Da fällt mir auf Anhieb abracadabra ein ... und schau auch mal da rein : Siehe auch: Hokus, Pokus, Trullala!

Das deutsche Original lautet aber "Hokuspokus fidibus, dreimal schwarzer Kater".

Wenn Du mal nach "children's spells" googelst, wirst Du von Ergebnissen geradezu erschlagen. Ob es diesen spezifischen auch in einer englischen Variante gibt, weiß ich aber nicht.

Bestimmt erklärt jetzt auch noch jemand, woher Hokuspokus kommt, auch wenns gar nicht gefragt war. Und ja, danke, ich weiß es schon.

The words 'Hocus pocus' and 'Abracadabra' are familiar in children's stories about witches, but off the top of my head, I can't think of any longer rhymes that include them.

'Open sesame!' is familiar from Aladdin or Ali Baba or wherever it comes from. I think I learned it as a kind of nonsense phrase long before I ever realized that sesame was a kind of seed, a real word for something.

There are English translations of the opera 'Hansel and Gretel' by Humperdinck -- doesn't it have a spell in it that begins with 'Hocus pocus'?

The witches' spell from Macbeth is sometimes included in excerpts of Shakespeare for older children -- 'Double, double, toil and trouble,' 'eye of newt,' etc.

There are English translations of the opera 'Hansel and Gretel' by Humperdinck -- doesn't it have a spell in it that begins with 'Hocus pocus'?

Ja, im deutschen Libretto heißt es: "Hokuspokus, Holderbusch! Schwinde, Gliederstarre, husch!"

In einer der wahrscheinlich zahlreichen englischen Versionen sagt die Hexe an dieser Stelle: "Hocus pocus elderbush - break the incantation ... whoosh!" Eine andere Fassung übersetzt: "Hocus pocus, elderbush, rigid body loosen, whoosh!"

Außerdem sagt die Hexe an einer anderen Stelle in den deutschen und englische Fassungen: "Hocus pocus, bonus jocus, malus locus, hocus pocus!"

Wobei aber wahrscheinlich weder die deutschen noch die englischen Zitate aus der Oper so bekannt sind wie der in #0 erwähnte Zauberspruch.

Apart from Abracadabra, we also used "hocus pocus dominocus" and zim zala bim :-)

Ich kenne auch "hubble bubble toil and trouble" (so auch in der Kinderenglischlerngeschichte "Hexe Huckla"), das vom Shakespeare'schen "Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble" (Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1) abgeleitet ist.

EDIT: Och Männo, ich habe #3 nicht bis zum Ende gelesen. Na ja, "double" hält besser.

Ich kenne aus Kindertagen:

Hokus, pokus, Fidibus, dreimal schwarzer Kater! - Simsalabim!

'Simsalabim' doesn't ring a bell with me as far as English goes -- Carly, are you sure you didn't maybe pick that one up in Germany? It may be in 1001 Arabian Nights or something and I just never came across it, but my guess is that it would be the least familiar to English-speaking children.

I was always told THE magic word was "please".
;)
AFAIK, sim-sala-bim was used in medieval mummer's plays but has now fallen out of fashion.
What about ala-kazam? Still used in pantos today

hm, I really can't say whether I picked it up here in Germany, or not - seems like I've just always known (and used) it, like when doing magic tricks for my children :-) Read 1001 Arabian Nights many times way-back-when, too.

laalaa, How on earth could I NOT have mentioned ala-kazam??? We didn't often have a TV when I was growing up, but The Magic Land of Alakazam was the name of a weekly magic show aired during my "TV years" in Alaska :-)) Got a beginner's magic kit back then, progressed to more advanced tricks - and still have the one I got when my children were at the "fascinated by magic" age :-))

THE MAGIC LAND OF ALAKAZAM (1960) - Cast and Crew
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The Magic Land of Alakazam pictures, plot summary, trivia, quotes, news, reviews, cast, crew. The Magic Land of Alakazam photos, posters, stills and award ...THE MAGIC LAND OF ALAKAZAM (1960) - Cast and Crew
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The Magic Land of Alakazam pictures, plot summary, trivia, quotes, news, reviews, cast, crew. The Magic Land of Alakazam photos, posters, stills and award ...