Harrius Figulus

Guest blog post from my former student who majored in Literature, knows Latin, and much more well-versed in the Potterverse than I am. Enjoy!

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Harrius Figulus*

There are countless articles or lists online tracing the Latin or Pseudo-Latin origins of incantations in Harry Potter. The Harry Potter fandom’s Wiki boasts ‘an exhaustive, though not complete, list’ of such incantations. Much has also been said in different news sources about JK Rowling’s supposed degree in Classics - it really was a degree in “French with additional Greek and Roman Studies in the 1980s” - and why the Latin in the novels seems clunky. Even a famous classicist at Exeter who taught Rowling published an article detailing links between the Harry Potter series and texts Rowling would have read during her time at Exeter. For some reason, it really matters to readers that Rowling drew from the pre-Christian Greco-Roman world in writing the Harry Potter novels.

Now, I can’t remember when the idea of Latin as a language first occurred to me. Growing up in a fairly westernised Asian country, Latin (of a sort) would pop up in phrases like habeas corpus, streptococcus, or summa cum laude. These were just words -- as equally foreign as croissant, blitzkrieg or soprano, and because of regular usage, ultimately as normal. The connections between these phrases and Greco-Roman history never crossed my mind.

Only in my first semester of Latin in college did it become clear what the Greco-Roman world was and how much of it had found itself into the well-loved children’s series. Mazes, sagely old men, tyrants, the pursuit of eternal life and glory, mythical creatures, the tragic cycle, and, of course, Latin are staples of the classics. Granted that contemporary education in Europe places less emphasis on the classics than it used to, these tropes were given new life in the Harry Potter books.

To give an example, I was recently rewatching the Goblet of Fire, and when Harry sent up red sparks to signal to those outside the maze where Fleur had fallen, I was surprised by the incantation: “Periculum!” To the beginning Latinist, periculum means danger -- a fairly common word in Vergil, Cicero, or Livy. Now, to shoot up red sparks does not necessarily mean one is in danger. Presumably, one could send up sparks of different colours during a party, but it seems that in this case, Rowling directly links the act of shooting red sparks up to something like a flare. It suggests to us that in wizarding history, the spell developed specifically as a distress signal.

Moreover, it suggests that wizarding magic in Harry Potter is tied to language. The intention of the spell is clarified by the incantation. Certainly nonverbal magic exists in Harry Potter, as in the case of non-human magical creatures (e.g. house elves, centaurs), particular fields of magic (e.g. divination, flying), or young children. But for the most part, adults who wish to cast spells speak and use their wands. Only in the movies, particularly in duels, do instances of non-verbal spells increase. One could argue that this was for the sake of dramatic pace, but perhaps it was also to maintain the element of surprise in combat. Nevertheless, it seems that over-all, a wizard’s spell sans words is generally less potent or focused than it could ideally be.

One wonders what it is about Rowling’s universe that magic is intertwined with language, particularly her type of pseudo-Latin. I myself am unsure, but I wonder if it has to do with a view of language that moves away from the Saussurean model of words as “signifiers” to an actual concept being “signified”. [5] Words, in Saussure’s view, are like containers for a concept, but in themselves don’t mean anything. However, in the world of Harry Potter, if words merely pointed to intentions or were simply ways of focusing intention, then it wouldn’t matter what incantation one used as long as one had the right intention while casting a spell. Having particular words attached to particular spells suggests rather that the words in themselves carry meaning. Moreover, since spells actually do things, then words also have the power in the Potterverse to effect tangible change -- something we wouldn’t expect from simple containers of concepts.

The question then is: “Why Latin?” Is it simply because of Rowling’s educational background? Perhaps. Exposure to Latin (especially through French, which Rowling once taught) would make it an easy source of words that are familiar to the average English-speaker because of the number of words English has inherited from Latin. I think the use of Latin also points to how Rowling treats magic in her texts. Magic is serious. It can control, it can hurt, and it can kill. It has gravitas in the same way that the contemporary reader often views Latin texts. However, there is also humour in Rowling’s magic with the many tricks and jokes the characters encounter that mimic her playful use of Latin. Much in the same way that a British schoolboy might write funny limericks with dog Latin, so does Rowling draw on the language for her spells.

Perhaps the use of Latin also tells us about an insight Rowling has into how contemporary readers view magic. Latin is uncommon and yet it is everywhere. We may not have learnt it in school, but we encounter it today because somehow it endures. In a sense, this is magic as Rowling presents it: unusual, but familiar, as if once upon a time, we Muggles could have had it too, if only we knew the right words.

*figulus, literally a potter