well technically spells names are only used to help a person focus his magic into getting the proper result right? Ergo someone with lots of experience with a spell can yell "CACA!" and have a patronus bust out. In that case i dont understand why people nitpik over spell names so much. unless its stupid shit like "jdfjdfds" and "dddfffjj".

For most us dark and independent writers we have come to the conclusion that saying spells outload is rediculous and useless, so once again who gives a crap about names as long as it sounds non-english?

 

Patricia Wrede (who btw should have gotten the fame & glory that went to Rowling, but that's another story) had an interesting explanation for why spells are in latin in Mairelon the Magician. The basic idea is that you are using the words in the spell to tell the magic what to do. If you use a language that you know, your knowledge of the meaning of the words will mis-direct the magic. If you use a dead language that you don't know (such as Latin) then you will be a lot more precise. Kind of like trying to write a computer program in English instead of in a made up computer language (like C++). So in her world, using the English translation of a spell will result in a more powerful spell that randomly malfunctions.

If this is the case in the Potterverse, it suggests that the spells we see in the books were all developed after the fall of Rome, while Roman wizards probably used Greek incantations, and Greek wizards did who-knows-what.

 

i do latin as a subject in school, so whenever we come accross a word that could be useful for a spell i memorize it. Its also pretty cool cause im able to put it into the right form so its not always in infinitive, it means the translation will mean 'I do ...to you' instead of 'to....blah'. Yeah, so there you go.

Fyi, im also pised with the whole, "we're too good for them, so we'll just use stunners" thing.

 

I think that the reason that Britan uses latin for their spells has to do with a move for standadization. In theroy a spell could be in any language. I try ot use different languages for spells just out of creativity. Galic and Welsh make good languages for inhabitants of the ilses to use, where as its harder to rationalize Egyptian or Incan.
As far as languages go how would you work with Parsel tounge. Since any spell cast in parsel tounge would be understabible by Harry would you start with a base english word or a base in latin or somthing else?
Another question I have is about theory behind spell work. Do spells truely exist and when you cast them you are tapping into a chanell that has been previously opened by the creator or when you learn the spell are you simply tricking your subconscious into replicating the spell that you were shown when it was cast?