The Founders (was:Pansy/ Re: House characteristics)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 150711

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_svirn" <a_svirn at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
> <gbannister10@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67@> 
> wrote:
> >     
> > Carol:
> > > Gryffindor to me suggests a Welsh origin: Griffith
> > > (Gruffydd) is a commmon Welsh name, and Gryffindor could be an
> > > Anglicized version of a similar name.
> > 
> > Geoff:
> > It's one of JKR's wordplays.... it's basically French.
> > 
> > Gryffindor is Gryffin d'or = golden griffin

a_svirn:
> Of course it's wordplay but it does not rule out Welsh connotations. 
> French version would be grIffin, not grYffin. 

Geoff:
This is my second attempt at replying. Yahoomort seems to have swallowed my first reply 
at 07:50 BST. It will probably re-surface mid-afternoon and I shall have to delete it
 
<sigh>

I did say it was `basically' French. If I might be pedantic :-) the French word is "griffon". 
Gryffin – and also gryphon – are older English forms of the word.

JKR has often demonstrated in her wordplays - and her spells for that matter – that she 
can be quite cavalier in her use of language.

Passing on, in message 150684, you wrote:

"Yes, well, I am properly chastised. I did not jump to any
conclusions though. I *did* say that moors can be found anywhere.
The Yorkshire Moor just the most famous."

I suspect that you are not a resident of the UK because, if you were to ask a British person 
to name a moor, the most likely answers you would get would probably be Dartmoor, then 
maybe Bodmin Moor, Exmoor – and, in the case of a Yorkshireman – Ilkley Moor(!)

The North Yorkshire Moors are a rather general area defined more by the borders of the 
National Park; the name is not historical as with the others I quoted. There is a subtle 
difference in English between the use of "moor" and "moors". The first is specific, the latter 
more general. It is rather analogous to the use of "Scottish Highlands" or "Welsh 
mountains" as descriptions of an area.