alastor and albus

[farquarson2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 100737

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "drcarole71" <drcarole71 at y...> 
wrote:
> I don't know if this has been discussed yet, but Alastor and Albus 
> both begin with Al...
> Does anyone know if the word Auror exists in English?  Is it 
> similar to aurora, as in aurora borealis?  If so, does it 
> mean "light", or does "borealis" mean light?

aurora -ae f. [dawn , break of day]; personified, [Aurora, goddess of 
morning]. meton., [the east].

Boreas -ae m. [the north wind]; meton. , [the north]. 

Boreus -a -um, Adj. [northern].

"Aurora borealis" is normally translated as "Northern lights."  There 
is a similar phenomenon in the southern hemisphere called the "aurora 
australis" or "Southern lights."

In English, an aurora is, to quote my dictionary, "a luminous 
electrical atmospheric phenomenon, usually of streamers of light in 
the sky above the northern or southern magnetic pole."

It's possible that "auror" is a kind of subtle pun. Aurors are the 
enforcers of law in the wizarding world, like policemen. One nickname 
for a policeman is "copper" (which is where we get the word "cop." 
Now, in addition to resembling the word "aurora," "auror" also looks 
like the Latin word "aurum," which means "gold." So just as a Muggle 
policeman is a "copper," a wizarding policeman is an Auror--"pure 
gold."

This has probably been mentioned before, but:

"Alastor" is a form of "Alastair," which is a Gaelic form 
of "Alexander." All three names mean "defender of mankind" or "helper 
and defender of man."

"Albus" is pure Latin. It's the adjective meaning "white."


"farquarson2003"