Wicked's Elphaba Reciting The Grimmerie Consists Of Multiple Real Languages Combined: "Wanted To Make Sure The Words We Were Saying Were Real"

Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for Wicked!Wicked may have taken audiences back to the magical world of Oz, but Elphaba star Cynthia Erivo has revealed how the movie’s depiction of magic was very much rooted in the real world. Given that this year’s musical adaptation only adapted the source material’s first act, leaving part two to be depicted in 2025’s Wicked: For Good, the first movie concludes after Erivo’s Elphaba discovers that the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) are merely using her to read from the sacred Grimmerie spellbook to further their plans to subjugate Oz’s Animal population.

Speaking with Elle, Erivo revealed how she helped shape the critical scene when her character is seen reading from the Grimmerie, and unintentionally causes the Wizard’s monkey guards to sprout wings. Explaining that the original spells were based on Latin, Erivo asked to add a collection of words from other real-world languages that provided the right sounds for the words she was reading, including the Punjabi word for flight. Check out her explanation below:

I really wanted to make sure the words we were saying were real. The original spells are based on Latin, and I asked to add words in different languages that have the right rhotic sounds and vowel sounds. You are hearing some Arabic, some Igbo and, I think, some Finnish. I found a word in Punjabi that means “flight”.

What Wicked’s Approach To The Grimmerie’s Language Means For The Hit Musical

The Grimmerie Is A Central Part Of The Musical’s Ozian Lore

First introduced by original Wicked stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth as Erivo’s Elphaba and Glinda (Ariana Grande) tour the Emerald City, the history of the sacred Grimmerie is deeply tied with the legend that the Wizard has manufactured for himself. Yet while the book itself is the genuine article, the Wizard’s so-called ability to read from its pages is revealed to be patently false. Instead, Elphaba is shown to be the first one to be able to properly recite its incantations in generations.

Not only does Erivo’s insistence on peppering the incantation with multiple languages provide audiences with an engaging phonetic experience, but it also harkens back to the magical book’s original lore.

Given the pivotal nature of the scene in which Elphaba first reads from the Grimmerie, her request to further inject it with words from real-world languages aids in heightening the sequence on multiple levels. Not only does Erivo’s insistence on peppering the incantation with multiple languages provide audiences with an engaging phonetic experience, but it also harkens back to the magical book’s original lore.

Our Take On The Grimmerie’s Earthly Connections

It Makes Sense For The Book To Contain Real Languages

Image via Universal Pictures

Despite the “Wizomania” musical-within-a-musical scene suggesting that the Grimmerie was penned by Oz’s Magical Wise Ones, the curious artifact has another fascinating origin story. First introduced in Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the Grimmerie is strongly suggested to have originated on Earth before eventually being taken to Oz at some point in the distant past. Potentially being of Earthly origins, Erivo’s idea of ensuring its pages are written in a collection of real-world languages only serves to further reinforce this concept.

2:59

Wicked - How the Movie Compares to the 1995 Book

Related

Wicked: How the Movie Compares to the 1995 Book

The original novel inspired the Broadway show, which inspired the movie. This is how they compare, and how much of the book made it to the screen.

In a movie that is already being widely praised for its astounding attention to detail and jaw-dropping performances and production values, the decision to further enhance the Grimmerie’s incantations may at first seem like a trivial detail in comparison. However, it is the culmination of these kinds of small, yet carefully thought-out decisions that is what is currently helping Wicked to dominate the box office and leading it to become regarded as one of the most successful movies ever to be based on a Broadway musical.

Source: Elle