Ollivanders' origin

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 94647

Annunathradien wrote:

> Phonetically, "Alexander" and "Ollivander" sound somewhat 
similar.  
> Same amount of syllables.  Both end in "ander".

Welcome, Annunathradien!

I believe that, in Greek, the ending -ander means 'man', thus 
Alexander, Menander, Anaximander.  Because of this, and their great 
antiquity, I had surmised that the Ollivander family came from that 
part of the world.  That strikes me as more plausible than a 'van 
der' component from Dutch, which would require a name to follow (as 
in, say, van der Waals); also I'm guessing that Dutch has changed a 
lot from its ancestral language since 382 BC and that the 'van der' 
form is relatively recent.

I don't know what the Alex- refers to, or if Greek was the language 
of ancient Macedonia, though Alexander certainly ended up spreading 
Greek language and culture through a huge area.

Anyone whose Greek is better than mine able to hazard a guess at the 
Olliv- part?

David