Draco, draconis (Re: Arthurian Allusions in "Harry Potter")

[Iris FT]

No: HPFGUIDX 46351


 
 Patricia Morrison <cloakofgold at yahoo.com> wrote:
<snîp>

"Okay. First, "Pendragon"...a hybrid of Welsh and Latin, with "pen"
being the Welsh word for "head" and "dragon" from the Latin draco
(dragon), genitive draconis, "dragon's". In Welsh, "draco" became
"dreic", or "drake" in Englsih.
Hence, "dragon's head." Not really applicable to Harry, except that the
Sorting Hat wanted to put him in the dragon's house, Slytherin, but
there it is."

<snip>

Do you remember the first password the Gryffindor use in PS/SS? It's CAPUT DRACONIS, "dragon's head" in latin. The first time i read the book, I immediately thought in Pendragon.

And tell me, for I don't know Arthurian world as well as you do; didn't Uther Pendragon asked Merlin to awaken a dragon that would help him to win a battle (sorry if I'm wrong; that's a remote and very wolly memory of John Boorman's "Excalibur")? It came back to me when I read Hogwarts watchword "Draco dormiens nunquam titilandus". By this way, I was re-reading CoS and found this:

"Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was about as safe as poking a SLEEPING DRAGON in the eye." (Bloomsbury, p 142).

Snape dormiens? Severus Pendragon? I don't know. there's only one thing sure : Severus Snape nunquam titilandus, sicut Lockhart experimentum fecit.

Iris




__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive greatest hits videos
http://launch.yahoo.com/u2


________HPFGU______Hexquarters______Announcement_______________

Before posting to any list, you MUST read the group's Admin File!
http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/admin

Remember to use accurate subject headings and to snip unnecessary material from posts to which you're replying!

Is your message...
An announcement of merchandise, news, a website etc.? Send it to HPFGU-Announcements.
Movie-related? Book-movie comparison? Send it to HPFGU-Movie.
Referencing *only* the books? Send it to HPforGrownups.
None of the above? OT? Send it to HPFGU-OTChatter.
Unsure? Other questions? Ask your personal List Elf or the Mods -- mods at hpfgu.org.uk

Unsubscribing? Email hpforgrownups-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
____________________________________________________________ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. 




---------------------------------
Yahoo! Mail -- Une adresse @yahoo.fr gratuite et en français !


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]