Lucius Malfoy's name (OT?)

[Cassandra Claire]

No: HPFGUIDX 9018

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Dai Evans" <dwe199 at s...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Snuffles MacGoo <msmacgoo at o...> 
> wrote:
> 
> > Name: Lucius - 'Lucifer', also suggests to me light (from Latin, 
> Lux) which 
> 
> I'm not sure you're right here. I don't think Lucius comes from 
> Lucifer at all. Lucius was a very common personal name in Ancient 
> rome and I doubt that would have been the case if it came from the 
> name of satan. I'm not sure that the name Lucifer predates the name 
> Lucius. Of course I could be wrong; my entire knowledge of ancient 
> rome stems from Lindsey Davies novels.
> 
> 
> Dai

Lucius doesn't come from Lucifer, but if I'm not mistaken, 
both "Lucius" and "Lucifer" derive from the same Latin word, Lux, 
meaning light. They're not the same name, but they have similar 
meanings; Lucifer doesn't actually refer to Satan per se but to Satan 
before the fall, when he was the brightest of God's angels -- thus 
the appellation "bringer of light." Lucifer as an appellation for 
Satan IIRC, didn't even come about until the late fourth century 
Latin translations of the original Hebrew which referred to him 
as "helel ben-shadar" which translates as "shining one, son of the 
morning" or and which got turned into "bringer of light." It's a bit 
of an ironic name to begin with since apres the fall, Lucifer was no 
longer particularly, er, shiny.

Okay wayyy more than anyone wanted to know,

Cassie