[HPforGrownups] Re: Arithmancy, Etc.

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 15113

zora_djevojka at yahoo.com wrote:

> I'd just like to add that the title of Hermione's textbook (from PoA)
> is _Numerology and Grammatica_.
> I've always wondered about the Grammatica part. I think that it has
> something to do with writing (language) and rules, but don't know what
> the non-Muggle meaning could be. Any thoughts?

I thought it was a play on the magical associations with the roots of
"grammar." An old word for magic is "gramarye," which by some route
un-looked-up and unrecalled by me at the moment, evolved into our word
"grammar." I think it dates from when literacy was not all that common,
and knowledge of writing often equalled knowledge of the arcane. I
thought JKR just applied her wonderful ability to come up with
appropriate-sounding terms, and got one that invokes the association
without being so predictable and direct.

--Amanda


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