European Influences on Jewish Magic

 

European Influences on Jewish Magic

At times, the transmission of different magical traditions blur as information is shared between cultures. In this post, I will highlight just a few examples of gentile European influences that found it's way into  Jewish magical manuscripts. 

The first three example comes from a 16th/17th cent. mss. in cursive Ashkenazi script.

Bar-Ilan University Library, Israel Ms. 1053 fol. 92

For love between man and his wife: write on virgin parchment these names in the gentile language: halgo algat algario algar marib

For h'[atred]: write on a piece of tin his and her name and place under the doorway of the house. They both need to pass under it. eny rox [or cox? followed by several sigils]

In order that he not perform [sexually?]: Take an  and divide it in two. On one half write his and her name,  and on the other [half write] these names: qura cana Biari nas rper spern sensiem 

In all three examples I'm not sure if the words are nomina barbaria or actually mean something. Have a suggestion? Please leave a comment!

Moving on to the next manuscript, this one from the 18th cent. in an Italian script, we find the following:

Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, Ms. 8822 Fol. 71a

Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, Ms. 8822 Fol. 71b

To cause hail to stop: Make this shape [see the magic circle image in the manuscript] on the ground and thrust a knife in the middle of the line opposite the cloud. One needs to use a knife with a white handle to make the circle and to thrust in the ground. Hail will not fall within the boundary of the line.

[Protection] against a sword: Write [these names] on the edge of the sword. When your enemy is struck with this sword it will appear to them as a tower on their shoulders. Afrecs Afres sabeot [see the image in the manuscript].

For sickness [or weakness?] of the thighs: Write this on the crosta of bread [crosta קרוסטא is Italian for crust] and eat for three mornings. So shall you do for three mornings like this: Mifac tefac tefac Mifac [see the image in the manuscript].

This next one is an incantation to heal burns. It's found in a manuscript entitled Etz HaChayyim ("Tree of Knowledge") by Elisha ben Gad of Ancona (written in Safed, 1535-1536). 

British Library, Or 12362, f. 41r

The British Library discussed this mss. on their blog and translated a few spells and amulets. This one was likewise translated and I quote directly from that blog for this translation. It's Italian written in Hebrew letters. For those interested in reading the British Library blogpost, you can find it HERE.

Here is from their blog:

A wonderful incantation, tried and tested many times. For small and big burns. With these words complete recovery without pain! Say these names [i.e. the incantation] seven times:

Agrifuk agrifar agripyri chi vol tu fer di pyro nocesti di acaro fosti generato, e elo fonti fosti portato, all'acqua fosti gettato, non fossi far più male qua (?) chi fai la!

And then blow on the burn with the breath of your mouth and repeat again the incantation seven more times, and the fire will not damage him.

"Agrifuk agrifar agripyri whom did you want to hurt with fire? You were generated from an acarus [probably from Greek akarḗs, meaning “tiny”), you were brought forth from such a source, [and] you were thrown into the water. You cannot do any more harm...!"

End quote from their blog. Now, on to another Italian incantation!

In the last  source for this post, I have found in Rabbi Chayim Vital's handwritten manuscript known as "Sefer HaPeulot" an incantation for some sort of fever in Italian. This is an exceptionally interesting incantation as it is the only one I have found that involves a knife (athame) with a black handle along with it.  

The "Sefer HaPeulot" mss. fol 54a column 1

The last of the incantation continues onto column 2 on the page

The incantation wording is written in Hebrew letters yet it was obvious to me that it was either Latin, Italian or some similar language/dialect. Many are unaware that even though Chayim Vital lived in Israel, his parents were Italian expats from Calabria, South Italy. He himself latter in life was Rabbi of a synagogue of the Italian rite, so my first assumption was that this was going to be Italian. First, I transliterated the Hebrew into Latin characters. Being that I don't know Italian other than a few words, I decided to run it through "Google Translate" to see what would happen. Now, I know Google Translate isn't perfect, but it should at least be able to identify the language and hopefully give a rudimentary translation to get the idea. Before going further please understand this caveat: I'm relying on Google Translate for the translation! If any of the readers understand Italian and can refine the translation, then please do so in the comment section, I'd love to polish up the translation! Google translate was more helpful in the first part than the second. Doing a little research, I discovered that  Calabrian (aka Calabrese) is the dialect from where the Vital family hailed from. Like I said, I'd love some assistance from anyone with any linguistic background in this. Below is the text:

