HP translations- the name 'Hogwarts'

[Sandra]

No: HPFGUIDX 109460

Hi,

lots of fantastic threads as usual and I just have one quite simple 
question , totally unrelated to them all!

Over the weekend I have read an article in a German newspaper (die 
ZEIT) about a study into the different translations of HP.
In the Netherlands they seem to go quite far and translate a lot of 
the names of places and people.

I thoroughly enjoy reading the original British English versions of 
HP but now this article has pointed me to one occasion where I may 
have missed a connotation of a name completely: Hogwarts!
Which 'die Zeit says derives from hog = pig and warts. I did not know 
the word hog before this article, but I have looked it up now and it 
seems to have other meanings in addition to pig.

I am now curious what, for a native English speaker (especially 
British), are the things which spring to mind when they first read 
the name 'Hogwarts'. What 'image' does it create, and is it so 
completely unsuitable for this school as the German translation 
suggested by 'die ZEIT' (Schweinewarze) would be?

I have checked the HP Lexicon and it says:
"The name "Hogwarts" is actually the name of a flower. JKR 
said: "Ideas come from all sorts of places and sometimes I don't 
realise where I got them from. A friend from London recently asked me 
if I remembered when we first saw Hogwarts. I had no idea what she 
was talking about until she recalled the day we went to Kew Gardens 
and saw those lilies that were called Hogwarts. I'd seen them seven 
years before and they'd bubbled around in my memory. When Hogwarts 
occurred to me as a name for the school, I had no idea where it came 
from." (SMH) "

So I guess translating names in HP is really a very difficult bit, as 
most names have a meaning or at least their sound evokes a certain 
aspects of the person or place.

Any comments appreciated
Sandra (who LOVES words in general and the names in HP)