Nagini etymology

[brian dumby]

No: HPFGUIDX 146195

Well have been seeing these messages for sometime and I thought about sharing my knowledge about this "Nagini" name.

Yes, as people have mentioned the boa and Nagini are totally different. Boa is a non-venomous constrictor while Nagini is a venomous cobra. Nagini is a name derived from Indian word Nag (meaning cobra) and the suffix -ini denoting the female of the species.

But cobras are far from green... generally they are brown-black with a sheen. So obviously JKR has picked up an ugly looking green colour, added the diamond patterned tail (chracteristic of diamond-backed rattle snake or a diamondback water snake) and christened it with an Indian name. And also made it 12 feet long. King cobra - a distinct venomous snake (different from the normal cobra) is the longest venomous snake known around with lengths of 12 feet or more. Sure there are other long snakes but mostly in the the non-venomous category like pythons, anaconda etc.

BD