Horcrux: was Baptism/Christianity in HP

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 153908

> Carol responds:
> I would say that the Mugglenet etymology (which resorts to the
> *French* "dehors" [outside] plus the Latin "crux" [cross]) is also
> questionable. The Lexicon is still struggling with the etymology 
and
> has tentatively presented "time cross" (presumably from 
Latin "hora"
> [hour] plus "crux"). At least that translation has the merit of
> keeping to a single language. 
> 
> Another possibility--my own idea, though no doubt it's been 
suggested
> by someone else on some site somewhere--is that "hor" derives from 
the
> Latin word "horror," which means exactly what it means in English 
and
> was used poetically to mean "an object of dread." Seems to me that
> this etymology fits "horcrux" better than anything we've seen
> proposed, certainly better than "whore" plus "crux."

a_svirn:
I am with you on that – when it comes to etymology it's always 
better to stick to one language. Not that it makes me like the word 
better. It still sounds very unpleasant (even somewhat indecent) and 
it should be horcruces in plural, rather that horcruxes. 

Also I am rather sceptical about Mugglenet's interpretation of 
Voldemort. I may be wrong of course – my French is hopelessly rusty –
 but
 *Vol* (from French *voler*) can certainly mean both `flight' 
and `theft' which makes it perfectly OK for `theft of death' 
and `flight OF death'. But I believe `flight FROM death' is a `false 
friend'. Because voler means `to fly' in the sense to `be airborne' 
not in the sense `to flee, to escape'. The right verb for `to flee' 
is probably *fuir* (or in the reflexive form *s'enfuir* ). And the 
corresponding noun is *fuite*. (Or maybe *fugue* from *fuguer* -- 
the same root as in English *fugitive*.).  So `flight FROM death' 
would be something like Fuite-de-Mort, not Vol-de-Mort.