[HPforGrownups] Name meanings: Arabella Figg

[Richelle Votaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 44081

I wrote:
> >Arabella Figg, who's name, by the way, I have further piddled with and
come
> >to be convinced it means "Potter's sanctuary from war."  In Latin, of
> >course. (all right, I'll go bang my head on the desk again)

To which Gul Plum replied:

> ARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
>
> Sorry, you've hit a VERY sore nerve there.
 > Briefly, it all hinges on the meaning of "bella". Expanding on (and
> cleaning up) what I said last time, it does NOT mean "war" - it is a
plural
> accusative, and means "wars'" (note apostrophe, ie "belonging to the
wars",
> or "of the wars"). In effect, insisting on using that particular word
> origin would establish a meaning for  Arabella of "refuge of the wars", or
> more descriptively, if literally meaninglessly, "the place where the wars
> are safe".

Okay, perhaps I am a complete idiot, and perhaps incapable of reading a
Latin dictionary properly but here is what my dictionary tells me:

bellatrix (which I don't like using, as the a is a long a sound, not short):
female warrior
bello: wage war
bellum: war; combat; fight
belli: at the wars

No apostrophes in sight.

> The basic, principal meaning of "bella" is a female nominative singular
> adjective meaning "beautiful"; "ara" is a female nominative singular noun
> meaning "altar", "sanctuary" or "refuge". I leave as an exercise for the
> reader to work out what it might mean.

The word "bella" is no where in my Latin dictionary, so I can't say.
However, looking up beautiful in the English portion, gives nothing remotely
close to bella.

> Note the grammatical concordance, whose absolutely vital importance is
> often lost on people who only speak/write English and have little
> appreciation for the vagaries of inflected languages. I repeat what I said
> last time: Grabbing Latin vocabulary out of the air without considering
the
> grammar is a dangerous route to establishing false etymologies.

Now, if you have read what I wrote above, you will find that based on MY
Latin dictionary, which has no apostrophe anywhere involving war or wars, is
accurate.  Stop screaming.  I said based on MY Latin dictionary.  It doesn't
mean it is accurate. It's possible there's a mistake in the dictionary.  But
I am defending my intelligence here.   I did not study three languages (not
counting English) throughout high school and college on my way to  Master's
degree in Educational Technology by being a complete idiot who can't read a
dictionary.

Besides, my emphasis was more on "Figg" that could come from "figulus" which
means Potter.  A while back I had a wild notion that Arabella Figg was
related to Harry, not by blood, but as an inlaw, based on the meaning of
"figulus."  I've changed my mind, as I think it reads better as an entire
statement, which I will not dare to repeat as I've been yelled at once
already.

Going to bed now, before I say anything else stupid.

Richelle