[HPforGrownups] Latin

[John Walton]

No: HPFGUIDX 12574

Jen Faulkner quoth:

> Actually, it's funny -- this spell is one of the only ones that is
> correct Latin.  'patronus' is 2nd declension, not 3rd, precisely as JKR
> has it.  'Expecto patronum' translates to 'I await/look for a
> protector'.  'Expecto' would be more regularly spelled 'exspecto',
> however.  (BTW, does anyone know why 'expecto' was changed to 'spero' in
> the French translation?)

Probably because the French for "I hope" is "espe'rer", and so the "sper"
morpheme is reminscent of that. There is no French verb "expecter".

--John