A Germanicist Revolts WAS Re: Latin in Harry Potter--Arabella Figg

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 42625

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "mrflynn6" <mrflynn6 at y...> wrote:
> About 90% of English words (and most European languages for that 
> matter) have roots in the latin language.  That is why the Latin 
> derivitive is so important or could be so important.

Given that a great deal of the above words are not of Latin 
derivation, this is not true. English is a Germanic language, not a 
Romance one. There is a good deal of Latin in it, by reason of 
several factors, the most important being the Norman conquest. Much 
of our Latin comes by way of French. And you know what, I very much 
like the old pre-Latin English. I plan to be studying it all this 
year.

Therefore, to seek Latin meanings in very Germanic words puts a 
dagger through my heart. 

> Potter (which JKR said it was the name of old neighbors she liked-
but 
> I am sure she knew this too) means "to have great power"

"Potere" IIRC is the Latin equivalent of "to be able to, can." 
However, "Potter" is perfectly fine English. 

> Minerva is the Roman Goddess of Wisdom

Right

> Avada Kedavra-without spelling changes= to take away breath

Where do you get this translation? It's obviously corrupted Latin. 
But breath is usually "animus" and several other words none of which 
include "Kedavra" which doesn't look Latin. However "avada" seems to 
mean "go out of" and "Kedavra" seems a corruption of the Latin-
derived English word "cadaver." Therefore, "Avada Kedavra" is a 
command for something to leave the body. The soul, to be precice ie. 
death. 

> Ludo (as in Bagman)= to play sports

Ludo actually means "I play" and I do think this is a JKR joke, but 
you must also remember that Ludo in the books is short for "Ludovic" 
a Germanic name, that may have some significance in Germanic myth. I 
don't think anyone ever bothers to look in that direction but they 
should. 

> Back to the Dumbledore Latin meaning, the old English word of 
> bumblebee probably has significance,

I see that you've not capitalized old, but I want to comment on 
several other posts that mentioned Dumbledore was Old English for 
bumblebee. Old English is actually a specific form of English: pre-
conquest English. As you said, dumbledore is an old English word for 
bumblebee. However, it is not an Old English word for bumblebee. 

>but I also think that if you 
> look at the Latin to give birth to or to send to die will also have 
> significance.  

I've studied Latin for five years and never heard of the 
verb "dumbledore" meaning to give birth to or to send to die. And it 
doesn't even look Latin in the first place. On the other hand, it IS 
English!

> Most of the names of the wizards do have roots in Latin, either 
first 
> or last name.  It is just a matter of figuring out the root word of 
> the name and discovering that.

No. They don't! I'm a big fan of Latin, but why must it crowd out all 
other languages? Is Latin morally superior to Old English? Is it more 
significant? 

GulPlum
>Grabbing Latin vocabulary out of the air without considering the 
>grammar is a dangerous route to establishing false etymologies.

Yes. It's awfully tempting just to flip through a dictionary of a 
language you don't know and try to derive things, but it's a lot 
harder than it looks. And Latin is a very precice language. Thanks 
for doing such a good job explaining "Arabella."  

Eileen