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Post by Motley the Mercenary on Jun 27, 2003 22:03:50 GMT -5
dumbledore got a bunch of new middle names too:
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
do you think percy was named after him? that would be really wild.
the ulfric is the leader of a werewolf pack.
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Post by hermoine on Jul 11, 2003 4:48:08 GMT -5
Well, I've found that the name Albus means white in Latin(maybe because of his beard) and even though this is not a name, the word Nimbus means cloud, in Latin again.
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Post by Sphi on Jul 11, 2003 14:02:07 GMT -5
Do you think Percy was named after Dumbledore? That would be rather ironic. I think Percy has called himself Percival before, right?
Yep, Albus means "white" (and therefore, sorta like good) in Latin. Albus might also be referring to the Old English word "Albion" is an old English word meaning "Britain."
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fico the fur
Hufflepuff Alumni
Why'd you say "halleluia" if it means nothin' to ya'?
Posts: 964
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Post by fico the fur on Jul 19, 2003 3:30:58 GMT -5
*grrs because he can't find the good dictionary*
"umbrage: n. Sense of slight or injury, offense."
Yeah, I would feel "slighted" too, if someone carved up the back of my hand.
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Post by En on Jul 19, 2003 10:19:03 GMT -5
Yeah, I noticed that one too -- "to take umbrage" = "to take offense" and she's certainly good at finding things offensive, especially things that are none of her concern. Look at the way she reviewed the teachers, and she also got all bent out of shape about Harry's story, and why?!
But I also thought it interesting that the word "umbrage" comes from the Latin umber = shadow, which is definitely what Dolores threw over Hogwarts. A shadow of sorrow (that being what Dolores means).
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fico the fur
Hufflepuff Alumni
Why'd you say "halleluia" if it means nothin' to ya'?
Posts: 964
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Post by fico the fur on Jul 19, 2003 16:21:36 GMT -5
Blah, yeah, that's why I was mad I didn't have the other dictionary. The other one had a better definition, which went into the shadow bit.
Funny how I realized it though. Re-reading this great series, right? And Slartibartfast makes a face, something like "part confusion and part umbrage" when Ford expresses more of an interest in getting drunk and dancing with a lot of girls, rather than saving the galaxy. Lots of fun.
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Glint
1st Year
'Ne te quaesiveris extra.'
Posts: 60
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Post by Glint on Jul 25, 2003 23:09:57 GMT -5
All this research into names is really great.
But I'd like to weigh in with En on this (I seem to agree with our esteemed HM a great deal.) I'm not convinced that JKR has to do a lot of research to come up with these great names. They have to much punch even for readers who haven't memorized Greek mythology and such.
Take Percy for instance. I've always thought that it was supposed to be evocotive of prissy. And he does seem to be a bit of a priss.
And Voldemort: The death part is common enough. But the first syllable has always evoked 'volpine' for me. That would make him a fox of death. Sort of crafty or cunning at killing. At least that's where I seem to go when I see the name.
It seems interesting that the Weasleys are a starring family with all kinds of kind, generous and caring attributes. Weasles aren't usually used as an icon for those kinds of things. I wonder what the thinking is behind that.
g
As a post-script: What about the Dursleys. Evocative of 'dursn't' evocative of 'thou shalt not'.
pg.
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fico the fur
Hufflepuff Alumni
Why'd you say "halleluia" if it means nothin' to ya'?
Posts: 964
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Post by fico the fur on Oct 14, 2003 11:08:51 GMT -5
so i know argus filch was already brought up, but we only talked about him in reference to mythology so far. (i think?) anyway, the joys of greek class: studying my vocabulary, right? 'cause i'm a good student. ( who put off studying it all weekend and fall break. ) and alpha(soft breathing mark, acute accent)-rho-gamma-omicron-sigma is a name, right? argus. (yay.) it means shining, or swift. (and in the story we're reading, it's the name of a dog. ) so my thinking: filch always turns up in a hearbeat, doesn't he? and also, the "shining" bit, i figure there's gonna be more to filch than we expect. i mean, snape gets along with him, doesn't he? and despite snape being not-so-nice all the time, he's still on the side of "good".
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Glint
1st Year
'Ne te quaesiveris extra.'
Posts: 60
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Post by Glint on Oct 15, 2003 0:23:00 GMT -5
Recall that 'filch' is another word for 'steal'. So you have a shining theif in Argus Filch.
But then again, Lucifer what the 'Light Bringer'.
Names can sometimes be misleading.
g.
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Post by En on Oct 15, 2003 10:33:24 GMT -5
Can I pull a Jabberwocky and imply that "filch" is a dirty-sounding word ("filthy" + "ilk" + "-lch" words like "squelch" and "mulch"), so "Argus Filch" might also be a tarnished fellow who cleans up well?
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Post by Sphi on Nov 4, 2003 20:14:08 GMT -5
Is it worth anything to know that Remus can also mean "oar" in Latin? Probably not. I'll just stick with the Romulus and Remus legend. But then I have to wonder whether Rowling had that allusion in mind at all when looking for a wolf-related name, or if she purposely used that name to keep the readers guessing.
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Post by En on Nov 5, 2003 2:35:19 GMT -5
Would just like to point out for no good reason that Sirius is of course the "dog star" in Canis Major -- and "Regulus" (which is from the Latin for "king," right?) is the lion star, the brightest star in Leo. More silly information: Regulus is almost right on the sun's path and has strong occult significance because of its connection to the autumnal equinox.
Would also like to point out that parents who name one kid 'the king' and the other 'the dog' deserve to be shot.
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S.S Tigress
Slytherin Alumni
Shots in the dark from empty guns, never heard by anyone
Posts: 1,345
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Post by S.S Tigress on Nov 8, 2003 16:44:06 GMT -5
Way back people posted that Draco was a 'law-maker' of Greece? That's not the correct name for him actually. He was called a Reformer of Greece. We only know for fact that he made one law dealing with homicide, it's unkown if he made other laws and if he did, if he ever wrote them down somewhere. Later traditions, after Draco's death, indicate that Draco had written a code of laws. They were said to be very severe which is where the term "Draconian" meaning "extremely severe" comes from. Though some scholars say this information is inacrruate.
Yea...that's a load of information that I don't think has to do too much with Draco Malfoy...but I just wanted to clear that up. I dont think the thing about throwing drapes on Draco is true.
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Post by En on Jan 7, 2004 11:06:35 GMT -5
So I'm wondering something. Did you notice that the Black family tree had loads of people named after stars... and then there's the Evans family (Lily and Petunia) with girls named after flowers? I wonder if there's some (un)conscious evocation there -- it would seem to imply that the wizards think pretty highly of themselves, while the Muggles are more earthy.
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Post by En on Jul 24, 2004 16:30:27 GMT -5
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