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In episode 4 of _Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso_ ( _Your Lie in April_ ), Kaori says
a prayer "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" before the
performance. What does it mean?


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your-lie-in-april
What does "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" mean?


Both of the words "Elohim" and "Essaim" could be meaning a variety of things.
But my speculation goes as follows:

From this [Reddit
thread](http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2kt3tl/spoilers_shigatsu_wa_kimi_no_uso_episode_4/cloo8fg):

> A similar phrase occurs in the [Book of Black
> Magic](http://books.google.com/books?id=HMrV-
> BPe5h8C&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=Eloim,%20Essaim,%20frugativi%20et%20appellavi&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Eloim%2C%20Essaim%2C%20frugativi%20et%20appellavi&f=false)
> and in the Italian [Il Grand
> Grimoire](http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/Il_Grand_Grimoire.pdf). A
> couple translations and transcriptions later, we end up with this.
>
> "Eloim" is "[God](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim)" or "Powers",
> "Essaim" might be "Locusts" or "Swarm".  
>  I'm thinking that she's offering her soul to the devil/the angels/god in
> exchange for being able to captivate her audience.
>
> This isn't Faust; it's not a serious treatment of pacts. The Japanese adore
> Christian mythology, similar to how the West adores Eastern mythology. In
> effect, she's doing the same thing as someone in a Western work invoking his
> "chi" or whatever. (It's shōnen; teenage boys love foreign mysticism.)


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2014-10-31T08:42:43.730
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[Elohim](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim)(אֱלֹהִים) is a Hebrew word that
means either 1) "gods" in the plural, or 2) "God." "El" (אֵלִי) and "Eloi"
(אֶלֹהִי) are "God," and the "-him" suffix (הִים) makes it plural. So it would
literally mean "gods" in the plural; _however_ , it is also used in the
specific case of referring to the monotheistic Judeo-Christian God. It is
found [2602 times](http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/monotheism/context-
elohim.html) in the Hebrew Bible.

It does _not_ mean "powers" as Hashirama Senju wrote.

"[Essaim](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essaim)" is French for "swarm." This
word does not occur in Hebrew.


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As mentioned in other answers, Elohim is Hebrew for gods and Essaim is for
swarm. I believe it could be interpreted to mean that she believes the swarm
of music notes should be as powerful as gods and that she is asking that they
listen to her plea.


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2014-11-03T02:08:26.807
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It's a chant common in anime and manga (For example, it occurs in Gugure!
Kokkuri-san ep12 this season), if recited 3 times can give good luck or summon
demons. Its origin comes from The Grand Grimoire, it's "The secret of the
Black hen, a secret without which one can not count on the success of any
cabala". Elohim as mentioned is Hebrew for God, Essaim could be french for
swarm, or a way of writing Jesse; Jesse -> Esse + im (hebrew plural). You can
read more here: <http://moto-neta.com/anime/eloim-essaim/> (Japanese)


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