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This question immediately makes me think of Harry Potter. I can't be the only one.

To be honest, I don't think direct translation is all that important. Going back to Harry Potter, 'Wingardium Leviosa" is obviously utter nonsense, but sounds close enough to the archetypal 'Latin' that most people won't think too hard about it. Which is kinda the point: the most important part of a spell is what it does, not whether the incantation has the right grammar.

(...Although, now I think about it, you could do something with that. If the effects of spell change along with prepositions and tenses, like how Chinese characters can have a different meaning for each pronounciation, then I guess correct grammar would be very important indeed. But I digress.)

If direct translation is really that important for you, however, then the only thing I can suggest is to find a high school or college textbook. There must be surplus ones for sale somewhere. You already have the dictionary for vocabulary, and a textbook would at least get you started on the grammar.

Also, are Catholic priests still expected to know Latin? If they are, you might find one who'd be willing to help.

The other Matt raises a good point as well. There's lots of other ancient languages you can use for spells: not many writers have their ritual incantations in Sanskrit...although that might be even harder to translate than Latin, so maybe not. Either way, you mentioned something in your original post about wanting 'wizards from around the world', so it's something to think about.


-Matt Appleby-