Editing Abracadabra (section)

== Etymology ==
{{listen |filename=Pl-abrakadabra.ogg |title=Pronunciation |description=Male native of [[Poland]] pronouncing Abracadabra}}
''Abracadabra'' is of unknown origin, and is first attested in a second-century work of Serenus Sammonicus relating to a cure for a fever.<ref name="OED">{{citation|title=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2009|section=abracadabra}}</ref>

Some conjectural etymologies are:<ref name="graham">{{citation|url=http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2016/12/performative-utterances/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226114659/http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2016/12/performative-utterances/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 26, 2017|title=Magic words: performative utterance in fact and fantasy|author=Elyse Graham|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=December 30, 2016|work=Oxford Dictionaries}}</ref> from phrases in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] that mean "I will create as I speak",<ref>{{cite book|last=Kushner|first=Lawrence|title=The Book of Words: Talking Spiritual Life, Living Spiritual Talk|date=1998|publisher=Jewish Lights Publishing|isbn=1580230202|page=11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhtaTSSZmDYC&q=%22The+Book+of+Words%22+kushner+abracadabra}}</ref> or [[Aramaic]] "I create like the word" ({{lang|arc|אברא כדברא}}),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lew|first1=Alan|title=This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared|date=August 2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVRAqM2D_7sC&q=alan+lew+abracadabra&pg=PT108|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|isbn=9780759528215|access-date=16 March 2015}}</ref> to etymologies that point to similar words in Latin and Greek such as [[abraxas]]<ref name="OEDOnline">{{citation|url=http://oed.com/view/Entry/539|section=abracadabra|title=Oxford English Dictionary Online|access-date=September 1, 2017}}</ref> or to its similarity to the first four letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha-beta-gamma-delta or ΑΒΓΔ).<ref>{{cite book|last=Flanders|first=Judith|title=A Place for Everything:The Curious History of Alphabetical Order|date=2020|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=9781541675070|page=xxv}}</ref> However, "no documentation has been found to support any of the various conjectures".<ref name="OEDOnline" />

The historian Don Skemer suggests that it might originate from the Hebrew phrase ''ha brachah dabarah'' (name of the blessed), said to be a magical phrase.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 1, 2024 |title=The ancient—and mysterious—history of 'abracadabra' |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/abracadabra-meaning-malaria-spell-magic |access-date=March 2, 2024 |website=NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC |language=en |quote=Medieval historian Don Skemer, a specialist in magic and former curator of manuscripts at Princeton University, suggests abracadabra could derive from the Hebrew phrase “ha brachah dabarah,” which means “name of the blessed” and was regarded as a magical name.}}</ref>

The Aramaic linguist Steve Caruso argues that ''Abracadabra'' can neither be Aramaic nor Hebrew, and suggests that the popularisation of the mistaken etymology is a result of an extended discussion on an early internet message board, which credits rabbi [[Lawrence Kushner]] with publishing a modern etymology.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Caruso |first=Steve |date=29 January 2014 | title=Abracadabra is NOT Aramaic |url=http://aramaicnt.org/2014/01/29/abracadabra-is-not-aramaic/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=The Straight Dope Message Board |date=1 March 1999 |title=Abracadabra |url=https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abracadabra/144 }}</ref>