Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus

[burnoweatherhead]

No: HPFGUIDX 90484

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "armadillof" <armadillof at y...> 
wrote:
 
> Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus can be interpreted as a 'rough' 
> latin.  (Few exceptions such as nunquam=numquam; slight spelling 
> modifications et al).  I interpret it generally as meaning "the 
> snake never sleep peacefully". 
> draco=snake
> nunquam=never
> dormiens=sleep
> titillandus=peacefully

It's a strange amalgam of Latin. The 'draco' and 'dormiens' go 
together as a noun + gerund = 'sleeping snake' or 'sleeping 
dragon'. 'Nunquam' *is* as allowable as 'numquam' so no problems 
there. 'Titillandus' is peculiar as it's not an imperative 
('titillate', which would demand either an accusative 'draconem' or 
dative 'draconi') but a gerundive of 'titillare', meaning 'needing to 
be tickled' but I'm not sure it 'agrees' grammatically with the 
noun 'draco'. What you are left with is not 'Never tickle a sleeping 
dragon/snake' but 'A sleeping dragon never needs to be tickled' which 
isn't quite the same thing necessarily. 

The 'draco' pronunciation should by all reasoning hold for Draco's 
name too and I implement this when reading the books to my children.

Burno, whose first post this is.