NAMES / Why does Hermione's age matter? / Lily's "indisposition"

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 29817

Heather Moore wrote that "Malfoy":

> is itself derived from "mal fee," or "evil faery" in French

Personally, I prefer deriving it from "mal foi" = 'bad faith'. Btw, I 
have been told that the fruit in Eden was an apple because 'apple' 
and 'evil' are both 'malum' in Latin, so I've given the Malfoys the 
Kallisti apple as the crest for their arms.

Monica Witt wrote:

> Sirius Black = Black Dog, it's Greek (or Latin? I don't have a 
> dictionary handy), and English together. Then again there's Severus
> Snape... Severus I would take to be a latinization of "severe", 
> what's a snape?

Sirius is the name of the Dog Star, and can be considered Latin, even 
tho' they borrowed it from Greek. When I first saw that name Sirius 
Black (in reference to the flying motorcycle in Book 1 Chapter 1), I 
expected the character to be celestial rather than canine! The source 
of the star's name is the Greek word for "scorcher", and I think the 
additional pun on "Sirius is so hot" is accidental.

More like "severe" is an anglicazation of "Severus". It was the name 
of a Roman emperor, Lucius Severus Septimus. JKR said she picked the 
name Snape (and the name Dursley) off a map, and somewhere it came up 
that places named "Snape" were likely named from a dialect word for a 
low, wet piece of ground. However, what dictionaries give us is: 
Snape (?), v. t. (Shipbuilding) To bevel the end of a timber to fit 
against an inclined surface. It has been mentioned that "Snape" 
sounds like snake and sniper, maybe even sneak. Here's another word 
it sounds like: sneap \Sneap\, v. t. [Cf. Icel. sneypa to dishonor, 
disgrace, chide, but also E. snip, and snub.] 1. To check; to
reprimand; to rebuke; to chide. [Obs.] --Bp. Hall.  

Here is a good resource on HP names: http://www.theninemuses.net/hp/
Here is a good resource for dictionary defintions: 
http://www.onelook.com/index.html 

Heather Moore wrote:

> JKR's fondness for flower/plant names: ... Rosmerta, ... Lupin, ...

'Rosmerta' sounds like 'rosemary herb' but actually is the name of a 
Celtic Gaullish goddess, name meaning 'Good Provider" --- thus, 
appropriate to her career choice in the hospitality industry. Here's 
a link: http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/CeltPan.html

'Lupin' the character and 'lupin' the flower (and 'lupine' the 
adjective) are both named after the Latin word for wolf: "lupus". 
When I looked it up last year (killing time while waiting for GoF), I 
found sources claming that that there flower was named 'lupin' 
because those silly Romans thought its 'throat' (?) looked like a 
wolf head.

Amy Z wrote:

> what do you think it tells us about Hermione if she is born in one
> year as opposed to the other?  

I imagine that it would make a difference to  her horoscope. That 
could jatO 

Sharon wrote, of the Priori Incantatem scene:

> If [Lily] had not been killed by Voldemort then she would not have
> appeared at all.

I agree that Lily is dead, but the PI effect regurgitates past 
(successful) spells, not just past deaths: Wormtail's new hand's 
image came out of the wand. So some other curse cast on Liiy might 
have caused her image to appear.