First Mention of the Word ‘Abracadabra’: in a Roman Medical Work from the 2nd Century AD

When we read or hear the expression Abracadabra, we immediately think of witchcraft, enchantments, magic, and things of that nature. Until a few years ago, many magicians used it in their performances, and possibly some still do. The word is not a modern invention; in fact, its age and origin are unknown.

Some etymologies suggest it derives from a Hebrew phrase meaning I will create as I speak, while others propose that it comes from Greek, Latin, or other languages, such as the Aramaic avra gavra (I will create the man), supposedly spoken by God on the sixth day of Creation. However, no documentary or archaeological evidence has been found to confirm any of these hypotheses.

But what is known is where the word Abracadabra is mentioned for the first time. And this takes us to Rome at the end of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd century A.D.

Caracalla, painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1902. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

In the year 193, Septimius Severus came to power. He had two sons: Publius Septimius Geta and Lucius Septimius Bassianus (better known in historiography as Caracalla). Severus appointed one of the leading scholars of the time, Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, as tutor to the boys.

Very little is known about Sammonicus’ life, aside from the scant details mentioned in the Historia Augusta, a collection of Roman emperors’ biographies possibly written during the time of Diocletian or Constantine I, but considered unreliable by historians.

He wrote several works, most of which are lost. Some are known through mentions in the writings of later authors, such as Macrobius, who extensively cites Sammonicus’ Res reconditae in his Saturnalia.

The triangle-amulet abracadabra. Credit: Il Dottore / Wikimedia Commons

However, there is one work of his that has survived almost in its entirety. It is a didactic medical poem of 1,115 hexameters titled Liber Medicinalis (The Medical Book), also known as De medicina praecepta saluberrima, which Sammonicus wrote before 212 A.D., the year of his death.

In the poem, he records various popular remedies, most of which were taken from Pliny the Elder and Dioscorides (whose work would become the main pharmacopoeia manual used in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance). He also includes magical formulas, among which, as mentioned, the word Abracadabra appears for the first time. Sammonicus recommends it as a cure for acute fever.

Moreover, he suggests using it by writing the word repeatedly in a triangle, to recite the formula in a special way. He does this in chapter LII of the Liber Medicinalis, which deals with the fever that the Greeks call hemitritaeon (malaria):

The fever known to the Greeks as hemitritaeos is particularly dangerous, and our language lacks a term for it because, I believe, our ancestors neither could nor wished to name it. You write on paper what is called abracadabra, repeating it frequently underneath, but removing the last letter each time and forming a triangle, so that the letters decrease until only one remains. Remember to tie the paper around your neck with a linen thread.

Malaria was one of the leading causes of death in many regions of the Empire at the time. The distinction between medicine, magic, and superstition wasn’t as clear and evident as it is now, which is why ordinary people didn’t hesitate to use amulets like this, trusting in their healing power. It seems that even Emperor Caracalla himself wore one, which isn’t surprising given that he was a pupil of Sammonicus. In any case, its use spread throughout the Roman Empire and later became part of popular folklore in the Middle Ages.

Chapter 52 in an edition of the Liber Medicinales of 1786

Over time, the word, which originally had a magical-medical character, came to be used in popular tales for something entirely different, which is the meaning or supposed utility that has reached us today: making something appear or disappear by means of an enchantment.

As late as 1665, during the Great Plague of London, which lasted 18 months and killed over a hundred thousand people, many tried to protect themselves by writing abracadabra on their doors, as Daniel Defoe testified. Of course, it didn’t work.

Originally, the word abracadabra was used by the Gnostics of the Basilidean sect to invoke the help of spirits, and it was found inscribed on stone amulets of Abraxas. This sect was founded by Basilides of Alexandria in the 2nd century AD, and claimed to have received its doctrine from Claucias, an apostle of Saint Peter. Abraxas was the supreme being recognized by the sect, and Sammonicus is thought to have been one of its followers.

By the way, in Sammonicus’s work we also find a reference to Mithridate, the mysterious panacea invented by Mithridates to avoid being poisoned. During both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, substances known as mithridate were used, based on a supposed recipe found in Mithridates’ chambers and given to Pompey.

Gnostic amulets called Abraxas Stones. Credit: Antiques Navigator

However, Sammonicus writes the following about it:

It is said that the antidote of Mithridates was obtainable in various formulas; but when the triumphant Pompey took possession of the king’s chests, he found only a pile of trivialities and smiled to see such common medicines: twenty leaves of rue, one grain of salt, two walnuts, and several globular figs.

According to the Historia Augusta, Sammonicus supported Geta against his brother Caracalla. Both were co-emperors from February 4, 211 AD, after their father’s death, but in December of that same year, Caracalla had his brother assassinated. He then invited many of Geta’s supporters to a banquet, among whom Sammonicus might have been, and there he had them all killed. Caracalla then left Rome to personally lead his military campaigns and didn’t return until his death in 217 A.D.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on November 14, 2018: La primera mención de la palabra Abracadabra, en una obra médica romana del siglo II d.C.

SOURCES

Q.Sereno Sammonico, Liber Medicinalis

Q. Sereno Sammonico, De medicina praecepta salvberrima

Elyse Graham, Magic words: performative utterance in fact and fantasy

Wikipedia, Abracadabra

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