More on "hag-rid

[Milz]

No: HPFGUIDX 44309

I found my copy of "Forgotten English" by Jeffery Kacrik, William 
Morrow and Company, INC, 1999. Here's his take on "hag-rid".

"Into the twentieth century in Somerset, E.M. Wright  wrote, "When 
horses break out into a sweat in the stable, they are said to be hag-
rided." Herrick's short poem, "Another Charme for the Stables", 
further illustrates this:

Hang up hooks and shears to scare
Hence the hag that rides the mare,
Till they be all over wet
With the mire, and the sweat;
This observ'd, the manes shall be
of your horses, all knot free."

E.M. Wright = Elizabeth M. Wright, _Rustic Speech and Folklore_ 
London: Oxford University Press, 1914
Herrick = Robert Herrick _The Poetical Works_ London: Oxford 
University Press 1921

So, to add to the ever-growing "hag-rid" pot, "hag-rid" could mean a 
sweaty horse, that is, a sweaty horse with no overt reason to sweat.

Perhaps naming a child, "Hagrid", in the wizarding world is similar 
to naming a child "Prudence" or "Honor" in the real world? Which 
leaves me to wonder if there are any young wizards named Harry in 
honor of the "boy who would be spared"?

Milz