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| WHAT'S IN A NAME? |
| If someone decides to copy this for their homework/assignment/whatever I will NOT take any responsibility for it whatsoever. It's not my fault that that person made a decision on his/her own.I'm only showing what I've done, I'm not saying that they should cheat. |
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| In the case of Harry Potter characters, a lot. In many cases you can find out a whole lot about the character if you know what their names mean. Some are obvious, other are harder to figure out. Fanfiction writers tend to adopt Rowling's habit of using mythology to name their own characters (I'm so guilty...) |
| Accio - To "Fetch" or "Retrieve" in Latin. Alastor - "Forbidden" in Latin. Albus - "White" in Latin. Argus - In Greek mythology he was Hera's watchman. He had 100 eyes, and when 50 were asleep the other 50 were awake. Avada Kedavra - "May the thing be destroyed" in Araimic. Original form of the modern Abracadabra. Cho - "Born at dawn" or "Butterfly" in Japanese Crabbe and Goyle - If you change the first letters with each other you'll have what a snake does (Grab and coil). Crucio - Sounds awfully similar to crucify, no? Delacour - "Of the court" in French. Draco - The Snake constilation. An Athenian law giver who was known to be severe, cruel, harsh and oppresive (the word Draconian comes of his name). "Dragon" in Latin. Dumbledore - "Bumblebee" in old English. Filtwick - Medium sized town in Bedfordshire, England, about 50 miles from London. Fleur - "Flower" in French. Expecto Patronum - Expecto means "expect", Patronum means "protector" but also "father". Hagrid - In Greek myth he was one of the kindest of the gods, who got framed for the death of Perseus by Hades and was banned from Olympus. Zeus took pity in him and let him stay as the keeper of the godly beasts on Olympus. Harry - Of Harrison. "Leader". Hermes - The messenger of the gods in Greek myth. Imperio - "Control" in Celtic. Krum - "Silent" in German. Lucius - A popular Roman emprors name. Suetonius, discussing the history of the Claudian household (one of the most powerful Roman households) states: "Many different forenames and surnames were used by the members of the House, but they unanimously decided to ban the forename Lucius, because one Lucius Claudius had been convicted as a highway man and another as a murderer." Lucius is related to Lucifer, the fallen angel, or more exact, the devil. Lucifer means "bringer of light". Lupin - Of Lupus, which means "Wolf" in Latin. Malfoy - Mal means "bad" and foy means "boy". Therefor Malfoy would mean 'badboy'. Minerva - The Roman goddess of wisdom and arts. Narcissa - Taken of Narcissus, a man in Greek myth who was very beautiful and fell in love with himself when he saw his reflection in the water. He nearly starved to death watching his own reflection but the gods took pity on him and turned him into a flower that grows next to pools (Narciss). Narcisstic means vain. Potter - From possum. "To be able to" or "to be capable of" in Latin. (*hint, hint* Add Harry to the meaning and you'll have a sentence...) Sibyll - Someone who can predict the future. Sirius - The dog star. Also the brightest star in the sky. (Makes Sirius Black quite ironic) Skeeter - Mosquitoes are sometimes called 'skeeters'. Remus - From the Roman myth about the twins Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. They were adopted by a female wolf who raised them. Romulus killed Remus in a fight about the city. Severus Lucius Septimus - Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Septimus means "snake". He was a Roman empror, possibly a way to point out a conection between the Malfoys and Snape. Severus - "Mean and strict" in Latin. Was also a name for many of the early saints. Snape - A town in Suffolk, England. Voldemort - "Flight of Death" ['vol des morts', French], "Dark Lord" or "Lord of Evil", nobody seems to be sure. Shame. |