Sinistra

[Heather Glude]

No: HPFGUIDX 29341

On Thursday, November 15, 2001, at 05:28 PM, Steve Vander Ark wrote:

> re: Sinistra
>
> Literally, "sinistra" means "the left side" or "on the left" in
> Latin. The term is used in heraldry, incidentally. No idea what it
> might have to do with astronomy or imply about Sinistra's character.

My latin dictionary goes into a little bit more detail here:
Sinister, tra, trum - left, on the left hand.
Substantive:
Sinistra, ae (f) left hand, left side; a) awkward, wrong, perverse; b) 
unfavourable, unlucky, inauspicious; c) favourable, lucky, auspicious.
Clearly, it's rather contradictory, though the 'awkward' and 
'unfavourable' definitions at least lean it in the same direction. These 
last connotations of the word are quite interesting and could imply a 
lot - if only the last set of connotations didn't directly contradict 
the second. It may be JKR intends to be perverse (sinistra?) and use the 
last set.

> It is likely that Sinistra is a witch, but there is no proof of
> this. Yes, Sinistra dances an "ungainly two-step" with Moody, but
> that isn't proof that the good professor is female. It seems likely,
> but not proved.

What "sinister, tra, trum" means in the dictionary entry is that it is 
an adjective of the first/second declination, having a different form 
for each gender, but the stem changes slightly. Sinster is masculine, 
sinistra is feminine and sinstrum is neuter. "Sinistra, ae" is a 
feminine substantive noun. This, combined with the fact that she is 
dancing with Moody makes it nearly clinched that she is female, in my 
mind. If JKR had preferred not to use a word that means something in 
English, she could have opted for the neuter ending, coming up with: 
Professor Sinistrum.

Oh yes, and this is my first post to the list, so "Hi!"

Heather