“Avada Kedavra” sounds a lot like “Abracadabra” to me; did Ms. Rowling do that intentionally?
Considering some of her other puns (Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley), etc, I’m sure she did indeed.
I don’t know how accurate this information is, but this is interesting:
JKR has confirmed that’s the etymology, Sweet Mercury, but I can’t remember where.
Cool, thanks. If it were an important matter I might do some research, but oh well. I was aware that the term “abracadabra” came from Crowley, but I didn’t know if it had anything to do with Rowlings magical terms. She certainly does her research.
I think it is a play on Cadaver, almost meaning “create cadaver” or to make a dead body. I notice in the movie it is pronounced with the stress on “ava” instead of “da” so it sounds quite different.