alternative title

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 169345

tassgurka <snorkack@> wrote:
> wrote:
> >
> > The swedish HP publisher, Tiden förlag, reveals their translation
of the title for HP7, "Harry Potter och dödsrelikerna" (Harry Potter 
and the Relics of Death). This alternative title was given to
translators by JK herself, as DH is very difficult to translate.
Thoughts on the alternative title? Are relics "only" referring to the
horcruxes (locket, cup)?

Leslie:
> 
> I think it's got to refer to the Horcruxes, and only the Horcruxes.
What else could it be?
> 
> We've talked about the meaning of the word "horcrux" before, as it's
an invented word, but obviously one Rowling thought about.      
> 
> The word "hore" in Old English means "whore".  "Horh" means dirt or
defilement, and "horig" (hory) means foul or filthy, and many of the
Old English words that have "hor" as their root have to do with dirt,
mud, and squalor.  Makes sense.  "Crux" means cross or center, root,
and many words associated with it have something to do with pain (in 
Rowling's world and ours as well).  
> 
<snip>
> 
> We talked a lot about the meaning of "Deathly Hallows" as well when
the title was released, but the fact that Rowling allowed the title 
to be translated as "relics of death" means that the deathly hallows
must be horcruxes, not saints or holy places or whatever.
> 
> Rowling I think is being deliberately vague by not calling it "Harry
Potter and the Horcruxes," but that title sounds rather stupid, and 
every other title has had a bit of mystery too it and why not this 
one, too?
>
Carol responds:

Well, the translators must have invented a word for "Horcrux" or used
it untranslated, so they could have used that same word in the titles.
But because (as you say) "Harry Potter and the Horcruxes" contains no
mystery at all (not to mention that it doesn't fit the patterns for
the titles, HP and the (adjective) (noun) or HP and the (noun) of
[the] (noun), I can see why she didn't choose it as her English title.

"HP and the Relics of Death" may be one of the alternate titles
mentioned on her website that she came up with and decided against
(for whatever reason) in favor of "Deathly Hallows." It isn't
necessarily synonymous with "Deathly Hallows."

In any case, I'm not convinced that "Relics of Death" (which, BTW, is
a rather horrifying title for a children's book, isn't it?) is
synonymous with "Horcruxes," which are supposed to *prevent* death
(unlike, say, the relics of a dead saint or the relics you inherit
from your great grandmother on her death). Nor am I completely
convinced that "deathly hallows" relates to objects. It could refer to
a dead person "hallow" in "Halloween" or "Hallowe'en" refers to saints
(not just holy people but good people who have died) or to a place
(the place where the dead kings are entombed in LOTR's Gondor is
referred to as "the Hallows"). I'm not going to argue the point, but
"hallows" suggests "holy" and Horcruxes are anything but.

One more note, not a point, exactly. Most of JKR's magic-related terms
are Latin or pseudo-Latin ("cod Latin," she calls it). "Crux," of
course, is Latin for "cross," so it makes sense that the "hor-" root
would be Latin as well. And "hor-" in Latin means exactly what it
suggests in English words derived from Latin: horror, horrid,
horrible, horrific. In Latin itself, we have:

horribilis -e [horrible , frightful, dreadful]

horridus -a -um [rough , shaggy, bristly; shivering with cold].
Transf., [wild, savage; unpolished, uncouth; frightful, horrible].
Adv. horride, [roughly].

horrifer -fera -ferum [causing shudders of cold or fear].

horrifico -are [to make rough; to terrify].

horrificus -a -um [causing terror , dreadful]; adv. horrifice.

horror -oris m. [bristling , shuddering; roughness of speech; dread,
fright, esp. religious dread, awe]; meton., [object of dread, a terror].

I don't think that JKR would use the meaning "whore" (even
figuratively to suggest filth) in a title for a HP book. The Latin
meaning is more appropriate both in terms of readership and meaning, IMO.

Carol, who really hopes that the "hallows" are not the Horcruxes and
will be very disappointed in Rowling's judgment if they are