What does the word "abracadabra" mean and why do we use it incorrectly

The funny word "abracadabra" is familiar to everyone. We use it in conversation with friends, when communicating with colleagues at work, playing with children. It is also used as a magic spell by circus illusionists. Dahl's dictionary says that "abracadabra is nonsense, an incomprehensible set of signs." But here the connoisseur of literature is wrong — this word has an ancient history and quite a serious purpose.

For the first time in written sources, "abracadabra" was mentioned in the 2nd century AD. The Roman physician Simmonicus, who was under the emperor Septimius Severus, told about him in his treatise. Aesculapius advised to write this word in a column on a clay tablet 11 times, removing a letter in each line. This turned out to be an inverted isosceles triangle. Simmonik recommended wearing the received amulet around his neck, which helped protect him from fever.

It is unlikely that this magical method of prevention was invented by a Roman doctor. The Jews tried to treat blindness in this way, which was described in detail in the holy book of the Talmud. The recipe, written down long before the appearance of Rome, advises to depict the word "shabriri" in the form of a pyramid, that is, "blindness". Something like this: shabriri-briri-riri-iri-ri. If the exercise was performed correctly, and most importantly, with great faith in God, the amulet was supposed to restore vision.

The occultist Papus wrote at the end of the 19th century that the magical power of the word "abracadabra" lies in numbers. There are only 66 letters in the triangle, and if you add up two 6, you get 12. And this is already an important number for Kabbalistics, associated with the quadrature of the circle. There are other numerological interpretations made in different eras.

As for the effectiveness of talismans "abracadabra", there is no information about their successful or unsuccessful use anywhere. As there is no information about where the magic word came from. Some claim that it comes from Hebrew, others see its roots in Celtic languages.

Perhaps it's time to deal with this word and find out why it was used as a cure for fever. British scientists, known for their bold experiments, could study the effect of "abracadabra" on the incidence of malaria in countries with a tropical climate.