Mollycoddling (was Re: Harry at the Dursleys / DD's feelings about it)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 118573


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> 
> Geoff wrote :
> "This has just made me sit up and think. I've never made a 
connection
>  with mollycoddling here but could this be another of JKR's tongue-
in-
> cheek name jokes? Was Ron's mother called Molly to emphasise this?"
 
Del:
> You hadn't realised it yet :-) ?
> 
> I didn't know the word "mollycoddling" when I first met Molly. But
> when I discovered that word and figured its meaning, I immediately
> realised it was another name-joke on the part of JKR.
> 
> But I guess it was easier for me. That's one of the rare advantages 
of
> having English as a second language : I can have a more distanced 
look
> on words.

Geoff:
It's not a word I use often. But I have to admit that sometimes we 
native English speakers do not necessarily stop to analyse the 
etymology of words which we use. I can think of one common English 
word for which the derivation never occurred to me until I was 
looking at its equivalent in German.

Interestingly, I followed this up and found that (1) Molly is a pet 
form of Mary but also, (2) in the analysis of "mollycoddle", the 
first part of this is given as a word for "girl".

Geoff
http://www.aspectsofexmoor.com