An incantation or incantations are the words spoken during a ritual, either a hymn or prayer invoking or praising a deity, or in magic, occultism, witchcraft with the intention of casting a spell on an object or a person. The term derives from Latin incantare (tr.), meaning "to chant (a magical spell) upon," from in- "into, upon" and cantare "to sing".
In medieval literature, folklore, fairy tales and modern fantasy fiction, enchantments (from the Old French enchantement) are charms or spells. The term was loaned into English since around AD 1300. The corresponding native English term being galdor "song, spell". It has led to the terms enchanter and enchantress, for those who use enchantments.
The weakened sense "delight" (compare the same development of charm) is modern, first attested in 1593 (OED).
Contents |
In traditional fairy tales or fantasy fiction, an enchantment is a magical spell that is attached, on a relatively-permanent basis, to a specific person, object or location, and alters its qualities, generally in a positive way. The most widely-known example is probably the spell that Cinderella's Fairy Godmother uses to turn a pumpkin into a coach. An enchantment with negative characteristics is usually instead referred to as a curse.
Conversely, enchantments are also used to describe spells that cause no real effects but deceive people, either by directly affecting their thoughts or using some kind of illusions. Enchantresses are frequently depicted as able to seduce by such magic. Other forms include deceiving people into believing that they have suffered a magical transformation.
Examples are "Abracadabra" as might be said by a magician during a trick.
To be enchanted is to be under the influence of an enchantment, usually thought to be caused by charms or spells.
The Latin incantare, which means 'to utter an incantation', or cast a magic spell, forms the basis of the word "enchant", with deep linguistic roots going back to the Proto-Indo-European kan- prefix. So it can be said that an enchanter or enchantress casts magic spells, or utters incantations, similar to what are called Mantra in Sanskrit.
INCANTATION, the use of words, spoken, sung or chanted, usually as a set formula, for the purpose of obtaining a result by their supposed magical power. The word is derived from the Latin incantare, to chant a magical formula; cf. the use of carmen, for such a formula of words. The Latin use is very early; thus it appears in a fragment of the XII. Tables quoted in Pliny (N.H. xxviii. 2, 4, 17), "Qui malum carmen incantasset." From the O. Fr. derivative of incantare, enchanter, comes "enchant," "enchantment," &c., properly of the exercise of magical powers, hence to charm, to fascinate, words which also by origin are of magical significance. The early magi of Assyria and Babylonia were adepts at this art, as is evident from the examples of Akkadian spells that have been discovered. Daniel (v. I I) is spoken of as "master of the enchanters" of Babylon. In Egypt and in India many formulas of religious magic were in use, witness especially the Vedic mantras, which are closely akin to the Maori karakias and the North American matamanik. Among the holy men presented by the king of Korea to the mikado of Japan in A.D. 577 was a reciter of mantras, who would find himself at home with the majinahi or incantation practised by the ancient Japanese for dissipating evil influences. One of the most common, widespread and persistent uses of incantation was in healing wounds, instanc3s of which are found in the Odyssey and the Kalcvala, and in the traditional folk-lore of almost every European country. Similar songs were sung to win back a faithless lover (cf. the second Idyll of Theocritus).
See further Magic.
|
William Ince >> |
Categories: I-IOL
This page is a stub. Help us expand it, and you get a cookie.
Help expand it
This page is a stub. Help us expand it, and you get a cookie.
Incantation | Table of Contents |
Walkthrough
| Incantation | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Titus |
| Publisher(s) | Titus |
| Release date(s) |
December, 1996
|
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| System(s) | SNES |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Incantation is a 2D Platform game for the SNES. It was developed and published by small time Titus Software and released first in Europe and then the U.S. No rating for the game was ever given.
The invocation of magical powers. All peoples, civilized as well as
savage, have believed and still believe in magical influences and
effects. The chief means of harming or of protecting from harm was
the utterance of some word or words invested with the highest
magical power; and whoever knew the right word had influence over
gods and demons; for they could not resist the command,
spoken under certain necessary and auspicious conditions. Magic pervaded the religions of the
Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and
in a still higher degree the religions of primitive peoples.
According to the Bible the nations which lived in the same country
as the ancient Israelites or in that surrounding it
practised all sorts of superstitions forbidden to the Israelites (Blan, "Das
Altjüdische Zauberwesen," pp. 16-19). The nature of these
superstitions can not always be determined. Probably the original
meaning of (missing hebrew text) , the root-word by which
magic is indicated in Hebrew, is
"to murmur" or "to mutter" (Fleischer, in Levy, "Neuhebr. Wörterb."
ii. 459). Hence, the magician ( (missing hebrew text) )
was a person who muttered magic
formulas; but no example of such formulas has been preserved in the
Bible.
Rabbinical literature, however, contains a large number of these formulas, the majority of which, designated as "heathen" (Amoritic), are forbidden, while a small number are recommended. Thirty-two incantations in Hebrew and Aramaic are enumerated in Blau, l.c. pp. 65-86. In some there are unintelligible words, which are the characteristic mark of magic formulas; in others there are Persian words, pointing to a Persian origin of the formula. The exclamations "Jammia and Bizia"; "Dagan and Kedron"; "Healing" (on sneezing; see Asusa); "Abundance and remainder, drink and leave a drop" (ib. p. 66) are Amoritic; that is, they originated among the primitive heathen inhabitants of Palestine. When a teacher of the Law had taken an excessive quantity of wine, his palm and knee were rubbed with oil and salt, while these words were pronounced: "As this oil evaporates, so may the wine evaporate from A. son of B." (ib. p. 72). Several observances were followed in the case of ague, one of them being as follows: The person took a new earthen jug to a river, turned it around his head seven times, poured out the water backward, and said "River, river, lend a jug full of water for the guest who has come to me" (ib. p. 73) If a person is choking with a bone, another bone of the same kind is laid on his head, while some one utters the words: "One, one, it goes down; swallow, swallow, it goes down; one, one" (ib. p. 76). This formula consists of four words, which in the second part are repeated in inverse order. The same remedy is also mentioned in Pliny's "Historia Naturalis," xxviii. 49. The following abracadabra is pronounced against the demon of blindness:
SHABRIRI
BRIRI
RIRI
IRI
RI
During the Hellenistic period of Jewish history Hebrew incantations were used among both the Jews and the pagans, as appears from the magic papyri published by Wessely (Vienna, 1888, 1894). The Tetragrammaton and the divine names "Eloe" and "Adonai" were most frequently used (ib. pp. 102 et seq.). But there are other words, which it is difficult to identify on account of the obscurity in which the formulas were enveloped. The Greco-Roman world was acquainted with the barbaric words of the "Chaldeans" (magicians), and in the famous inscription on the pedestal of a Greek oracle altar several Hebrew words may be recognized. The "Sword of Moses" ("Ḥarba de-Mosheh"), published by Gaster, which also contains incantations, is connected with Judæo-Hellenistic magic.
The literature of medieval mysticism likewise presents formulas for incantation. These formulas are an essential part of the so-called practical Cabala, which has still its adepts in eastern Europe and in Asia. Jewish folk-lore also furnishes examples of incantation, some of which are noted in "Mittheilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde," published by Grunwald (see No. vii., s.v. "Beschwörungen, Besprechungen, Feuerbeschwören"). The "Revue des Ecoles de l'Alliance Israélite," published by the Alliance Israélite Universelle, contains valuable material relating to incantations from the folk lore of all countries of the East.
  | Incantations and Conjurations - MAGIC SPELLS SYMBOLS ZODIAC SIGNS WICCA WITCHCRAFT BLACK MAGIC |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Misc
Search
