So I have been researching the spells used in The Dragon Prince to figure out their original meanings, and I've come up with some shit. I have no clue if it's right by the way.
Aspiro
Probably the most famous spell used in the show. Well if you plug it into a translator, it will probably tell you that it's Swedish. This is a dead end. However, scientists do use a tool called a spirometer to measure the breathing capacity of someone. Plus, the Latin etymology that I could find stated that 'spiro' meant breathe in.
So therefore, "Aspiro" is the verb for "breathe" in Ancient Draconic, and the rune for a simple wind spell that requires the user to breathe in the air and blow it out. "Spiro" in Latin has a lot of different meanings, so I hope to see different versions of "Aspiro" in the future.
Fulminus
Ah, the good old lightning spell. This one was much simpler than Aspiro in terms of researching, I got a hit almost immediately. 'Fulmini' is the Italian word for lightning. However, it doesn't make much sense to me for one Draconic word to Latin and the other Italian, so I kept digging. If you plug lightning in under a Latin translator, we do get a promising result, Fulmen. This is the noun form of Latin's Fulgar, and can translate to lightning and thunderbolt.
In conclusion, "Fulminus" is a simple redesign of the word Fulmen, and is the ancient Draconic noun for lightning or thunderbolt, as well as sudden disaster.
Mystica Arbora
Nobody probably remembers the first spell spoken in the show, but I am doing all of the spells from Season 1, so here goes. This one was much more challenging for me to dig up, due to the two words in the spell.
"Mystica" most likely refers to mystic, meaning mysterious and the like. However, it turns into a rabbit hole when you start getting into it. While Mystica is a reference to Latin's Mysticus, it is the first word used in actual conjugation to the phrase. They took off the -icus of Mysticus, and slapped the -a on it instead. Why did they do this?
The best explanation I found is that the -a in Mystica changes the form of the word to a vocative adjective. Mystic turns into mystical. Now, vocative in terms of Latin, invokes something or someone. So when Runaan says "Mystica", he is invoking the mystical power of Arbora.
Arbora was a little bit easier to find. The "arbor" is simply "tree" in Latin, and is the noun form of "tree". Once again, the -a is tacked on to emphasize the invoking of trees, hence the reasons all of the Moonshadow elves turned into trees.
So, "Mystica Arbora" means "Mystical trees" spoken as if to invoke. They are the words used to summon an illusion of trees in Ancient Draconic. They are appropriately altered versions of the words "mysticus" and "arbor" in Latin.
Regina draconis
Alright, last one. This phrase is probably the most simple. "Regina" means "the queen" or more specifically "the reigning queen", already in the correct phrase. "Draco" means "dragon" in Latin, and the -is on the end refers to location. So when translated, "Regina draconis" is the Ancient Draconic spell for sending arrows to The Queen, meaning "The queen dragon" in locative form.
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This project was very fun to work on! It taught me a whole lot of new stuff about Latin and English, and sent me down a rabbit hole of conjugations and words from other languages. At first, I thought that Ancient Draconic was just another language that the creators made up, but then I had the idea to actually research this. Upon saying that, these are only the spells from Season 1, so just give me a holler if you want me to go digging through the Latin cyberspace for more translations.
To my knowledge, there is no Latin ending -ic for Draconic, but I have limited resources to find that out.
Furthermore, I am still a kid who isn't even in high school, so my main sources of information were Google Translate and Wikitionary. If anyone spots a problem with this analysis, whether it be an incorrect translation or a misunderstood ending, please take the time to provide me with some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Please don't bash on me or my analysis, whether it's wrong or right.
Happy hunting 😁!
