Lupin's name (was: Sirius and Remus (was : Re: Use of Hagrid's name - More

[eloise_herisson]

No: HPFGUIDX 98135

> Mo:
> > 
> > Lupin is Latin for "Wolf"
> > Hence, the whole Werewolf thing...
> 
> Geoff:
> I hate to be pedantic but I have pointed out before that the Latin 
> word for a wolf is "lupus" from which we get the adjective "lupine" 
> (With an 'e').
> 
> Lupin, spelt thus, is a flower from the Latin "lupinus". I  
> (seriously) find it difficult to imagine friend Remus as a werewolf 
> when a blue flower comes into mind whenever I read his name......



Eloise:
Ah. Yes...
But....

*Why* was a lupin called a lupinus in the first place?
According to Lewis and Short, the word lupinus has two meanings. As 
an adjective, it means 'of or belonging to a wolf' (so perhaps more 
correctly from *this* we get our adjective, lupine), as a noun it 
means a lupin (or lupine, as they spell it).

According to a little book I possess (100 Flowers and How They Got 
Their Names, by Diana Wells), 

"Like wolves, lupines, from the Latin *lupinus*, were supposed to 
ravage the land and destroy it."

So the wolf connection is there anyway.

But there's more. Lewis and Short mention that lupins (presumably the 
seeds)were used as stage money in the classical theatre. I went in 
pursuit of this and found a very interesting site which discussed 
lupin(e)s and Cynic philosophy, 

http://web.lemoyne.edu/~mcmahon/sat14parody.html
(isn't the web wonderful?)

I have no idea at all whether JKR was aware of this but lupins, it 
seems, are actually edible (they're legumes) and were particularly 
associated with the diets of the poverty stricken and of the Cynics 
who deliberately embraced poverty.  Lupin is certainly the most 
poverty stricken character we see in the books and at the end of PoA 
could be argued to be going back into a self imposed poverty, having 
realised the dangers to others of his staying at Hogwarts.

As a final irrelvant note, lupin seeds are bitter and need to be 
soaked before cooking to remove this unfortunate feature. The Stoic 
philospher, Zeno, compared himself to the lupin, because when well 
soaked (with wine) he too, became less bitter.

~Eloise
making a mental note to try Stoicism later in the day