nitpick alert: Crookshanks

[rcraigharman at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18018

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Steve Vander Ark" <vderark at b...> wrote:
> 
> So where does that word "Eeylops" come from? Anyone have an idea? 
> I'll have to check Whats In A Name and see if Ellie has it listed 
> there. What a great word, though!

Here's some speculation on my part.  Others have said that "Eeylops"
reminds them of a cross between "Eeyore" and "Cyclops", neither of
which is easily related to an owlery.

As for myself "Eeylops" reminds me of "aegilops" which is a cool
word being one of the longest English words with all letters in
alphabetical order.  Unfortunately it's a species of grass or
a stye in one's eye.

So, you're asking what's the connection?  Well, the genus of forest
owls is "Aegolius", which is awfully similar to "aegilops".  Perhaps,
JKR was inspired by such a similarity, but not wanting to name her
owl-shop after a disease, modified the name slightly.

Here's a list of owl taxonomical names:

http://m237.arc.leon.k12.fl.us/~beck/owls/owltaxonomy.html

(eeylops isn't among them)

Anyway, it's just a guess....

....Craig