Weasley symbolism

[sydney_freud]

No: HPFGUIDX 187395

Hi everyone,

I don't remember where I read/heard this but J.K. Rowling was once defending the reputation of a weasel, which inspired the Weasley family name in the books. I looked up the symbolism for a weasel to see what she meant and it appears that in a lot of European countries, the animal stands for a girl that weaves continuously (hard working like Molly?), is quite rebellious and stubborn. It is also heavily related to hair (hence the red hair?) and to fertility (hence the large number of Weasley offspring?). This aggregate of descriptors might sound weird, but I can definitely see some parallels with the Weasley family. 
I got the info from Ivan Evseev's "Dictionary of symbols and cultural archetypes" (1994). 

sydney_freud