Sinistra

[raolin1 at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29411

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Heather Glude <res0icpa at v...> wrote:
> 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.


Joshua:  Also, don't forget that J.K. studied linguistics at Exeter, 
which she mentions specifically, because she surprises herself that 
she didn't study literature instead.  I think it highly unlikely that 
she isn't perfectly aware of the "pun-ish" nature of the names in the 
series, like Sinistra, Lupin, and even Voldemort for that matter.