"Toujours pur" - Black family motto?

[Nora Renka]

No: HPFGUIDX 113935

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:

> Another question : why is the motto stated in French to start with ?
> Black is not, even remotely, a French name, so why use French ?
> 
> Del, a French woman who was surprised to read French words, and even
> more surprised that they weren't translated. Understanding what the
> schoolkids looking for Madame Maxime during the QWC said wasn't
> important to the plot, but understanding the Black motto is indeed
> important to understand that family's ideology.

Because French is the historical language of the English aristocracy, 
and having a motto like that points out both their age and their 
upper-class status.  Remember that the motto of the royal family 
is 'Dieu et Mon Droit', after all.

-Nora speaks a little French, but reads much better than she speaks