By Andrea Bush
The rich fantasy world created by J.K. Rowling is filled with made-up terms, but many of them were inspired by other languages—especially Latin. Spells, magic items, and even characters’ names often tell you exactly who they are or what they do if you break them down. Here are ten examples of spells rooted in Latin:
Densaugeo
This is the spell that Malfoy used to make Hermione’s front teeth lengthen uncontrollably. Split it in half and you get dens, Latin for “tooth,” and augeo, meaning “I enlarge.” It may not be a well-known spell, but it does exactly what it says.
These roots carry over into English, where you can find dens in “dentist” and augeo in “augment.”
Expecto Patronum
This spell summons a Patronus—a magical shield that takes an animal’s form—to protect the caster from soul-sucking Dementors. Expecto is Latin for—you guessed it—“I expect.” Patronus is Latin for “protector,” which makes sense since it’s protecting you from Dementors, but it also originally comes from the word pater, meaning “father.” Historically, fathers have been protectors of their families, but the connection also has an added layer of significance with Harry’s Patronus matching his father’s.
Why Patronum and not Patronus? Because in Latin, nouns decline, or change their endings based on what role they play in a sentence. Patronus is the nominative form, meaning it’s the subject of the sentence. Patronum is accusative, meaning it’s the direct object—that is, the thing being expected.
Expecto obviously presents itself in the English word “expect.” Patronus/m can be seen in words like “patron,” “paternal,” and “patriot.”
Expelliarmus
Expello, Latin for “I expel,” and arma, Latin for “weapon,” make this spell pretty self-explanatory. Harry uses it often to send his opponent’s wand flying out of their hand, rendering them temporarily unable to cast spells at him.
It’s easy to see that expello gives us the English word “expel.” Arma is still used to describe weapons (e.g. “the right to bear arms”) and gives us words like “armory” and “disarm.”
Fidelius Charm
While this isn’t the incantation itself, the name of this charm takes its name from the Latin word fidelis, which means “loyal” or “faithful.” The charm is used to conceal a secret within a single trusted person. This is the spell that gave rise to the whole series, with a revealed secret leading to the deaths of Harry’s parents.
Fidelis presents in words like “fidelity,” “confident,” and even the common dog name Fido.
Legilimens
This spell comes from legere “to read” and mens “mind.” Casting it enables a wizard to read another’s thoughts, seen when Snape visits Harry’s memories. Its counterpart, occlumens, is used to conceal thoughts from a mind-reader. It shares the -mens ending that refers to the mind, but the first part comes from the Latin word occludere, meaning “to hide.”
Legere is found in words like “legible” and “legendary.” Occludere gives us “occult.” Mens can be seen in “mental” and “dementia.”
Levicorpus
This spell, created by the Half-Blood Prince, yanks a person up and suspends them in midair. The Latin verb levare means “to raise,” and corpus means “body.” Its counter-spell, liberacorpus, uses the verb liberare, “to free.” This spell drops the body back to the ground.
We see levare in words like “levitate.” Liberare shows up in “liberty.” Corpus can be found in “corpse,” “corporate,” and “corporeal.”
Morsmordre
This spell is used by Voldemort’s followers to summon the Dark Mark. The Latin word for “death,” mors, joins with the verb “to bite,” mordere. The spell literally means “to bite death,” making it extremely appropriate for a group called Death Eaters.
Mors is seen in words like “morgue” and “mortal.” Mordere appears in “morsel.”
Petrificus Totalus
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione sneak out of the Gryffindor common room late one night, Hermione uses this full-body binding spell on fellow student Neville Longbottom. Petrificus is made of the Latin words petra, “stone,” and factus, which comes from the verb facere, “to make.” The second part of the spell comes from the Latin word totus, meaning “entire.” Thus, the entire (body) is made stone.
Petra is seen in words like “petrify” and is also the source of the name Peter. Facere, in its various forms, gives us words like “benefit,” “satisfactory,” and “artifact.” Totus, of course, gives us “total.”
Vulnera Sanentur
After Harry cursed Malfoy and left him bleeding from many deep cuts, this is the spell that Snape uses to heal Malfoy’s wounds. The Latin word vulnus means wound, and sanare means to heal.
You can find vulnus in “vulnerable,” and sanare appears in words like “sane,” referring to mental health, and “sanitary.”
Wingardium Leviosa
This spell makes an object float. “Wing” brings to mind the image of flight, especially when combined with the Latin word arduus, meaning “high.” Leviosa (not leviosar) comes from levis, which means light—in terms of weight, not brightness.
Arduus gives us “arduous,” in the sense of a lofty goal. Levis, connected to levare from earlier, is also found in “levity” and “alleviate.”
This short list barely scratches the surface of how Latin is used in the series, let alone other languages like Greek, French, and even Aramaic. What else have you noticed?
Get more interesting language and linguistics content in our magazine. You can subscribe below
