Language Journal 30 to 52 (WC: 2,927)

There is no doubt that J.K.Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, is a genius of today’s written world. Her success story is one that any author would dream about. But not only is she incredibly brilliant and famous for these novels, Rowling is no doubt a pirate of other British authors such as Jane Austin and Charles Dickens. However, what most Harry Potter fans do not realize is how much thought and background information can be seen by just her character’s names and her magical spells or potions in the Harry Potter series. Many can be related back to mythological or biblical stories, or various roots throughout language. Common origins are Old English, Middle English, Old Norse, Latin, and some French and various Irish languages.

Harry Potter Character	Meaning/Root/Reference
Ambrosius Flume	As the founder of Honeydukes Sweet Shop, his first name most likely comes from the word "ambrosia," which means especially sweet and delicious. In mythology, in order for the gods to continue to be immortal they must consume ambrosia nectar, which is very sweet. Continuing to his last name, "flume" is a narrow tunnel or a chute that usually has something flowing through it. Combining the names, he can be seen as a supplier of sweets. Coincidentally, there is also an underground tunnel that connects Hogwarts and Honeydukes which is where ‘flume” makes more sense for this character’s last name.
Alastor Moody	Alastor is the Scottish (Gaelic) form of Alexander. It means "defender of mankind." This is a very appropriate name for an Auror and this character responsible for protecting the magical world by apprehending evil wizards. This character in particular is known for having a lot of experience in fighting dark magic. Because of his experiences, he is constantly alert to near paranoid in defending himself. This trait in his personality carries over to his last name, where is he known for not being the kindest of characters, yet he never kills until necessary.
Aragog	"Arachnid" means spider in Latin and a form in Greek, while "gog" was the name of a legendary giant in the Muslim Quran. Combined, the name means "giant spider." Also  this name possibly derived from the Greek word "agog," meaning "leader." This completely relates the character in the series, as the character is a giant spider and a leader of what appears to be all the spiders near the Hogwarts castle.
Bellatrix Lestrange	"Bella" is a construct of the word "bellic" being a reference to the Latin phrase "casus belli" which is commonly associated with war. And "trix" is a suffix borrowed from Latin to form feminine nouns. Bellatrix can therefore be compared to with her personality of starting wars when killing Sirius Black, and thriving in battles and being a part of the Death Eaters. Continuing to her last name, Lestrange can be grouped with the word "estrange" which means to turn away or to make hostile. Again, this correlates with the character’s personality very well.
Cedric Diggory	As Cedric is translated into Old English for "chief" or "warleader" this name is a great one for the character that was originally chosen to be the Hogwarts's champion the in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. As said before, Rowling is an expert pirate and choose Cedric's last name is a great example. Diggory can be related to Digory Kirke, a character from The Chronicles of Narnia. Both characters are known to be loyal with a great sense of morale.
Cho Chang	Cho is Japanese for "butterfly" and in Chinese means "autumn." As readers, we begin to view Cho very similar to a butterfly: having the beauty and grace but still Harry cannot quite "catch" her. Chang is Chinese for "free" or "unhindered." In Chinese, "chou chang" means "melancholy." This is great foreshadowing from the fourth novel to the fifth, after Cedric Diggory’s death Cho is constantly an emotional disaster and grieving.
Colin Creevey	Colin is a common Irish/Scottish name meaning "young creature."  Creevey is also a common Irish name, from Irish origin meaning "profilic." Clearly, the "young creature" definition expresses this character's innocence throughout the novels, the "profilic" is continuation of Colin's constant desire to producing many photos of Harry.
Dobby	In a British dialect “dobby” means a fatuous or foolish person.  Also, a weave of cloth that is very durable and long-lasting is called the dobby weave. This connects to the house elf character that is at first seen to be quite idiotic. But as the books continue the meaning and the character's personality because an ironic factor in the series, finding that Dobby is quite intelligent. A deeper part of all house elves that was introduced with Dobby is that they are slaves until presented clothing, which connects to the dobby weave.
Dolores Umbridge	Dolores functions in multiple languages. In the Latin origin, Dolores means "lady of sorrows or pain" (psychological or physical). In Greek, "doleros" means "deceitful," and in Spanish, "dolor" means "to have pain." Continuing to her last name, Umbridge can be grouped with "umbrage," which means to offend, annoy or displease based on the Middle English term. In Latin, "umbra" means shadow, shade, or ghost and can also be interpreted as "jealous or suspicious of another" or "standing in one's light or way."  She certainly does this for Harry. She causes a continuing amount of pain and annoyance for the main trio of the novels. Also Umbridge is constantly suspicious of Harry in the fifth novel, suspecting him of conspiracy against the Ministry and begins to shadow Dumbledore as the Ministry interferes at Hogwarts.
