The Four (Five?) Founders

[Scott]

No: HPFGUIDX 6467

Rita wrote:
> was a 5th Founder whose names began with T. (I think the surnames 
are descriptive epithets rather than family names, like for Wendolyn 
the Weird, 'the Weird' was not her family name, but that is not 
important now.)

I'm not sure about this but at the time (we'll go with 960 a.d.) 
surnames were not very common, if in existence at all, but I'm not 
sure. Is this anywhere close to the truth? If so, then the wizards 
may have adopted this practise from the muggles, or vice versa.  In 
fact these could have been something like descriptive epithets that 
later turned into surnames for their posterity. 

Rita Also wrote: 
[Digression: I think the mountain behind the village is Hogmount or 
Mt. Hog, and all the local features were named after it. The village 
is Hogsmeade (meade = meadow), the lake (unbeknownst to modern folk) 
is Hoglake, the Forbidden Forest (who knew it had a name?) is 
Hogwood, and the place where the castle was built had formerly been 
named Hogwald. But they changed it to Hogwarts to include all the 
initials because Slytherin sulked when he noticed that 'Hogwald' 
contained Godric's and Helga's initials but not his. I looked 'wald' 
up in the dictionary to check this, and learned that 'wald', related 
to 'weald' and 'wold', means 1) a forested area, 2) an unforested 
hilly area, 3) an unforested flat area..]

I'm guessing this is why you picked the t as the extraneous letter.  
Since it is not original to Hogwald.
  
Rita wrote this too:
Which leads to the deduction that the fifth Founder was a Scot whose
name began with a T. Another lightning flash of prophecy told me that 
his name was Tavish Tartanwool (as an epithet, it came from having
invented sheep that grew plaid wool) and, if his house had endured, 
its banner would have been a white sheep on a plaid background. Maybe 
it would at least have been given golden curly horns so the inmates 
could cheer their House team "Go, Rams!" instead of 'Go, Sheep!" 
They'd play in plaid Quidditch robes....

Oh, I can just picture them in plaid Quidditch robes, however this 
theory does seem to be stretching it.

Here's some information that may, or may not, be helpful.  I found it 
in a book called "Scotland and her Tartans"

"The origins of surnames may be grouped according ro four main types:
1. Patronymic, eg MacWilliam and Wilson are both derivitives of 
William
2. Trade or calling, eg Baxter, Clerk, Fletcher, Smith, Weaver
3. Physical description or distinctive physical feature eg, Dow, 
(black or dark), More (Big or Great), Cameron (Crooked Nose), 
Crookshanks;
4. Territorial, eg, Comrie, Dallas, Dyce, Ross, Strachan"
  

Also I was looking for Tavish which I didn't find. I did, however 
find McTavish, and this name is comnon in Argyll.  Where is Hogwarts 
located again?

Scott

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"I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in 
fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your 
mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the 
here and now?  Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." - John 
Lennon

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