The Burrow/ Cornelius (was:Fudge: Ever-so-Evil or Bumbling Fool?)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 42936



> bboy_comments:
> 
> This brings up an interesting point. I always assumed that Mrs.
> Weasley called (telephoned) the muggle taxis from the town post
> office. Which is true, but I also assumed that they waited at the post
> office for the taxis to arrive and loaded everything up there.
> 
> "Mrs. Weasley had braved the telephone in the village post office to
> order three ordinary Muggle taxis to take them into London."
> 
> "'Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us,' Mrs. Weasley whispered
> to Harry as they stood in the rain-washed yard, watching the taxi
> drivers heaving six heavy Hogwarts trunks into their cars. ..."

I always took 'yard' to me the waiting/parking area in front of the
village post office, since most Brits refer to their yard as the
garden,  but I get the impression that most people took that as the 
yard in front of the Weasley house.
This isn't the only mention of the Weasleys having a 'yard'. 
GOF, The Portkey (p65, UK HB) has those going off the the QWC setting off 
'across the dark yard'. When they return she has been waiting for them 'in 
the front yard' (p131, Mayhem at the Ministry)

It seems that the front of their house has what, in a farmhouse, would be 
called a farmyard. (Theirs is a rural house, with chickens, IIRC.) Not a 
garden. They do have a garden, too, the grassy area that the gnomes invade.

In Britain the word garden indicates something that has some sort of 
decorative or leisure use, be it only a square of grass. A yard is a 
functional, or non-decorative, area attached to a property, usually having a 
hard surface. (Although decorative, paved areas are still gardens.)
In heavily built-up areas, particularly industrial areas with rows of small 
terraced properties, houses did have back yards, rather than gardens. I 
believe my mother was brought up in a property like that. 

Of course, both words ultimately have the same etymology.


> 
> On another note, let's think about who was there-
> 
> 1)Mrs. Weasley
> 2)Bill
> 3)Charlie
> 4)Fred
> 5)George
> 6)Ron
> 7)Ginny
> 8)Harry
> 9)Hermione
> 
> Nine people, 6 trunks, three owl cages, and one very large somewhat
> overexcited cat.
> 
> OK, all that fit in 3 limousine maybe, but 3 common English taxis?
> That seems like a stretch. 


Marcus has dealt with that one in his black taxi explanation, with which I 
concur.


> 
> And who paid for all this? If cost $12 to take a taxi from my house to
> the airport (Minneapolis); it's about 8 miles. Ottery St Mary in Devon
> (the inspiration for Ottery St Catchpole) to Westside London is about
> 225km/140miles. So what's your guess, US$100 minimum per taxi?
> 
> Pretty expensive for a family that is scraping for pennies.
> 
> <snip>
> 


I have also used the Ottery St Mary analogy to suggest that Ottery St 
Catchpole is somewhere in south Devon, but to be fair, we don't actually 
*know* that it is. It's obviously the inspiration for the name, but we don't 
know the location.

I think that you're conservative in your estimation of the cost!

There's another big problem with this scenario, which I posted once before: 
time.
They weren't planning on taking taxis; Molly only rang after Arthur and 
Diggory had the conversation in the fireplace.

It takes me three hours  to drive the 160 miles from here (Kent, south of 
London) over to Bristol by motorway. It's more like 200 miles from Ottery St 
Mary, by the quickest route (according to the AA mileage table I just 
consulted. Your probably estimating distance as the crow flies?) And they 
have to get across London itself (Kings Cross is in north London, not the 
west) which takes a lot of time. I have difficulty believing thy could have 
got there by 11am.

...................................
Psychchick:
> 
> I apologise if anyone else has brought up this point - I'm still about
> 50 posts behind - but I looked up the name "Cornelius" the other day,
> and in Latin, it is used to mean "wise." This struck me as rather odd,
> considering how Fudge and Dumbledore (who is usually the "wise" one)
> are so at odds at the end of GoF. 
> 
> Then I had another thought - if "fudge" can be used to mean "to cover
> up," could his name as a whole mean "wise cover-up"? Does this mean
> it's a *good* idea for Voldemort's return to be kept under wraps?
> That's just what occurred to me... guess we'll have to wait until June
> 3 to find out, though... :P
> 

Oh dear, here I go again...........;-)

All my sources say that this famous Roman family name is probably related to 
the Latin "cornus", meaning horn. (Cornelius would thus literally mean 
"horny". What the implications of that were to a Roman, I don't know!)

The only words I know for "wise" are sapiens, or prudens.
Back in March (msg 37118) Bugeater posted a message about a Pope Cornelius, 
who was succeeded by a Pope Lucius (there's a lot of detail which I won't go 
into) and wondered if this was a parallel, hinting at Lucius becoming the 
next Minister for Magic.

However, my Latin dictionary mentioned Cornelius as a name particularly 
associated with the Sulla family.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla was a politician (later dictator) of the late 
Republic, whose bitter feud with Marius twice plunged Rome into civil war.
Don't ask me what the implications, if any, of that are.

Eloise


I



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