Draco Malfoy	Draco is a constellation that is a snake but commonly mistaken for a dragon. In Latin, Draco means "dragon." There was also a Greek ruler named Draco who developed a system of severe punishments for the smallest of crimes. "Draconian" means "harsh or cruel." In Romanian, "drac" means "devil." Continuing to the character's last name, Malfoy can be grouped with many different roots. In Latin, "malus" means "bad" and "mal" means "pale." In French, "Mal foi" means "bad faith, an act with bad intentions, or a malicious act." "Mal de foi" means a "loss of faith." The similar French phrase "Mal fait" can be interpreted as "badly made" or "evil deeds." This can be seen in Rowling's character of how Draco is continuously causing problems for Harry and his friends. Also Draco can be considered on the darker side of the series after being placed in Slytherin whose animal is the snake and his family asides with the Dark Lord throughout the novels.
Errol	This name can be grouped with the Latin term "errare" which means to wander. This accurately describes the Weasley owl that always seems to get off track when delivering the post.
Godric Gryffindor	As Godric is derived from the Old English "god" combined with "ric," meaning "God" and "rule."  In mythology, a griffin was a creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle.  In Greek, "gryphon" means protector of wealth, while in French "d'or" means of gold. All of these characteristics fit with the house and the character himself.  As one of the Gryffindor House colors is gold, the gryffin is fitting, considering lions are characterized as brave and courageous and eagles are described as being noble birds, all traits of the members of the Gryffindor House.
Tom Marvolo Riddle	A lot is considered when studying the background of this name. Tom is a shortened version of the name Thomas, originally from Greek, whose meaning is twin. This easily represents that fact that Lord Voldemort left parts of himself in a dairy of Tom's. Although the character, Tom Riddle is not a twin, he represents another version of Voldemort himself. Morvolo is a bit more complication because it has multiple meanings. The name itself implies "marvelous," but it also contains the Latin root "volo" meaning " I wish, want, will, ordain, suppose, maintain that, be willing, to mean, signify, or denote." This connects to the constant greed and desires of Lord Voldemort contained as a child. He wished, wanted, and willed for an immortal life without second-thinking the costs. "Volo" also means "to fly, speed, or move rapidly." Finally, a "riddle" is a form of word puzzle designed to test someone's ingenuity in arriving at its solution. This brings great irony to his character not only because his name transfigured turns into "I am Lord Voldemort," and also he leave a giant, perplex riddle for Harry with the horocruxes.
Minerva McGonagall	Minerva is the Roman counterpart to the Greek goddess named Athena. Both goddesses in their respective mythologies represent war, handicraft and practical reason or wisdom. This suits the character quite well to the fact that not only is she a sense of wisdom for Harry in the beginning of the series, and also fights for Hogwarts in its time of need. Continuing to her last name, in which she is called most often in the series, McGonagall is Scottish origin and is from the Celtic name "Conegal," which means "the bravest." The "Mc" in McGonagall means "son of." The bravery fits well with her first name, Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and war.
Nagini	This character is pretty straight forward in her name. In sanskrit, "naga" is a term often used to describe ambiguous, and also refers to snakes. Then adding on the female inflection, "nagi" or "nagini" refers to a female snake.
Mrs. Norris	As said before, J.K. Rowling is a fantastic pirate. A character in Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, one of J.K. Rowling's favorite authors. The character is a busybody, always into everyone's business and trying to run things the way she wants to, even though she's not really in a position of power. Although in the Harry Potter series, Mrs.Norris is a cat she stalks the grounds telling on any student not following the rules.
Rita Skeeter	Although Rita does not have much of significance to the character, other than the fact that it rhymes with her last name. However, Skeeter can have multiple meanings, not necessarily with origins but with wordplay. In today's American English "skeeter" can be defined as a mosquito. As mosquitoes have the reputation of being annoying and incessant, they have the same qualities as Rowling's character. Also, as Rita turns herself into a beetle secretly to get more information on her new article topics, Rowling does use a bit of wordplay in the fourth book with "bugging," in the sense of electronic bugging.
Severus Snape	This character is more complicated than others when finding the roots and meaning in his name. "Severen" in Middle English means to cut off. In the first five novels, Snape appears to have "cut off" his ties with the Lord Voldemort, and then with Dumbledore and the Order in Half-Blood Prince. "Severe" having the Latin origin of "severus" means cruel or strict. Both of these characteristic fit this personality quite well. He is constantly strict to the main trio of the book, and grows to become a huge fear to Neville Longbottom because of his cruelty.  "Snape" from Old Norse can be defined as to be hard on, or to dishonor is disgrace.
Sirius Black	Sirius is named after the star, Sirius, also known as the Dog Star or Great Dog. While Sirius is the Latin translation, in Greek mythology Seirios was the god or goddess of the dog star who was commonly associated with the sun or light. This strongly relates to Sirius Black, because he transfigures into a black dog throughout the series until his death. Also he tends to be a light or star for Harry because it is a sense of family and support Harry never had until Sirius's arrival in the novels. Continuing to Sirius's last name, because black can be traced back to Old Norse and Old English there are a lot of definitions for the word. Common definitions include dismal, or relations to death, or guilt. In British terms, black is another word for banning or boycotting. All of these definitions connect to the character, especially in the third book where Black is seen as a mad murderer who just escaped from prison.
