[HPforGrownups] Re: That damn Prophecy - an alternative take

[Erika L.]

No: HPFGUIDX 77708

hg wrote:

Replace the pronouns similarly in Sachmet's idea, post 
75158:  "...when I first read that I understood it that Harry and 
Voldemort will die. According to my dictionary either can mean 'each 
of two'. So I took it they both die."

That would be "...either (both A AND B) must die at the hand of 
(each) other, for neither (A nor B) can live while the other (one of 
them) survives..."  This could still make sense.

now me Erika (Wolfraven):

    I know the question of the meaning of 'either' has come up before, but I haven't followed all of the prophecy threads, so I just wanted to add my two knuts on this one.
    Here's what my Concise Oxford Dictionary says about "either"

    "one or the other of two people or things"

 But it then also adds "each of two".

    I was initially confused by this, so I checked the twelve-volume OED to which I also have access. It gives the same two definitions, but also gives a short history of the word which I thought was rather illuminating:

    "In OE. [Old English] and early ME. [Middle English] the word appears only in its original sense of 'each of two', or as an adv. = 'both' ; but about the beginning of the 14th c. it assumed the disjunctive sense 'one or the other of two' [...] This disjunctive sense has so far prevailed that  in mod. Eng. such expressions as 'on either side' = 'on both sides' are felt to be somewhat arch. [archaic], and must often be avoided on account of their ambiguity."

    It's true that in the expression 'on either side' 'either' means 'both' : There was tension on either side = There was tension on both sides. However, I don't think that 'either' has this sense in any other context, and the dictionary doesn't give any other example of the word having this meaning. In light of this, I don't see how 'either' in the context of the prophecy can meaning anything other than 'one or the other'

Erika (Wolfraven)

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