Names of the Hogwarts Ghosts

[tepmurt9981]

No: HPFGUIDX 58639

Awhile ago I was reading through my copy of `Sorcerer's
Stone' when I  realized that many of the Hogwarts ghosts' names may have 
double meanings, one more `complimentary' than the other.  I've
searched around a bit and I haven't seen this dealt with anywhere else, so I
thought that I'd throw it out there and see what you all think.

_House Ghosts_

_Fat Friar_ - Described as "a fat little monk" (SS Chpt.7,
pg.115, hardback ed.)

Dictionary.com defines fat as `having much or too much fat or
flesh; plump or obese.'  This quite obviously refers to the Friar's generous
girth, so to speak.  Now there is nothing wrong with having a little bit extra 
around the middle, but the word play becomes more obvious when examining 
the second half of the Hufflepuff ghost's name.

A friar is a member of certain Roman Catholic religious orders.  They
differ from monks in that friars are not bound to a specific monastery and
are expected to travel and work/beg for a living.  Traditionally, friars
are not allowed to own property (infoplease.com).

So, if a friar is traveling around and living off of charity, you
wouldn't expect him to be fat.  Dictionary.com also defines fat as `unnecessary
excess.'

_Bloody Baron_ - Described as "a horrible ghost...with blank
staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood" (SS Chpt.7,
pg.124, hardback ed.).

There are two definitions of bloody that apply here (from OED Online)

- Addicted to bloodshed, bloodthirsty, cruel; tainted with crimes of
blood, blood-guilty.

Now, no one knows for sure, but the Baron is a scary guy and it wouldn't 
surprise me if he had been quite the murderous tyrant in his day.  He
_is_ the only one that can control Peeves.

Here comes the pun (definition number two):

- Covered, smeared, stained, with blood; bleeding

What if the Baron was stabbed to death?  He's covered in the stuff as a ghost, 
so it would make sense that he was covered in it when he died).  If so, then 
the title of "Bloody Baron" that he earned by shedding others' blood, gets 
turned around and ends up making fun of his own messy death.

_Nearly-headless Nick_ - Described as "a ghost wearing a ruff and tights" (SS 
Chpt.7, pg.115, hardback ed.). 

A lot of you should be more familiar with this one. Nick as in "an abbreviation 
for the name Nicholas" or nick as in "a shallow cut." Like the one that didn't 
quite take off his head... 

_Grey Lady_ - seen, but not named, in Chapter 12 of PS/SS, this ghost
is described as "a tall witch."

Grey symbolizes security, reliability, intelligence, staid[ness], modesty, 
maturity, conservative[ness], old age, sadness, and bor[dom] (http://
www.wired4success.com/colorsymbolism.htm)

I don't think that the Grey Lady was old when she died, because the only 
descriptor that we are given is "tall."  This is not to say that you cannot be old 
and tall at the same time, just that if she were old I would imagine another 
descriptor being used first.  Also, though the movies are not strictly canon, the 
actress that portrays the Grey Lady is not made up to be old, and I would 
imagine that if old age had been an important factor JK would have said 
something.

Could this possibly be a pun? Grey as in "intelligent," for one would assume 
that she was in the Ravenclaw house when she was alive.  Grey could also 
mean "old," which the Grey Lady will never be. 

_Other Ghosts_

Moanin' Myrtle - Gosh, where to start...  Myrtle's is one of the more confusing 
names to sort out.

First of all, the most common symbolism recognized in Myrtle's name Moanin' 
Myrtle=Weeping Willow.

In "The Great Gatsby" the name Myrtle symbolizes vitality (http:// 
functi0n1.tripod.com/thegreatgatsby/color.html).  A myrtle is an evergreen 
shrub (dictionary.com), and thus symbolizes life.

Myrtle, when used as a person's first name, means "The tree/Victory" 
(parenthood.com) -- side note - Willow is closely related, and means 
"freedom/tree." A Myrtle symbolizes love (http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/
flowers/pcd42.html), and is associated with Venus (www.fabrisia.com/
symbolism.htm).  None of these seem to have anything to do with poor
Myrtle.

Moanin' Myrtle just keeps getting more and more confusing.  Not
only does she have two names (MM and WW), but each name (the willow and 
the myrtle) indicates several different types of plants, each with their
own contrasting symbolism.  The different types of willow trees symbolize
anything from mourning, to bravery, to forsaken love, none of which have
anything to do with one another.  To make matters worse, the Weeping 
Willow, which might seem to have the most clear-cut symbolism, used to be 
viewed as a happy symbol simply because of the beauty of the tree.  As for
myrtle, there are "myrtle" trees, shrubs, and several trailing flowers
which are incorrectly named as such.

Awhile ago when I was looking symbolism for the characters' wands, I came 
across a site which associated the willow with death.  The explanation was 
rather wordy, but what I extracted from it was that the willow was associated 
with death as a natural process of life (this was re: Ron's wand,
and would be the flip side of Voldemort's yew wand; the yew tree is fabled to
live off of the flesh of the dead; IMO, willow=mortality whereas yew=
immortality).  Unfortunately, I can't find this page anymore, so this point may
be moot. However, Myrtle's death was anything but natural.

To be completely honest, Myrtle has me flummoxed.  Her symbolism
seems to be a mess of contradictions and dead ends (no pun intended).

A side note: Willows of any kind are associated with water, often
grow directly by a source of water; Myrtle lives in a bathroom stall right by a
toilet...*g*  This just amused me for some reason.

Binns -  This symbolism was also harder to figure out.  I don't
believe we know enough about Binns to really understand the relevance of 
his name.  This is the best I could come up with.

binn - a receptacle for holding corn, meal, bread, fruit, and other
articles of consumption; a hutch. Also, in later use, for dust (dust-bin), coal,
or other things requiring storage for a time. (OED Online)

This definition seems to about sum up the things that Professor
Binns's body has been used for.  First his body stored food, now it's
collecting dust.  This idea is somehow less satisfactory than some of the 
others, but it works at least for now.

I'd love to hear people's opinions on these, feel free to
correct/disagree/add/ whatever, I'm not ridiculously attatched to these ideas.

Ta,
tepmurt