JKR's Latin

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 176934

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Frank D" <frankd14612 at ...> wrote:

Geoff:
> > JKR's Latin leaves a little to be desired on occasions. Whether 

> > that is deliberate or not is open to question - perhaps some of the
> > Latin used for spells etc. has been deliberately changed.
> > <SNIP>
> >> So "herself's" Latin is decidedly suspect..... :-)

Frank D:
> I'm trying to clarify: I don't think it's stated anywhere that spells
> or curses must be in schoolbook Latin. It's obvious that so many of
> them are not (e.g., "Alohamora," "Avada Kedavra"). Of course, this
> inconsistency could be attributed to each spell originator's having
> used his/her own desired name or language for a particular spell.
> Have we been given any guidance by JKR as to preferences or rules
> for naming spells?

Meann also wrote:
> I don't believe JKR ever claimed that the spells have to be in Latin.
> She did use some Latin-based words, but I believe most of the time,
> she is just using words that simultaneously sound familiar to readers, 
> conjure up images in the readers' minds of what the spells are 
> supposed to do, and yet have this sort of mysterious and arcane 
> flavour. For example, "Wingardium Leviosa" may sound Latin-ish, 
> but as you said, it isn't. However,  it actually conjures up an image 
> in my mind of objects levitating whenever that spell is used.  

Geoff:
I visualise many spells developing among European wizards. In the 
centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin continued to 
be the lingua franca between nations partly because it was the 
language of the educated and also the influence of the Catholic 
church which was not challenged until the Protestant churches began 
to grow in the 15th/16th century and certainly the first English and 
German Bibles were printed. This would mean that well-educated 
people would speak good Latin which is why I find JKR's somewhat 
mixed up spells a trifle incongruous.

We know that there are spells which do not use Latin – `Avada 
Kedavra' as an example which uses Aramaic. Some of JKR's spells 
are definitely odd; `Alohamora' has been analysed as a mixture of 
Hawaiian and Latin!! We also have at least one example which uses 
ordinary English, namely `Stupefy' while `Scourgify' is close to 
modern English and `Obliviate' sounds like the offspring of
oblivious and obliterate.

I'm not sure that I would agree that some of these words sound 
familiar to readers. I recognise many word roots because I took 
Latin to exam level at school and not everyone has the opportunity 
to do that nowadays I must admit that `Wingardium Leviosa" did 
not conjure up any images until after I read its effect.

I'm still of the opinion that JKR's Latin is bad; she may have studied 
it and forgotten much of it or possibly put the spells together with 
the help of a Latin dictionary. But it's an interesting topic to theorise 
on as a change to dealing with the moral maze or Marietta.. :-)