Horcrux Harry ???

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 140195

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

darqali: 
> > > How is "horcrux" pronounced?  Is there agreement?  And what is 
> the 
> > > proper plural?  Horcruxes?  Horcruxi?
 
Juli:  
> > The plural is Horcruxes, that's how Dumbledore says it, and it's 
> > canon, the pronunciation is trickier, but I think most agree that 
> it's 
> > pronounced as HORace... I don't agree, but...

hpfan_mom: 
> Scholastic.com has a pronunciation guide that you can get to from 
> this link:
> 
> http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/reference/
> 
> According to this guide, the plural is horcruxes, pronounced hor-
CRUX-
> es.  You can hear someone say the word (JKR?).  Not exactly canon, 
> but perhaps Krum will need help with the pronunciation in Book 7 
and 
> it will be confirmed.

Geoff:
Interestingly, since JKR has often drawn on Latin in the names of 
magical objects and spells etc., in this case she has departed from 
the original and gone down the road often used by English speakers of 
using English plurals. The correct Latin plural of "crux" is "cruces".

There was a recent discussion about the "h" being silent and some of 
us pointed out that a Latin "h" was sounded. I think the 
pronunciation given above is the most obvious. The words which 
immediately come to my mind - horticulture, hormone, Horace, Horatio, 
horn are all similar.

It should be remembered, though, that Jo Rowling has produced a 
certain amount of pseudo-Latin in the books. :-)