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Are you ready to discover a long forgetten side door leading to the heart of Abrahamic religions?
As with most of my projects, the quest to find the original meaning of AbraCadabra started out as a lark. I was sure I would make short work of the word and be done with it. But the fates wanted something else.
At the cost of sounding cliché, on the journey to finding a suitable answer for my question, I learnt a lot about one of my favorite subjects which is semiotics, the study of symbols.
To say, I have a new found appreciation for the weather would be an understatement. I am for evermore in awe of the weather and all that it takes to make it happen.
This article will be updated from time to time as I dig deeper into the meaning of the word Abracadabra.
So check back, every so often, to find out more.
Notes
The country of origin
The word Abracadabra, is it from the Hebrew or does it decend from the Aramic language? Does it matter it was written in Latin?
Since, creating and posting this article, which was last year in the fall of 2023, I've been able to reconcile my own interpretation with the interpretation most commonly found on the internet which is Abracadabra is from the Hebrew meaning something along the lines of "I create as I speak".
This claim is challenged by yet another interpretation which claims Abracadabra is from the Aramic with ties leading to ancient Iranian sources.
The original source is written using Latin letters and it reads exactly as follows, Abracadabra. It makes sense to follow this word back through the Latin roots.
Section 1
Why is it important to track down the meaning of Abracadabra?
A quick search on the internet will return over 3 million results. So it seems, this mysterious word has quite a reputation.
According to the people at Vocabulary website, “Abracadabra… it’s a load of gibberish and nonsense… meaningless”. (https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/abracadabra - Para. 1)
Over at the Wikipedia, they mention only one theory, Abracadabra might be from the Hebrew meaning "I will create as I speak". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abracadabra - Para. 1)
The folks at World Wide Words say it may be a mistaken translation from the Greek abraSADabra. (https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-abr1 - Para. 2)
And finally, a website called Today I Found Out, has a long list of claims associated with Abracadabra. One being, Abracadabra is derived from the Hebrew phrase for the Holy Trinity, as in Father, Son and the Holy Ghost.
Whether it’s an official title is unclear, the phrase is as follows; Ab Ben Ruah Kaddosh, also pronounced Kaddish. In Hebrew ab means “father” and ben means “son”, while Ruah Kaddosh is meaning “Holy Spirit”. https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/11/origin-word-abracadabra - Para. 3)
Maybe I’m grasping at straws, however should Abracadabra really be another name for the Trinity, then it follows, if we discover the true meaning of Abracadabra, we may also discover the true nature of the godhead of the Abrahamic religions.
Sounds like a bargain to me. It’s worth a try. If it turns out, it would be the best ‘four for one’ deal, if ever there was one.
Continued below
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Section 2
The following is a revised transcript of the video presentation. For both Parts One and Two I tried out the new AI voice generators, and I have to say, it sounds very good. My friend thought it was a real person.
As per the following article, I have added links to dictionary sources, as well as selected images.
The Origins and Meaning of Abracadabra
Hello sensitive beings. Today we are going to unlock the meaning of Abracadabra, in case you should ever need to dazzle your friends with a magical spell.
According to general consensus Abracadabra first appeared in print sometime in the 2nd Century AD in a book of remedies titled The Book of Medicine, written by a physician and philosopher named Serenus Sammonicus.
As a remedy for the illness malaria, a scribe would write the word Abracadabra on a single line then move to the next line and write the word again leaving out the last letter. He would keep on doing this until the last line contained only one letter.
The shape of the entire spell written out would form into an inverted triangle. The parchment on which the incantation was written would then be fashioned into an amulet and given to the sick, along with instructions to wear it around the neck for two weeks.
The assumption was by means of sympathetic or symbolic magic the patient would be cured. The triangle shape suggested a funnel which would work as a figurative channel through which the illness would drain out of the body. At least on paper, the illness would perish much like the vanishing letters at the end of each line.
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Section 3
Abraxas and then the Trinity
In a future episode, we’ll look for the reason why Abracadabra has been associated with the word Abraxas, which is a name for the godhead of the early Gnostics who may have borrowed it from ancient Iranian sources.
After reading this article, remember to read the second part, about the claim Abracadabra is a title for the Trinity formed by combining the Hebrew words Ab Ben Ruah Kaddosh, which apparently translates to the English "Father Son and the Holy Ghost".
In this episode, we are going to search for the meaning of Abracadabra using Proto Indo European sources. I will use PIE as an acronym for Proto Indo European.
My usual approach is to assume every definition is mostly correct and my job is to reconcile their meanings by finding the through line that connects them all.
So sit back, relax and open your ears; we are about to sail through a flood of words and their original meanings. With any luck, by the end we will discover the original meaning of Abracadabra and a whole lot more.
