"Hocus-Pocus"---from the latin 'Hoc est Poci' ("this is my body" I think)

"Abracadabra"---'Vanish like this word' A persian wriiten spell designed to make something go away (like an ex-wife) by writing the word and rewriting it, removing one letter from each end each time.

"Alakazam"---'Flawless!' A hindu spell meant to stave off pain while performing some great act of physical endurance.

"Presto"---'quick' or 'suddenly'. Just an adjective fitting to magic, Italian in origin.

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-BOO!"---'This way, that way, THERE!' Beleive it or not, this was not craeted for the disney movie, only used by it. It's from a Celtic spell meant to direct a thrown javelin or fired arrow unerringly to it's intended target.

"Magic"---'advice' or 'wisdom'---A persian word. Magi were the advisors to the Emperor, who were often suspected of using trickery to get the emporer to do things their way. (There's a famous story in herodotus concerning how a Magi helped Darius become emporer.)

Anyone know any others?

"Sim Sala Bim"
This is said to be taken from a danish children song and it was Dante (who was from Denmark) who introduced this into the magic world and it was also the name of his magic show.

"Hocus Pocus" was supposedly from "hoc est corpus," which is the first part of the sacrament of Holy Communion. However, it may have gotten into our magical vocabulary from a fellow named William Vincent, who was granted a license in 1619 to perform as Hocus Pocus in the "Relme of England and Ireland." He is referenced in the works of Alexander Pope.

"Abracadabra" was probably originally "abrakhadabra" "kh" being the guttaral sound in the Scottish word "loch." It may have been a Qabbalistic spell, Hebrew in origin. Possibly a headache or cold remedy.