Mould-on-the-Wold

[Carol]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "zanooda2" <zanooda2 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Debi" <joeydebs@> wrote:
> 
> > It's probably a bit of a pun on English village names - 
> > there are some strange ones out there
> 
> 
> zanooda:
> 
> Thanks, everybody :-). So you all agree that "mould" would mean "fungus" here?
>
Carol responds:

I'm not British, but I doubt that even Wizards would name a village after a fungus. According to Merriam-Webster Online, "mold" ([robably spelled "mould" in British English?) originally meant "soil" or "ground":

"Function:
    noun 
"Etymology:
    Middle English, from Old English molde; akin to Old High German molta soil, Latin molere to grind — more at meal
"Date:
    before 12th century

"1: crumbling soft friable earth suited to plant growth: soil; especially: soil rich in humus — compare leaf mold 2 dialect British a: the surface of the earth: ground b: the earth of the burying ground 3 archaic: earth that is the substance of the human body <be merciful great Duke to men of mold — Shakespeare>"

That meaning seems more suited to a village name than fungus does, to me at least.

Carol, realizing that she should have checked a British dictionary and hoping that someone will