[HPforGrownups] Arabella Origin = Latin orabilis.

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 44302

In a message dated 21/09/2002 16:42:03 GMT Standard Time, bboy_mn at yahoo.com 
writes:


> Sorry for the short post, but someone else posted a link to this
> website, although it was with regard to another name. As long as I was
> looking, I thought I would look up Arabella too. Most excellent for
> checking out name.
> 
> Arabella is not a combination of the roots 'ara' and 'bella' but
> appears to be derived from the lating 'orabilis', or at least that's
> what this website says.
> 
> 

When I posted this suggested origin yesterday I didn't explore it as I 
couldn't see the relevance of its meaning. I was rather hoping that someone 
might, if they thought it valid.

As Richard noted yesterday, etymology is a complex subject and Arabella is a 
particularly difficult name to derive. Just because a website says that 
orabilis is the origin, does not mean that it is so. Another website 
definition that was quoted recently proved to be completely unfounded.

I think it is clear that the origin of the name is (as my dictionary says) 
obscure. There are at least three possible ways of deriving it, all of which 
have their own merit. It militates strongly against all my  training to come 
down firmly in favour of one theory, unless it has a convincingly greater 
weight of evidence in its favour.

I have to say that 'orabilis', although quite possible, seems to me the 
weakest candidate, given the historical weight in favour of the amabile -> 
Amabel -> Arabel -> Arabella route and the prevalence of 'bella', as in 
'beautiful' as a suffix for girls' names.

If it does mean 'easily entreated' and JKR is using it because of this, what 
do you think are the implications?

Eloise


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