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Blair in Soul Eater says "Pum-pum-pkin, pumpkin" and Eva in Negima says "Lic, lac, La lac Lilac" before every spell they use.

Is there any kind of source to this pattern or is it just a coincidence?

Note: I didn't know how to be specific in the title. I hope it isn't misleading.

EDIT: As per Memor-X's request, I have to make my question clearer. I want the source of the idea that inspired the mangaka to use it and not the anime/manga's internal story.

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    Negima has explanation for it. It is an activation keyword that "unlocks the mage's magical pathways", "can be any kind of phrase or even nonsense, as long it feels comfortable and natural to the user"
    – nhahtdh
    Commented Mar 5, 2014 at 18:41
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    Unless Negima and Soul Eater are set in the same universe or have been stated in canon that they are connected i might suggest that you split your question into 2 asking about witches in the different series as not all anime universes use magic in the same way, the Nasuverse (Type-moon) True Magic is rare while Magecraft is more of an emulation of True Magic, in the ~What a Beautiful~ universe their magic are Equations with no link to Mana while in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha their Magic are more Programs powered by mana
    – Memor-X
    Commented Mar 5, 2014 at 21:59
  • @nhahtdh I remember in "Magical Girl Squad Arusu" or otherwise known as "The Adventures of Tweeny Witches", the protagonist casts her magic using any gibberish that helps her remember the pattern. Although I wanted a deeper meaning to it, if you put your comment as an answer I would accept it.
    – Wajih Aziza
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 9:35
  • @WajihAziza: No. I wrote that comment when I didn't understand your question. It seems that you are asking this question in general, which is not what I was addressing.
    – nhahtdh
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 9:36
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    I realize this is an old question, but as soon as I saw it, I immediately thought of Shakespeare's witches: "Double, double, toil and trouble" also has a specific pattern of repetition. Like most of Shakespeare, this probably came from an older source, though I couldn't find one in my superficial search.
    – Torisuda
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 5:05

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I would assume the basis mangaka's use for witch incantations and the like would come from Mantras. sometimes they are called Arias or incantations but the basic principle is that the words that make them up hold value either to the actual spell or to the user.

In Soul Eater the witches use Arias which flow from their themes. For Blair, even though she's "a cat with a ridiculous amount of magic", her attacks are themed around Halloween and pumpkins are a symbol of Halloween eg. "Pumpkin Pumpkin, Halloween Cannon!".

For Medusa, her theme is Snakes, so when she says "Nake snake cobra cobubra", it's a reference to snakes ("Nake" and "cobubra" may be deliberate misspellings of Snake and cobra), and her Vector Magic seems to resemble snakes in how they move.

I haven't seen Negima however from nhahtdh's comment it would work out the same since the words "feels comfortable and natural to the user" the words would have a psychological effect on the caster. so most likely a new mage will have weaker/unstable spells in the beginning but as they practice they build up an Aria which will make them feel conformable.

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  • Thank you, that was a very good answer and I appreciate it. I had forgotten about Medusa's incantation and her vector magic.
    – Wajih Aziza
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 9:28
  • @WajihAziza as i said in my comment to your question, you'd want to edit this question to asked about Soul Eater witches (because the only answer so far relates to Soul Eater) and make another question about Negima Witches, i believe nhahtdh could post an answer to the Negima question
    – Memor-X
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 21:19
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    @MemorX I may have not formulated my question very well. But I do not believe asking the same question twice is constructive. I do not want info on who did what in a specific episode. I want to know if there is some sort of folklore, legend or mythology behind finding a similar idea in various animes/mangas, and in this case, a witch's incantation. Thank you.
    – Wajih Aziza
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 0:17
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    @WajihAziza ahhh, if i understand that right you asking if there is a source outside the anime rather than the source within the anime's own lore (ie. my answer which focuses on just the internal lore), might want to just make that clear in your question
    – Memor-X
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 1:17

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