Marvolo-Lockhart-Color Symbol-Dumblepuff-Maiden/Middle Name-Snape-Hagrid-Ara

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 44347

Eloise wrote:

<< While we're on the subject of Voldemort's name, there's Marvolo to 
contend with. Has anyone ever come up with an etymology for this? Is 
it just a handy name for constructing Voldemort (I suspect so). I 
confess that it amuses me, as it sounds just like a stage magician's 
name: Roll up, roll up for the Great Marvolo! I take great delight in 
imagining  that Voldemort's grandfather wasn't a wizard at all, but 
merely a music hall entertainer! >>

It never occured to *me* that 'Marvolo' might be anything other than 
a relatively normal given name for wizards. Presumably some witch 
made it up sometime, as Shakespeare invented names like Miranda. The 
grandiosity you point to seems appropriate for the high opinion that 
the wizarding folk have of themselves. And I never thought it might 
be a surname; I don't want it to be a surname. 

Barb wrote:

<< At the end of CoS, there is every indication that Dumbledore knew 
Lockhart was full of it. >> 

Yes, Such as what he says in the "Dobby's Reward" wrap-up chapter of 
CoS, when told that Lockhart's Memory Charm had backfired on him: 
"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver 
mustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!" To me, 
that clearly says that he knew all about Lockhart stealing other 
people's adventures by using Memory Charms.

Felinia wrote:

<< And that red, green, blue and yellow are intended to stand forth 
as simple primary colors (although green isn't really a primary) that 
are distinctive  (snip) So it's not true period heraldry, but more 
symbolic, >>

Yes, my old idea was that the symbolism was colors associated with 
the four Alchemical Elements: Red for Fire, Yellow for Earth, Blue 
for Air, and Green for Water. (Many Wiccans use the symbolism of the 
Four Elements and assign colors to them, and I myself prefer the Red 
for Fire, Green for Earth, Blue for Water, and Yellow for Air system, 
but the color assignments are ARBITRARY: whatever works, works). (The 
Four Elements go with modern science if you say they are the states 
of matter: Earth the solid state, Water the liquid state, Air the 
gaseous state, and Fire the energy state.)

Fire - Gryffindor - passion and courage
Earth - Hufflepuff - work and patience
Air - Ravenclaw - thought and communication
Water - Slytherin - deviousness (water can sneak out of even the 
smallest crack in a vessel).
As shown, the Four Elements do pretty much match up with the Four 
Houses, marred mainly by the plot's requirement that one House 
(Slytherin) be evil and the other good, when all four Elements have 
both good and evil aspects. (Devious is called flexible when it's 
good.) 

Theresnothingtoit:

<< Anyway the only other house that I could see Dumbledore being in 
is Hufflepuff. >>

Hufflepuff House's yellow and black are the traditional honeybee 
colors. Honeybees area the traditional 'busy bee' of hard work, and 
were praised for creating the two best things: sweetness (honey) and 
light (candlewax). Are dumblebees the same colors? Hard-working? Do 
they make honey and wax?

Ali is:

<<curious about the name "Lily Evans Potter" - in Brit. speak we 
would call her Lily Potter nee Evans >>

USAmericans can do anything they want to their own names, but the 
USAmerican common tradition has been for married women to take their 
husband's surname AND use their maiden name as middle name, for 
several generations. I don't know whether it was tradition or a 
display of radicalism when some famous women of the 19th century did 
it: Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" for 
our Civl War, was one of them, and Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote 
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN was another, but it was taken for granted as 
tradition by the time my parents married in the 1940s. Taken for 
granted as tradition with NO throught that the woman might keep a 
paid job after marriage.

Richelle wrote:

<< Disembowling a barrel full of horned toads? The child has a toad 
for a *pet*!!!! It's child abuse!!! >>

Horny toads are lizards, not toads, despite the name. Still, Snape 
probably INTENDED it to remind Neville of his pet; doesn't he have 
Ron pickling rats' brains in GoF, apparently unaware that Ron no 
longer has a pet rat? Who got frog guts under their fingernails, 
which Hermione removed with a Nail Cleaning Charm? If Neville, that 
could be another attack on his sentimental attachment to his toad.

Mind you, if Snape ever admitted that he chose the punishments with 
regard to the punishee, he would claim that he was trying to cure 
them of childish sentimentality, as some Muggles have their children 
raise lambs or calves, then slaughter and eat them.  

Milz wrote:
<< Perhaps naming a child, "Hagrid", in the wizarding world is 
similar to naming a child "Prudence" or "Honor" in the real world? >>

It's his surname, not his given name. His given name, Rubeus, could 
refer to red nose from drinking, but long ago some alchemy fans on 
this list pointed out that the most important men in Harry's life are 
Albus (white), Rubeus (red), and Black, and that albedo, rubedo, and 
nigredo are important stages in an alchemical process. To me, white 
red black reminds me of Triple Goddess (Wiccan or Robert Graves) 
rather than alchemy. 

Brian wrote:

<< What if a nightmare was a spectral horse (ala Piers Anthony) and 
its' mount was a hag (ala JKR et. al.)? It would therefore follow 
that "having a nightmare" would be synonymous with "awakening 
hag-ridden" or "hag-rid" for short. Just a silly train of thought, 
but fun. >>

The Mare of night-mare IS the Hag who hag-rides unrestful sleepers. I 
am sure that I once read a JKR interview in which she said that 
"hagrid" is a dialect word for having had a bad night, and Hagrid 
often has bad nights, because of his drinking, but I can't find it 
now.  

The AMericah Heritage Dictionary http://www.bartleby.com/61/ says: 
"Hagride: RANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: hag·rode (rd), hag·rid·den 
(rdn), hag·rid·ing, hag·rides ... To torment or harass, especially 
with worry or dread: "a man hagridden by the future -- haunted by 
visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth" (C.S. Lewis)."

and "Nightmare: NOUN: 1. A dream arousing feelings of intense fear, 
horror, and distress. 2. An event or experience that is intensely 
distressing. 3. A demon or spirit once thought to plague sleeping 
people.  ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, a female demon that afflicts 
sleeping people : night, night; see night + mare, goblin (from Old 
English; see mer- in Appendix I)."

doffy99 Jeff wrote:

<< Arabella(Latin) beautiful Alter. See also Belle, Orabella. >>

Whenever I see a name that starts Ora-, I think of the possiblity 
that it is an alternate spelling of Aura- meaning "gold".