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Yep! I’m sure Rowling did that intentionally. By the way, Haaretz says:

“Abracadabra belongs to Aramaic, a Semitic language that shares many of the same grammar rules as Hebrew, says Cohen in Win the Crowd.

‘Abra' is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew 'avra,' meaning, 'I will create. ' While 'cadabra' is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew 'kedoobar,' meaning 'as was spoken.”

https://www.haaretz.com/2013-05-08/ty-article/word-of-the-da...



Must've been a trip for the Haaretz staff writing that puff piece given the antisemitic stuff in the Potter movies: https://www.google.com/search?q=harry+potter+bankers

From the book: "about a head shorter than Harry [...] swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard [...] very long fingers and feet”, indeed.

I lol'd at the "Jewish culture" tag.


Most tellers aren't Jewish. Ability to apply similarities does not imply implication, and says more about the latent racism of the folks making the anti-semetic accusations. As if being Jewish is all about having pointy ears and a nose that is as hooked as a parrot feather? What the fuck.


all antisemitic caricatures are goblinesque, not all goblins are antisemitic caricatures

(granted, having the goblins run the banks is... not great)


I always thought of it more as a reference to the Gnomes of Zürich than to Jewish people.




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