[HPforGrownups] Draco Malfoy

[Jen Faulkner]

No: HPFGUIDX 42469

On Sat, 10 Aug 2002, Richelle Votaw wrote:

> Look up Draco in Latin and you will also get snake.

'Draco' generally does mean 'dragon' in Latin.  It also is the name of a
contellation, the cohort's standard, a sea creature, a type of water
vessel, a vine, and (in Ecclesiastic Latin) the Devil.  In Latin, it
properly refers to types of serpents of the "tame sort, esp. the
Epidaurian, being kept as pets by luxurious Romans;" the usual word for
'snake' is 'serpens' ('one who creeps') or 'anguis'.  Dragons are, of
course, a type of serpent.  (See Lewis&Short, s.v. 'draco':
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059&query=entry%3D%2314774&layout=&loc=Draco2)

> Voldemort can be translated from the French, but also from Latin with
> the same meaning. Although in Latin you can get two different
> translations. "Flight from death" and "Wish for death."  Interesting,
> that.

The possible character interpretations are kind of neat if one thinks of
the vol part as being related to Latin volo, velle -- does Voldemort
deep down crave death? is that why he couldn't kill baby Harry? --, but
it's an unlikely etymology.  The Latin preposition 'de' does not work
like the French 'de', and would never be an element in a phrase like
'wish for death', even if it meant 'for', which it doesn't.  (It means
'from, down from; about, concerning'.)  'Flight', in the sense of
'escape', would actually need to use the root fug- (as in 'fugitive'),
since volo, volare refers to physically flying (as through the air).
If we're attempting to construct a meaning for Voldemort's name, it
makes most sense to assume that it is from French, since one can
actually break it down into words 'vol de mort', 'theft of death'.
(Again, the French 'vol', 'flight', means physical flight, not fleeing.)
'Theft of death' seems to describe Voldemort's basic goal, immortality,
pretty well.  Latin etymologies, as well as being difficult, don't do
that.

> Anyway, since Latin is the mother language of French (and English for
> that matter), it's only natural that it can come from either French or
> Latin.

French, like the other Romance languages, is certainly descended from
Latin (while English, being a Germanic language, is not), but there's
not a simple transitive relationship in meanings between them.  Just
because a word means 'X' in Latin does not guarantee it means 'X' in
French.  It can make a huge difference which language the word directly
comes from etymologically when postulating meanings based on etymology.


> the french "bad faith" could be a similar meaning as "wicked
> disgrace."  Someone who is of bad faith could in turn be a disgrace.

I was rather wondering how you got 'wicked disgrace' as a meaning for
'Malfoy'.  What root are you thinking of for 'disgrace'?  I can't think
of anything besides 'flagitium', and that's hardly likely to be a source
for the 'foy'.  And while it's true that bad faith could lead to a
disgrace, there can be little doubt that 'bad faith' is indeed the
meaning of the name, since, again, there are actual French words
involved (and JKR taught, unless I'm mistaken, French).  'Foy' comes
from Latin 'fides', 'faith', so it matters little in this case which
language one thinks of as the ultimate source of the name, but it is
clear that it's French in origin by the form.  And 'bad faith' is a
wonderful surname for the treacherous Malfoys.

--jen :)

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