, Torah, or Qur’an would be placed against the afflicted body part. Many of these cures were forms of sympathetic magic, that is, the cure would somehow imitate the problem. For example, the Gospel of John contains a number of miracles and healings, and so this book was used as a pillow to cure headaches (Segal, 2006).

To be most effective, charms were kept close to the body at all times. In ancient Egypt spells from the Book of the Dead were written on amulets and wound into the wrappings of mummies. Even the living could benefit from carrying or wearing healing charms for prevention or treatment. These charms included prayers or biblical quotes written on paper or parchment and often bandaged around the affected body part. Charms taken from scripture were somehow relevant to the problem at hand, but sometimes, the “scripture” wasn’t even scripture. Many charms used narratives involving biblical figures that had no scriptural source. These apocryphal tales are known as “narrative charms”. A fourteenth-century cure for a toothache petitions St Apollonia, a virgin martyr who was tortured by having her teeth torn out. For this reason, she is the patron saint of dentistry. The following charm was written on material and wrapped around the patient’s head.

In the city Alexandria rests the body of Blessed Apollonia, virgin and martyr, whose teeth the wicked extracted. Through the intercession of Blessed Maria, virgin, and of all saints and blessed Apollonia, virgin and martyr, free, Lord, the teeth of your servant from toothache. Saint Blaise pray for me. In the name of the Father, etc. Our Father. Ave Maria. And let this charm be tied upon the head of the patient.

(Olsan, 1992)

Charms were usually a blend of Christian and pagan practices, and surprisingly, the Church adopted many pagan practices. Milk and honey were blessed by Bible passages such as “be fruitful and multiply”, while if farmland was barren prayers were said over the property to make it fertile (Blake, 2010). As a result of this crossover, many charms were composed of Christian elements, and included fragments of Catholic liturgy, prayers, and saints’ legends.

To bring the healing text into closer contact with the sufferer, the words might be written directly onto the patient’s body. For example, the Veronica charm was used to control chronic bleeding, such as excessive menstruation. This idea comes from the biblical story of a woman who touched Christ’s robe and was cured of a 12-year bout of hemorrhaging (Matthew 9:20, Luke 8:40, Mark 5:21). To use this charm, “Veronica” was written on the patient’s forehead with his or her own blood, to stem the bleeding. This charm is also linked to the mythical story of Veronica who wiped Christ’s brow as he carried his cross to Calvary. This left an imprint of Jesus’ face on her cloth, much like the Shroud of Turin. Known as the Veil of Veronica, it was said to have miraculous powers to be able to cure blindness and raise the dead. This fabled cloth became a popular holy relic in the middle ages, and there were many of them, even though it never existed.

Wear your prayer

To this day, some Jewish people wear their prayers. This is not for protection, but to remind them of their religious rules of conduct. Torah passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy say that the story of the Exodus should be kept constantly in mind: “You shall put these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall tie them for a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 11:18). It is likely that the texts were symbolic but some chose to take them literally. Observant Jews wear tefillin on their head and arms during prayer. These are small black leather boxes containing scrolls inscribed with passages from the Torah. A modern version is to wear religious jewelry, such as medals and rings inscribed with verses of scripture. Some people display sacred and inspirational texts around the house and garden like amulets for the home, such as “Bless this House” or “Bless this Mess”.

Another kind of charm involved speaking or writing powerful words and names. This was believed to somehow command the attention of a corresponding deity and get their help. A medieval charm was to write the name of “Ishmael” (the first-born son of Abraham) on a laurel leaf to cure insomnia caused by elves. The healing names could also be recited over the patient’s body. A healing charm from the fourteenth century involved listing Latin, Greek, and Hebrew epithets of Christ over the patient, including Messias “Messiah”, Sother “Savior”, and Adonay “my Lord” (Olsan, 1992). Biblical figures and patron saints were invoked by name to intercede in matters related to their special concern. People petitioned Job to cure their worms because the Book of Job (19:26) says, “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” St John survived an attempted poisoning by a drink of snake venom, so he was asked to treat cases of poisonings and snake bites. Invoking the saint’s name was believed to establish a connection between the sick and the special power of the holy person. Of course today, St Christopher, St Jude, and other saints are worn on medals and petitioned for help.

