Human Rights and democracy in the Wizarding World; Grindelwald

[raolin.rm]

No: HPFGUIDX 31753

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Sabina Pfister <sabina.pfister at g...> wrote:
> Maybe I can help you here: Grindelwald is an alpine resort in 
> Switzerland. According to their homepage, "grindel" is old 
German/Celtic
>  (I don't know why they're putting both languages, I'd say they're 
> completely different, but I don't know anything about language 
history) 
> for "a piece of wood, which is used for barriers"; Grindelwald 
would 
> then be "a woody place, blocked off from the rest of the world", 
which 
> seems to have been true for Grindelwald for a long time. (My 
> translations are not absolutely exact, but it's the best I can 
manage.) 
> The address is  
http://www.grindelwald.ch/admin/Daten.htm#Ortsnamens, if 
> you understand German.
> But probably JKR just found the name on a map...


Actually, it sounds like it means "fence-wood."  However, as you very 
correctly point out, anyone who can't tell you if the word is Celtic 
or Germanic may not be the best translator you can find.  I happen to 
have Indo-European linguistics as a hobby of mine, and I guarantee 
that they two language families are not closely related!

Perhaps JKR just found it on a map an -- maybe even subconsciously -- 
the resemblance to Grendel from Beowulf struck a chord, and in it 
went!

Joshua Dyal