HBP spoiler(ish): Hor-thingies: etymology

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:
Do
We
Still
Have
To 
Space
Things
Out?

> No, no, you were so close. Don't give up! What about this? The
> cross, metaphorically, is the Christian means of salvation. So a 
> horcrux is a "horrible cross" or an "outside the cross" way of saving 
> your soul and achieving immortality.  Jo did say these aren't really 
> secular books. (Sorry, Kneasy)
> 

I've never really understood the need to fit HP into any religious framework.
Perhaps someone could explain why numbers of fans consider it important
that it should show some sort of congruence. 
HP's just a bit of fun fantasy, isn't it? Nothing really important.
And where did she say they weren't secular?
'Not secular' implies the opposite. A delicate position for books selling to
a multi-faith readership.

Anyway, to your point. I'd be more convinced if:

1. The term hadn't supposedly been invented by wizards with no apparent
religious beliefs, or at least not one identifiable with any particular major 
Real-World belief system 

and

2. So far we've seen no evidence of overt religious iconography in the WW.

Therefore (staying strictly within the WW) the derivation is unlikely to
have come from Muggle symbology, they'd be more liable to construct
descriptive spell names from etymological roots that they are familiar with.

Naturally, whether Jo intends it to be read this way or not is up for grabs.
No doubt all will be revealed in due course.

Kneasy