(A Challenge!) Weasley names

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 106730

> ms_annethrope replies:
> 
> Ok, first post, and greetings all. JKR seems to use names borrowed 
> from literature or legends in a vaguely suggestive way. She chose 
> Hermione's name based on the character in The Winter's Tale, but 
> there's not much similarity between the two. I think the most likely 
> link to Arthurian legend is that Arthur Weasley despises Lucius 
> Malfoy. British King Arthur and Roman King Lucius were mortal 
> enemies. There's also a sword named Ron, but that might be pushing 
> it too far.
> 
> Ginny's given name is semi-Arthurian, "Ginevra" being Italian for 
> Guinevere. That said, the more likely source for Ginny is Ginevra, 
> the daughter of the King of Scotland in Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso." 
> Ginevra is betrothed to Ariodante, Duke of Burgundy, but the jealous 
> Polinesso sets up her maid Dalinda to play Ginevra, making it look 
> like Ginevra is having an affair with another man. Scottish law (in 
> this story) deals harshly with unchastity and Ginevra is sentenced 
> to death. But all ends well, or at least justly. (It is also the 
> basis of Handel's opera "Ariodante" and perhaps of the Hero and 
> Claudio story in "Much Ado About Nothing.")However, JKR's Ginny 
> doesn't seem at all like the Medieval damsel in distress.
> 
> Percy,on the other hand, has nothing to do with Percival and 
> originates from a separate location in France,though the names are 
> often confused. Nor does JKR's Percy much resemble the virginal 
> Percival, being neither a simpleton (in the sense of "holy fool"), 
> nor IMO a paragon of chastity. Think of his secret tryst with 
> Penelope in CoS. I wonder if his name is meant to be a play on 
> Henry "Hotspur" Percy,who died in a rebellion against against Henry 
> IV. That's another character who thinks in black and white, at least 
> in Shakespeare. But again, I suspect these names are meant to be at 
> most suggestive, not parallels with mythical or historical figures.
> 
> ms_annethrope (whose name is never meant to be suggestive).

Welcome, um, Anne!

Thanks for the Orlando Furioso connection regarding Ginny's name--I've never read 
Ariosto. Not sure whether it is suggestive of anything in Ginny's future (at least I hope 
not), but very interesting nonetheless.

Regarding Percival, there are several sources for this knight in the various Grail romances. 
The Percival mentioned herein most often is the one from Chretien de Troye's poem, 
Perceval. This is very much a Christian allegory, and Perceval is painted very much as the 
holy fool--the man whose innocence allows him to succeed where others have failed.

The other major source is Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival. This character too is an 
innocent, but not in the ecclesiastical sense--he ends up marrying a queen 
(Cunwiramurs--Conduire-amours--"Leads to Love"). Eschenbach's story is much more 
humanistic. Even the grail is not a cup but a stone that allows the impossible to become 
possible. Parzival's quest, and his talent, is to transcend the dualistic world of opposites. 
His name, in this respect, has occasionally been glossed as 'perce-val'--'pierce the valley'. 
That is take what Buddhists would call the Middle Way, which regards good and evil, black 
and white, male and female, as being of secondary importance. 

Which in fact seems to be quite the opposite of the character of Percy Weasley...