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Section 4
Deconstructing Abra
Some people say that abra corresponds to the Hebrew phrase Ab Ben. In Hebrew ab means “father” and ben means “son”, so together this makes "Father Son". We have a match for the first segment ab but how about the last segment? Let’s see what shows up using other language dictionaries.
We have the Iranian word abr meaning “cloud”. And the root word ab means “water”.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B1)
By the way of Sanskrit there are numerous definitions for a similar sounding word abhra which can mean “rain cloud, atmosphere, sky, and heaven”, just to name a few.
(https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/abhra)
Both abr and abhra descend from PIE root *nbros-.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/n%CC%A5b%CA%B0r%C3%B3s)
In turn, *nbros- contains the root *nebh- meaning “cloud”; also “vapor, mist”. For example the English word nebulous.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/neb%CA%B0-)
So far, we have the words abra, abr, abhra, and finally the PIE roots, *nbros- and *nebh-.
Before we move on, let’s review a few more significant alternate definitions. The Sanskrit abhra can also mean “cover, or cloth”, also “dust, or powder”.
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Section 5
Brother and Water Bearer
The Iranian word for "son", as in off-spring, is pisar, cognate to an even older word *bra-, which has many variants such as; *bro-, *bar-, *bur-, and so on. The variant *bar- appears in the Iranian baradar meaning “brother”.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1)
It also shows up in the Sanskrit bhratri which also means “brother”.
(https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhratri)
Bhratri sounds similar to the word brought which leads to the word bring which leads to their common and original root *bher- meaning “to carry, to bear child".
(https://www.etymonline.com/word/*bher-)
It’s possible our word abra contains the PIE root *bher-; coupled with the word ab meaning “water”. This would make abra a compound word meaning “water-bearer” or “water-borne”. Both phrases are adequate descriptions of a cloud and perhaps even the atmosphere.
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Section 6
Latin Abra
Sammonicus was Roman, so we should look to the Latin abra which means “open”. We’ll return to this word in a moment. By the way of the Spanish abra we get a doublet to the English haven meaning “port, harbour”.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abra)
Haven is from the Proto Germanic haba meaning “sea”, related to Old Norse haf meaning “heaving, lifting and elevation”.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haven)
Possibly related to PIE root *kem- meaning “to cover”. For example the French chemise meaning “shirt, smock”. This is similar to the Sanskrit abhra which has an alternate meaning “cover, cloth”.
(https://www.etymonline.com/word/heaven)
All in all, the Proto-Germanic haba sounds very similar to the Iranian hava meaning “atmosphere, air, weather”. The atmosphere is a translucent, gaseous compound covering the entire globe.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%88%D8%A7)
A very similar sounding word to heaven and haven is the Iranian word havan meaning “animal”.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86)
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Section 7
Barometer
It would seem, at some point in history, forecasting the weather was equated with reading the entrails of an animal. An important organ of weather, or innards as it were, is air pressure, which determines wind and weather patterns around the world.
Air pressure is the force exerted on the earth’s surface by the weight of the air above the surface. The force of air is affected by the size, motion, and number of molecules present in the air. These factors affect the temperature and density of air and consequently, its pressure.
We might consider the word baro found in barometer, an instrument used to measure air pressure. Baro from the Greek root *baros- meaning “heavy, weight”.
(https://www.etymonline.com/word/barometer)
Weight meaning “downward force of a body”, from PIE root *wegh- meaning "to go, move, transport in a vehicle”.
(https://www.etymonline.com/word/weigh)
Could it be, when Jesus the son of God said he was the way, he meant he was the *wegh; the one bearing the weight of the atmosphere and/or the one moving the air.
It’s worth mentioning, the current Iranian word for “son” is pisar which sounds similar to the Iranian word phisar meaning “pressure”.
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Section 8
The Atmosphere
Let’s spend a few moments highlighting relevant aspects of the atmosphere, then we’ll get back to Abra. To start with we’ll review a list of immediate chronic events affecting earth.
We live on a spherical planet, leaning to one side, rotating around itself on a daily basis; all the while revolving around the sun on a yearly basis; and to boot, a satellite moon, revolves around the earth every 28 earth days.
All this chronic activity makes for recurring episodes of heating and cooling which have an immediate influence on the most absorbent, porous and pliant aspect of earth’s surface; namely the air enveloping the entire glob, called the atmosphere.
The atmosphere is a singular mass held in place by the force of gravity and stratified into layers; and those layers contain a mixture of gases, dust, pollutants, and water vapor. Like a sheer, rippling veil, the atmosphere hugs the face of the earth protecting it from harmful cosmic radiation.
The layer closest to the surface of the earth is called the troposphere which extends about five miles above the ground. It’s the most condensed layer containing up to 85% of the atmosphere’s total mass. Nearly all weather and cloud formations take place in the troposphere.
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About the author
Greetings! I name is Afsaneh Bahrami and I hope you enjoyed reading this article. : ) If you want to support my efforts >>> buy a set of Fun Cards