Hocus-pocus

One theory is that the term is a corruption of hax pax max Deus adimax, a pseudo-Latin phrase used in the early 17th century as a magical formula by conjurors.

Another theory is that it is a corruption or parody of the Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, which contains the phrase "Hoc est enim corpus meum", meaning This is my body.

[4] This explanation goes at least as far back as a 1694 speculation by the Anglican prelate John Tillotson:In all probability those common juggling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation.

[7] In a similar way the phrase is in Scandinavia usually accompanied by filiokus, a corruption of the term filioque,[citation needed] from the Latin version of the Nicene Creed, meaning “and from the Son”.

As an alternative to other theories, it may simply be pseudo-Latin with no meaning, made up to impress people:I will speak of one man... that went about in King James his time ... who called himself, "The Kings Majesties most excellent Hocus Pocus", and so was he called, because that at the playing of every Trick, he used to say, "Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo", a dark composure of words, to blinde the eyes of the beholders, to make his Trick pass the more currently without discovery, because when the eye and the ear of the beholder are both earnestly busied, the Trick is not so easily discovered, nor the Imposture discerned.