On the Etymology of "Abacadabra"
By Martin Baasten
https://www.academia.edu/145441953/On_t ... bacadabra_
Previous suggestions for the etymology of "abracadabra" are unconvincing and unsatisfactory. The either do not really explain the phrase as a whole, or are based upon erroneous and non-existing phrases in Hebrew or Aramaic. The present proposal does explain the phrase "abracadabra" as a whole and is free from linguistic anomalies.
(...)
Conclusion (1) The origin of ab(r)acadabra is the motif found in Sefer Yeṣira (‘the Book of Formation’): אב אג אד א... בראabagadabra ‘He created (BRA) (the universe by the letter combinations) AB, AG, AD, A…’ (2) The form αβραγαδαβρα is secondary; the first ρ was added by analogy with other voces magicae in αβρα- and/or due to assonance. (3) The phrase αβραγαδαβρα was Latinized as abracadabra
Abacadabra
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Geert van den Bos
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2025 2:01 am
Re: Abacadabra
I thought it was ABRACADABRA
ABRA = "ani borei" אֲנִ֣י בוֹרֵ֑א
(Isaiah 65:18)
https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.65.18?la ... 1&lang2=bi
Be glad, then, and rejoice forever
In what I am creating.
For I shall create Jerusalem as a joy,
And her people as a delight;
DABRA from "dibbeir" to speak
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1696.htm
AleisterCrowley made of it ABRAHADABRA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahadabra
ABRA = "ani borei" אֲנִ֣י בוֹרֵ֑א
(Isaiah 65:18)
https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.65.18?la ... 1&lang2=bi
Be glad, then, and rejoice forever
In what I am creating.
For I shall create Jerusalem as a joy,
And her people as a delight;
DABRA from "dibbeir" to speak
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1696.htm
AleisterCrowley made of it ABRAHADABRA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahadabra
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Geert van den Bos
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2025 2:01 am
Re: Abacadabra
Geert van den Bos wrote: Wed Dec 17, 2025 12:07 am On the Etymology of "Abacadabra"
By Martin Baasten
https://www.academia.edu/145441953/On_t ... bacadabra_
Previous suggestions for the etymology of "abracadabra" are unconvincing and unsatisfactory. The either do not really explain the phrase as a whole, or are based upon erroneous and non-existing phrases in Hebrew or Aramaic. The present proposal does explain the phrase "abracadabra" as a whole and is free from linguistic anomalies.
(...)
Conclusion (1) The origin of ab(r)acadabra is the motif found in Sefer Yeṣira (‘the Book of Formation’): אב אג אד א... בראabagadabra ‘He created (BRA) (the universe by the letter combinations) AB, AG, AD, A…’ (2) The form αβραγαδαβρα is secondary; the first ρ was added by analogy with other voces magicae in αβρα- and/or due to assonance. (3) The phrase αβραγαδαβρα was Latinized as abracadabra
אב אג אד א... ברא
= 216 = the outline of triangle 73