"Sésame, ouvre-toi !"

Hi everyone,

Thanks to Guilaine who opened the topic English Pronunciation "Silent E", I've got oodles of things to write.



In the lyrics of the song, there's an unusual "– Alikazam ! –" hehe do you know what this means?
... sometimes pronounced and written "alakazam"

... I will respond later...

To begin with, I would like to ask you about the French pass pronounced by Ali Baba in French: "Sésame, ouvre-toi !".
(am I right?)

Do you know what "Sésame" means?

I don't know if it's the real truth or only a theory among others but here's the theory that was given to me by Krystyna.... it's wonderful!

Well!
In "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", the secret discovered by Ali Baba is "Open Sesame!"

The Internet gives several origins. Krystyna's explanation is:
Originally the magical phrase was "Open, says me!". This is a correct Old English pattern which nowadays means "I say: open!" (I repeat that "Open, says me!" was perfectly correct in the old days).
And this "Open, says me!" became "Open sesame!" due to repeated and misunderstood words (close pronunciations - grapevine=bush telegraph).
And, for some reason, the French took the English sentence: "Sésame, ouvre-toi !"

I found these explanations wonderful.

Now, you can search the Internet for other theories: there're several coming from Hebrew, from Babylonian, etc.
Don't forget to search about Popeye who said -at least once- "Open says me!" before eating spinach from the can (in "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves").
Don't forget Bugs Bunny (in "Ali Baba Bunny").
Don't forget Cassim(in "Aladdin and the King of Thieves").

A 2010 Private Eye cartoon by Giles Pilbrow depicts the forty thieves stuck outside the cave, with Ali Baba saying: "I had to change the password from 'Open Sesame', and now I can't remember it".