Pansy, Narcissa, LUPIN!

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86445

tigerpatronus wrote:
> 
> A rose is a rose is a . . . lupin. 
> 
> I was reading another book (The Black Prince, Iris Murdoch, Look! 
> More flower name synchronicity!) and the characters walked through a 
> garden filled with *lupins!* I didn't know this was a flower. (I 
> don't garden much. I've been urban for years now.) 
> 
> And as much as there is a "wolfy" connotation to Remus Lupin's name, 
> I wonder if there is a connection to the Flower Power Theories. Some 
> meanings for the flower "lupin" stolen directly from websites: 
> 
<snip>
Carol:
Lupine (usually spelled with an "e") grows wild around my neighborhood
in springtime, so I did know it was a wildflower. The name seems to be
connected to the adjective "lupine" meaning "wolflike" (both derive
from Latin "lupinus," of a wolf) though what's wolflike about a stalky
plant with bluish purple flowers, I can't say.


tigerpatronus:
> I admit that I was "rooting around," looking for evidence to support 
> the ESE!Lupin theory, and lupin plants are mildly alkaloid and 
> somewhat poisonous, but I'm not sure that's relevant. It might be 
> more interesting if there's a wizarding family out there that uses 
> flower names for children like the Black family uses astronomical 
> names. This might suggest RL's lineage. Perhaps he's Narcissa's 
> cousin on the side that uses flower names. 

Carol:
I noted that some varieties are poisonous when I looked it up trying
to link it with "lupine, but like you I don't think that's relevant.
It's clearly the wolf connection that we're supoosed to see. Also
Narcissa (the only Black named after a flower) is a woman and Narcissa
is her first name. (The poisonous element may have some relevance in
her case, as I mentioned in a previous post, along with the legend of
a Greek boy in love with his own reflection--doesn't bode well for
Narcissa.) In any case, a number of other female characters in HP,
including the Muggle Petunia, are named after flowers, but as I said,
it's their first not last name, so I don't think there's any
connection between Lupin(e) and Lily or Pansy or Petunia or
Narcissa--or even much of a connection among those characters except a
long-standing English tradition of giving flower names to girls.

Carol