Harry's patronus

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 44833

At 21:42 01/10/02 -0500, Richelle Votaw wrote:

<snip>

>At the risk that Richard (GulPlum) may jump down my throat (kidding,
>kidding!), patronus is Latin for: protector, patron, pleader, advocate.
>Father is pater.  I won't get into any connections there, don't want to risk
>that again. :)

If that's not an invitation to plough in, I don't know what is. :-)

As it happens, *IF* I were to want to jump down your throat in this case, 
it would be to decry your timidity and not only invite you to make the 
connection, but pretty much ...err... force it down your throat (to 
continue the metaphor).:-)

There is a direct and uncontested link from Pater to Patronus - "-us" 
(occasionally "-onus") is a common Latin suffix equivalent to English 
suffix "-like" (which also made it into English via French as "-ous"). 
Therefore Patronus originally meant "father-like", from which it took its 
extended meanings as you outlined above. The very first time I saw the word 
in PoA, I could smell, if not a rat (or indeed a stag!), something 
James-related coming up. Just one of the downsides of taking my rusty Latin 
very literally. :-)

(incidentally, modern "patron" and "patronize" are directly connected to 
"pater" as well.)

>Anyway, to rephrase my question slightly, the particular form his patronus
>took was apparently unusual, according to Dumbledore, who at the time didn't
>know James was an animagus (Malfoy & co as fake dementors at Quidditch
>game).  So therefore all patronuses must take a form unique to the person
>they are defending.  Which means it must've come from somewhere in Harry's
>subconscious.  Did he, as a 15 month old or younger, see his father as a
>stag?  Is this how he subconsciously associated protection with a stag?

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is that 
Harry's is the only Patronus we've ever witnessed (or at least had 
identified as such). Following on from the etymology above, I would surmise 
that the expected form of a Patronus would be one's father. As I recall, 
Harry's Patronus at the Quidditch match was "unfocussed", but even if it 
wasn't particularly clear, it would have been obviously not human. Hence 
Dumbledore's surprise.

P.S. The nominative plural of Patronus is Patronus. :-)