AlwaysMonday/book date/orphan TMR/Salicylic/HouseElves/Names/Narcissa/Quill

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 110094

Marita wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/109461 :

<< I believe that in every book, the letters they get from Hogwarts
mention catching the train on September 1. I don't remember it giving
the day of the week, just the date. Funny, though, I never caught the
next day/first day of classes always being Monday, though. Which, of
course, is impossible. >>

Some things are different in magic places like Hogwarts than in muggle
places, like paintings that converse with viewers, and go visit other
paintings. Maybe the day of the week is one of those differences.
Maybe part of why the kids travel on the Hogwarts Express is to move
gradually from whatever day it was when they left London into Sunday
evening. I do wonder a little about ALL THOSE SUNDAYS and no mention
of ANYONE going to church or feeling bad about missing church. 

The idea of September 2 is always a Monday reminds me of this poem by
Thomas Digby:
http://bubbles.best.vwh.net/poetry/EverybodyTalksAboutIt.txt 
and while I was searching for it, I found this other poem that seemed
relevant to recent list dicussions:
http://bubbles.best.vwh.net/poetry/BlindWizard.txt

Mhbobbin wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/109506 :

<< As For the release of Book Five on June 21: Do we think that was
coincidental? >>

Actually, I thought the release dates for GoF and OoP were chosen near
the beginning of English schoolkids' summer holiday, so that their
schoolwork wouldn't suffer from staying up all night and the next day
to buy the book at midnight and read it immediately.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/109642 :

<< In fact, how did [Tom Marvolo Riddle] find out about his father
abandoning his mother in the first place? I can't accept the
coincidence of another letter that explains everything left with a
baby. >>

Tom's mother must have lived SOMEWHERE before he was born. With her
parents sounds like one likely possibility. I like to think that baby
Tom Marvie lived with his maternal grandparents long enough to
remember all they told him about their wonderful ancestry and his
father's bad behavior. I also like to think that they, um,
*exaggerated* how married his parents were... They must have died for
him to end up in an orphanage. Perhaps he killed them with childish
accidental magic in a fit of rage.

bamf wrote, of salicylic acid coming from willows: 

<<So, after the willow whomps you, you can chew on one of its branches
for headache relief.>>

To which, Just Carol replied in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/109794 :

<< That's ironic, considering that willow switches were used for
punishing American and Canadian pupils in the one-room schoolhouses of
the nineteenth century. Maybe they were used in England as well; I
don't know. If so, "whomping" could suggest whipping in the sense of
old-fashioned corporal punishment. (I can see Filch coveting one of
the branches and the right to use it on the students.) [I] thought it
was birch trees that had salicylic acid >>

I know that salicylic acid is named after Salix, which bamf mentioned
is the genus name of willows, but I checked Ask Jeeves and found
enough hits to convince me that it is found in birch trees as well as
willows ... apparently also in wintergreen and gaultheria, whatever
that is.

But the irony would work just as well with birch bark tea, because
birch switches were traditional enough for 'birching' 19th century
American pupils that there's that word:

"NOUN:	2. A rod from a birch, used to administer a whipping.
TRANSITIVE VERB: To whip with or as if with a birch."
http://www.bartleby.com/61/31/B0273100.html

Saraquel wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/109939 :

<< This war is an opportunity for DD to give opportunities to the HE
that will help them on the road to greater choice and hence possible
freedom. Looks like the kids'll be having beans on toast from now on
folks. >>

The House Elves apparently *like* doing housework. They don't like
physical pain and being insulted, as at Malfoy Manor, but that isn't
done at Hogwarts. I can't see any reason why Hogwarts shouldn't have a
full staff of free House Elves with salaries and the freedom to leave
whenever they want. So the kids would still get great meals and clean
rooms. 

Arielock wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/109670 :

<< for example Hagrid is a play on haggard >>

Yes, but also, 'hagrid' is a dialect word for 'hag-ridden' as in
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/109
9-connectiontransc.html 
JKR: "Hagrid is also another old English word meaning if you were
hagrid, it's a dialect word meaning you'd had a bad night.
Hagrid's a big drinker. He has a lot of bad nights."

It *literally* means that the person was ridden by night-mares (there
is some folklore in which the night-mara is a type of hag) but I've
only ever heard it used to mean the person is suffering from a
hangover.