Eat your words

Prayers and charms could be recited over the patient or they could be recited into the patient. Charms might be whispered into the patient’s ears or mouth or spoken to the afflicted body part. Sometimes it’s okay to eat your words. To further facilitate the charm’s penetration into the body, the patient would eat or drink the powerful words. The name of Christ or a short spell was scratched onto apples, butter, or sacramental bread and swallowed by the patient like medicine. A fourteenth-century English manuscript includes a birthing charm that was written on bread or cheese and then eaten in the hope that the mother-to-be would benefit from the words literally. A medieval remedy to treat a rabid dog or someone bitten by one was to write quare uare brare arabus arabris albus abbris rew few on a piece of food and feed it to the sick (Skemer, 2006). Another medieval practice was to wash sacred texts, wring out the iron-gall ink from the pages of the book, and drink it as a tonic.

During the Christian celebration of the Eucharist, the celebrant turns bread (or wafers) and wine into the body and blood of Christ using the words, “This is my body”, and “This is my blood”. This Holy Communion is a reenactment of the Last Supper where Jesus performed this rite with his disciples. According to the doctrine of transubstantiation, the bread and wine literally metamorphose into the body and blood of Christ. This theory is controversial, and many Protestant denominations consider the act to be symbolic, although they believe that Christ is present at the Eucharist. When the bread has been consecrated by this ceremony it has become powerful. In medieval times, these “hosts” were stolen by parishioners and sold to cure illnesses in humans or animals or to ward off disease. To increase its potency, biblical texts were sometimes written directly onto the bread.

Worked like a charm

Like the mad dog charm above, many charms have melodic sound patterns and they usually had rhyme and alliteration. Exotic words simply sound powerful so many charms included a mix of words from classical languages and even nonsense words. Rex pax nax was a tenth-century toothache cure, max max pax pater noster was used to stop bleeding, and arex, artifex, filia was believed to relieve insomnia (Olsan, 1992). A few examples of sound play still exist. The magical exclamations “abracadabra!”, “alakazam!”, “hocus pocus!”, “presto changeo!”, and “ta da!” are still used in corny magic tricks today.

Word games also made charms seem more potent. A common one was the palindrome (it reads the same ways backwards) phrase sator arepo tenet opera rotas. This was usually abbreviated to “Sator”. It was considered magical because it was reversible and it was hoped that saying or writing Sator would likewise reverse any bad circumstances. In medieval handbooks of women’s medicine known as the Trotuala texts, a childbirth charm involved writing “Sator” on a piece of cheese or butter for the woman to eat (Skemer, 2006). To increase its effects, the formula is often written in a word square. The Sator square was considered extra magical because it is readable from every direction.

Shaping text into a potent pattern is a common feature in magic. The most popular magic shape was the shrinking word formula. These are magical words gradually reduced in letter size to form an inverted triangle. Abracadabra is probably the most famous example of a shrinking word. Instead of being used to pull a rabbit out of a hat, “Abracadabra” was written down and worn as a charm. The origins of this famous magical word are unknown, but it may be related to “abrasax”, found engraved on gemstones and used as an amulet. Another theory is that abracadabra is derived from a Hebrew expression paraphrased as, “I create as I speak”.

“Abracadabra” is a clichéd word that no respectable magician would use today but the first person to use it was a physician, not a magician. Quintus Severus Sammonicus was a third-century Roman physician who used it as a shrinking word in his poem “Praecepta de Medicina”. The word was arranged into a magical-looking triangular pattern, shrinking the word from 11 letters to just one.