Lord Voldemort	In many European languages, "mort" or "mord" refer to "death or evil." In French, "vol-de-mort" means "flight from death" (meaning escaping death). Also in French, "vol" translates as "the act of stealing," giving Voldemort's name the alternate meaning to "steal from death." This is precisely what the Lord does. He kills others in order to keep himself alive. While, do that, he barely escapes death himself when trying to murder Harry.  In Norwegian and Danish, "vold" means "violence." In Danish, "volde" means "to cause" and could be derived from the Latin "valde," meaning "great, exceedingly, strongly, powerfully." Using these definitions Lord Voldemort's name would then mean "excessive, great, or extreme death."

Harry Potter Magic	Meaning/ Root/ Reference
Accio	As Accio is the summoning charm, "accio" is the Latin word for "I summon."
Alohomora	This is a spell that opens locks. The word can be studied back to the Hawaiian word "Aloha" meaning hello or goodbye, while the Latin word "mora," meaning "obstacle." So the spell could be translated to "good-bye obstacle" or "hello obstacle" then making it disappear.
Aparecium	This word is from the Latin term "aperio," meaning to uncover, lay bare, reveal, or make clear or "apparere," meaning to make clear.  But notice how it is spelled with only one "p." This could cause the word to be grouped with another Latin term "apertus," which means "open, obvious, and public." This makes perfect sense as this spell that makes invisible ink appear, making what is written public those who are reading the invisible ink.
Arithmancy	This is also known as numerology; Arithmancy is method of fortune-telling based on names, numbers, and mathematical calculations. The word is based from the Greek, "arithmo" meaning number and "mancy" meaning prophecy.
Colloportus	When separating the word's syllables, in French "Coller" means to stick together, and "portus" means door in Latin. The spell is to lock doors.
Crucio	"Crucio" is Latin for "I torture." Also looking at the word, you can see the relations with the Latin term "cruciare" which means to torment or crucify. Crucio conjures the Cruciatus curse which tortures its victims causing excruciating pain.
Expecto Patronum	When looking at the spell incantation it is very easy to see the word "expect." In Latin, "exspectare" is to look out for, await, desire, or hope for. Also when breaking down the word "patronum", "patron" can be seen. This word, originating from Middle English has the definition of a protector of a dependant from Roman History. The Latin term for "patron" is "patronus." Hence, when putting the spell together it means "to hope for a protector." A Patronus is used to protect against a Dementor.
Expelliarmus	When breaking the spell down, it can be grouped with the Middle English term "expellen" and the Latin term "expellere" meaning to drive out or to drive away. Combining that with the multiple origins for "arma," which is currently taken from the Middle English verb "armen," then derived back to the Old French term "armere," which all mean to arm, as in weapons or tools. As this spell is a disarming spell, when fusing the two meanings together it reads "to drive out arms."
Imperio	The "Imperio" is the curse that forces its victim to obey any command given to them. This spell can be traced back to a last Latin term "imperativus" and its past participle "imperare" which means to impose, order or command.
Incendio	In today's dictionary, "incendiary" is related to setting something on fire deliberately, in both cases, as an adjective or a noun. As the spell is used to set something on fire, the word can be studied back to the Latin term "incendiarius" which translates to a fire or "incendere" which means to kindle.
Lumos	Having done some very recent studies on this word, the Indo-European root for this word is "leuk" which means light or brightness. But more recently words that the spell can with grouped with are "luminary," "lunar," and "luna;" all of which are based back to the original Indo-European root leuk-. Clearly, this root's words traveled to today's American English, but of you focus on "luminous" it shows the Middle English to Latin term "luminosus" which can be grouped with our spell in question. The result of this spell is a bright light shines from the wand of the one saying the spell.
Nox	Nox is the spell that cancels out "Lumos," therefore is takes away light, bringing darkness or night. This can be related in two main ways. The word nox can be related to the Greek counterpart Nyx, who was the Roman goddess of night. But also when the word "night" is defined, multiple origin appear such as Middle English to Old English with "niht" or "neaht." "Aox" is the Latin translation for night with the stem of noct-.
Obliviate	This spell is used to erase a person's memory. Because it looks a lot like the word "oblivious" which means unaware or forgetful. Then tracing the word back, the Latin term "oblivious" which continued onto late Middle English means forgetful.
Reducio	As this charm causes things to shrink, the incantation can be grouped with the word "reduce". Reduce means "to make smaller, or shrink back to its original size." Its origin traces back to the Middle English term "reducen" and also the Latin term "reducere " both mean "to bring back."