Assyrians still exist

[Sea Change]

No: HPFGUIDX 99145

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> wrote:
> Rowen  wrote:
> <snip>
> Alright, in recently rereading OotP and again pondering the
> significance of Mimbulus mimbletonia, I came across this quote by
> Neville: " ... My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria." (OotP,
> US Hardback, Ch. 10, pg. 186)
> <snip>
> However, before I delve
> into developing this theory, I'd like some feedback
> 
> Neri:
> I'd like to see a research on Wizard geography. Don't miss QttA, 
> FbaWtFT and the Lexicon. However, regarding this specific Assyria, I 
> think it was simply meant to go well with Mimbulus mimbletonia. That 
> is, a weird plant with a name that practically means something-
> undecipherable-but-vaguely-latin-like should just come from a-land-
> that's-not-on-the-map-but-sounds-vaguely-biblical.


Sea Change replies:

Perhaps Uncle Algie is more progressive than we think.  In real life,
smack dab in the center of California is a city called Ceres, and a
decently large proportion of the people living there call themselves
Assyrian. They think they've still got a homeland and are probably
interested in the current events in Iraq.  It's not much of a stretch
for me to suppose in the Wizarding world this feeling is much stronger.

It's also possible that Uncle Algie is a Great Uncle Algie, and was
around pre-WW1.  Many muslim empires had semi-autonomous regions with
names that we either recognize, or which were called by that name by
our diplomats.  The Mimbulus Mimbletonia Neville has could just be a
cutting or a meristem of the original plant. 


Sea Change, who unfortunately doesn't get on all that well with anyone
assyrian, but knows an acquaintance or two