This poem was a healing charm to treat toothache, fevers, and other ailments. In another example of sympathetic magic, it was believed that shrinking the word would somehow shrink the illness. “Abracadabra” was written on parchment, folded into the shape of a cross, and worn around the neck for nine consecutive days. To increase their efficacy, and get God on side, medieval charms were often written in the form of a cross. The written word itself increased the apparent potency of the spell. These were days when illiteracy was high, so handwriting held a mystique for those who couldn’t read or write. Even more powerful was an exotic language they couldn’t understand, especially a sacred or ancient one, such as Hebrew. A dead language is even more mystical still. To this day, Wiccans use fragmented Latin in their spells. This is nothing new; Roman pagans used Etruscan in the same way, when it was already a dead language.

Reading a charm aloud was also believed to further enact the words in the spell. This way, the intervening spirits and gods could hear the petition. Also, text set to verse could be more easily committed to memory and repetition was also believed to be necessary for charms to take effect. Prayer wheels were designed to enable this repetition. These are cylinders inscribed with prayers, scripture, wishes, mantras, magical words, or charms. Like a perpetual motion prayer, spinning the wheel is believed to repeat the prayer, and to have the same effects as oral recitation. Prayer wheels were used in ancient Greece and Rome. They are still used in modern Buddhism and for ornamental purposes in gardens. We can also find online prayer wheels and prayer wheel apps. To reinforce the intention, repetition is a feature of modern litanies, prayers, novenas, spells, and positive affirmations; and in a more secular setting, naughty school kids are forced to write lines as a form of discipline.

Ancient and modern curses

On November 4, 1922, Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter made one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century – the nearly intact tomb of King Tutankhamen. Soon thereafter, Carnarvon died under mysterious circumstances. According to media reports, Carnarvon was a casualty of an ancient curse written in hieroglyphs at the entrance to the tomb: “Death will come swiftly to those who disturb the tomb of the king.” Many other members of the archaeological dig quickly became victims to this curse.

Carnarvon died eight months after the discovery of the tomb. The circumstances were certainly weird; he suffered an infection after he snagged a mosquito bite while shaving. However, it appears that Carter started the legend to keep the press at bay, or as a prank. Carter, who was the one to actually discover and open the tomb, lived for another 16 years without incident. In fact, the average duration of life for the rest of the party was 23 years (Randi, 1995). Most damning of all to the legend, there is no artifact inscribed with a curse among the thousands of treasures found in the tomb. Simply, there is no curse of Tutankhamen.

Surprisingly, tomb curses are rare, especially during Tutankhamen’s New Kingdom era. There are some examples from the Old Kingdom, but they aren’t great sound bites like the fabricated curse above. Here’s a warning against priests who might otherwise eat fish before entering the tomb of the official buried within.

As for all men who will enter this my tomb of the necropolis being impure, having eaten those abominations that good spirits who have journeyed to the West abominate . . . an end for him shall be made for him concerning that evil . . . I shall seize his neck like a bird . . . I shall cast fear of myself into him.

(El Mahdy, 1989)

Tomb curses are legendary threats. Another infamous curse of this kind is the folkloric Gypsy curse, “May you wander over the face of the earth forever, never sleep twice in the same bed, never drink water twice from the same well and never cross the same river twice in a year.” Another type of curse is a legendary warning. The curse of Tippecanoe warns that US presidents elected in years ending in zero will die during office. Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy fulfilled the criteria for this “curse”, although Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush survived their full terms, despite assassination attempts made on their lives. Some dangerous places are allegedly cursed, such as the Bermuda Triangle, given the frequency of shipping and aircraft accidents in that region. Some unsuccessful sports teams are allegedly cursed, such as the Boston Red Sox baseball team, which didn’t win a single World Series between the years 1918 and 2004. Some curses are tongue-in-cheek, such as the “curse of Eve”, the “monthly curse”, and other euphemisms for menstruation.

A pox on your house!

Few of us would consider “Damn you!” or “Curse you!” as sincere or harsh curses, but in some cultures, insults can be wielded as curses. In Dutch, diseases ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: Magical Language
• Part II: Possessed Language
• Part III: Hidden Language
• Part IV: Non-human Language
• Part V: Therapeutic Language
• Index