AMey wwrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/110044 :

<< Voldemort: Flight of (from???) Death >>

Flight from Death, as in, he flies away from dying, because he got
immortal, OR
Flight of Death, as in, people die when he lands on them (with the
Dark Mark hanging over the ruins of their home), OR
Theft from Death, as in, he stole his life from death by becoming
immortal, OR
Theft of Death, as in, he stole the right to decide who dies

<< Malfoy : Evil Faith (Double cross??) >>

Bad Faith would be the more natural English phrase. It means making a
promise when you *intend* to break it.

<< Dumbledore: Of Gild (cant make any sense of this.. but will work on
it) >>

Your source was thinking of "dore" as "d'or" (of gold) or "doré"
(gilded), but not of the bumblebee reference so many posts have
mentioned, nor the sound of "door", as in, a way to get into another
place. It's probably irrelevant that "dor" is also the agential suffix
in words like 'matador" ("death" plus "doer" = "killer"). 

<< Nymphadora: Gilded Nymph (a minor nature goddess usually depicted
as a beautiful maiden; "the ancient Greeks believed that nymphs
inhabited forests and bodies of water") >>

Your source repeats the error of assuming that "dora" is "dorée".
Actually, the word "dora" and "doros" appears all over names that come
from Classical Gift, as it means 'gift'. "Theodore" is a Doros (gift)
from Theos (god) and Isidora is gift from Isis and Nymphadora is a
gift from the nymphs.

aboutthe1910s wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/110068 :

<< Just to throw another name out there--Madame Pomfrey. Pomme frais?
Fresh apple? The fact that her name has been changed to Madame
Pomfresh in the French translations inclines me to think so. (snip)
her first [name], given her position -- Poppy. As in the seed from
which opiates are derived. (snip) considering that she is a healer, I
find it at least worth of being noted in passing.>>

I thought that the French edition called her Madam Chips, thinking
that Pomfrey is Pommes Frites is fried potatoes, what USAns call
French Fries and Brits call Chips. A listie suggested that her name is
a combination of 'pomade' and 'comfrey'. I prefer to think 'pomander'
rather than 'pomade' (both are, or were originally, sweet-smelling
herbal products made with apples), but pomander doesn't mean greasey
hair dressing. Pomander can be said to have a medical connationk, as I
was told that medieval people believed that smelling a pomander would
prevent catching plague. Comfrey is an herb that was recommended to
people with colds before echinacea became fashionable. Poppy you have
already mentioned.

Gwennie wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/110086 :

<< The only three adult females in the books named after flowers are
Lily, Petunia, and Narcissa, and we all know how important names are
to Jo. >> 

Poppy Pomfrey is named after a flower.

<< Also, Narcissa is described as being very similar physically to
Petunia (blonde hair and sharp features). So yes, I am insinuating
that Narcissa is a long-lost Evans sister >> 

My version of that theory was that Petunia was Narcissa's sister who
was discarded by her parents for being a Squib. I thought they gave
her to the Evanses because they were Muggles who somehow already knew
of the existence of the wizarding world. But JKR proved us both wrong
in http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/extras/JKRWorldBookDay2004.html :

"queenmarion: I noticed in the Black Family tree that everyone is
named after a constellation. Is this intentional? Does this have any
bearing on the plot?

JK Rowling replies -> It's just one of those family traditions,
although Narcissa breaks the trend. I had always thought of her as
'Narcissa' so I decided not to change her to match the others when I
came up with their names. There's been a lot of speculation that she
is in some way linked to Lily and Petunia, because of the flower
theme, but I can put that rumour to rest here: she isn't related to
them."

Meltowne wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/110071 :

<< Just because Harry's name was recorded as soon as he was born
doesn't mean all babies are. I suspect the quill doesn't record the
names until they show magical ability. Remember Neville's family
wasn't sure he had any magical ability - if his name had been recorded
at birth, why would they worry about whether he would get into
Hogwarts? >>

You're assuming that Neville's grandmother would have been allowed to
look into that book. 

http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/020
0-scholastic-chat.htm
JKR: "In Hogwarts there's a magical quill which detects the birth of a
magical child, and writes his or her name down in a large parchment
book. Every year Professor McGonagall checks the book, and sends owls
to the people who are turning 11."

>From that, I get the impression that no one but McGonagall looks into
the book, and she turns the pages back 11 years to get all the names
from end of last intake class to next cut-off birthday. If children
were written down later, after showing spontaneous magic, she would
have to go through all the pages since 11 years ago, looking for birth
dates in the right year interspersed among birth dates in other years.

I think it would have been better to enchant the pen so that it
addressed all the letters, skipping the intermediate step of having a
book.