An incantation for "foreign fire" called homra:  Incant [literally "whisper"] with a  knife with a black handle and touch it to him. Say the incantation seven times and at the end of each time spit  on the ground and touch the ground with the knife. [It is to be done] in the morning before sunrise and at sunset but not night. This is the incantation: 

אין נומברי דיל דייו אלטו / In nombri del deo alto / In numbers of the high god [1]

לא רוזא אינקאנטו /  lo rosa incanto / the red enchantment

אינקנטוטי פירקאנטו /  incantoti pircanto / charm pircanto [2]

לא רוזא אינקאנטו / lo rosa incanto / red enchantment

 אינקנטו לא רוזא מאלורי דא /  incanto lo rosa malori da / sick from red enchantment

פור דונדי אקי פואי ויני דא / Por dondi aci poai vini da / that's where you come from [3]

די שיירטו טירו דירי /  di certo tiro diri / certainly I would say

קון לייובייאש אי ויינטוש אקי אינטרי / con liobias ei vintos aci intri / ??? [4]

קוגלייו די קאגאש פירטאש טומרי / coglieo di cogas pirtas tomri / ??? [5]

איז טי קורטארי אי אלוש קאנפוש טי איגארי / is ti cortari ei alos conpos ti eigari / It will Cortaro to alos Should you eigari [6]

אונדי פאדרי אה היגו נו לייאמא / ondi (or, onde?)  padri ah hego no leoama / ?? father ? [7]

אונדי פירו נו ?רא / ondi pyro  no ?ra / ?? fire ?? [8]

אונדי גאלייו נו קאנטא / ondi galeo no canta / ?? ?? no sings [9]

אונדי וואקא נו אמא / ondi vaca no ama  / ondi cow doesn't love [10]

אלייא וואייא טו מאל אה לאש פור פונדינאש דילא מאר אונדי גידיו נו איי / aleo vaeo tu mal ah los por fondinas di lo mar ondi gideo no ai / ?? your bad" ?? say the sea ?? [11]

Notes

[1] Google detected this particular line as Esperanto. Esperanto is an artificial language mostly based off of the Romance languages, so obviously Chaim Vital wasn't speaking Esperanto! There are many local and regional dialects of Italian and Google only uses the standard type in it's AI. What this most likely means is the incantation is in a regional dialect.

[2] Google didn't translate pircanto. Maybe an archaic word? I would say maybe "picanto" as in "heat" which would make sense for a fever. Any ideas, dear readers?

[3] Google detected this particular line as Corsican, which is an Italian dialect.

[4] Google couldn't understand this line. I'm sure I'm transliterating some wrong. The closest I got to anything was for the second part "vintos aci intrii" meaning "come here" in Romanian. 

[5] Although Google recognized this as Italian, it didn't offer a translation.

[6] I had to change "ti" to "te" to get any translation. Google then recognized it as Latin. I'm most likely transliterating some words wrong here.

[7] See note 5. "onde padri" got me "where father" (Portuguese) or "waves fathers" (Italian).

[8] pyro is fire. That's all I'm able to get out of this line.

[9] Gibberish google translation. All I'm able to get out of it is  "no canta" means doesn't sing in Spanish. "Non canta" means the same thing in standard Italian. Again, I understand I'm dealing with what is most likely some local Italian dialect that Google isn't programmed with.

[10] Obviously something went amiss here in Google translate! Also, detected it as Portuguese. I will note that "vacca" is Latin for cow.

[11] Google detected this line as Spanish but it was basically gibberish except for the two short phrases.