What does she mean by "vanquish"?

[Florentine Maier]

No: HPFGUIDX 70168

Oh no... I'm so disappointed.
But I really think JKR SHOULD have written it the way you suggested.

Florentine
*still determined to find the undisputable hidden meaning of the 
prophecy*


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "paulamore" <paulamore at y...> 
wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Florentine Maier" 
<florentinemaier at h...> wrote:
> > Hi together,
> > 
> > I've been trying to analyze the prophecy for a few days, and I've 
> > already come up with an interpretation (see post #69857), but I'm 
> > still not conviced of it 100% myself.
> >    Since I'm not a native speaker, I don't have the feel for the 
> > language to know if what I'm thinking is actually possible.
> > 
> > I'm wondering if the verb "vanquish" can be used with a noun 
clause...
> > Like:
> > "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..."
> > meaning:
> > "The one with the power to vanquish (meaning prevent) THAT the 
Dark 
> > Lord approaches"
> > Or:
> 
> Not really.  It would have to be a gerundial clause, and then you 
would need a new main verb.  If ST had said, "I see the one with the 
power to vanquish the Dark Lord approach*ing*, then you could be 
right, since approaching could refer either to "one" or "Lord." 
> 
> More to the point, the word vanquish means to conquer or destroy, 
and would not normally be used to denote the conquest of an action, 
but an object.  It's most often used to speak of vanquishing an army 
or some kind of force.
> 
> So as much as I appreciate the sentiment of the theory, I'm afraid 
it's kill or be killed after all.
> 
> What I'd like to see is HP saying Forget the prophecy and trying to 
find some way not to have to kill LV.  At the very least, LV can 
agree to a peace, use some kind of treachery to put HP's life in 
danger, and HP can kill him in self-defence.