Magicians' words

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:28 PM -0400 4/27/04, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>I assume you are aware that Shazam is not a traditional magicians'
>>incantatory phrase at all, but instead was introduced in Whiz Comics in
>>1940 as both the name of an ancient wizard and the exclamation by which
>>Billy Batson transformed himself into Captain Marvel.  The name is an
>>acronym for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
>
>So that ancient wizard had an acronym for a name? Did his parents stick him
>with it, or was it his stage name? (^_^)
>
He was originally named for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Mercury,
Achilles, and Zeus, but he changed it because he thought "Shamaz"
sounded too Jewish.    :)

larry