What's In A Potter Name?
Okay, so I'm sure this isn't the first time, nor the last, that people have written about what I'm about to write, but since I'm slow to the punch I find it intriguing.
I was reading an article on werewolves at American Monster (which, by the way, is a FANTASTIC database for anyone interested in learning about the history of legendary monsters in America and the rest of the world), and in their discussion about the origin of werewolf mythology I came across this paragraph:
"he (sic) Roman's carried on the Greek tradition of retelling horrific tales of Werewolves, and even did them one better by claiming that the founders of their capitol city, Remus and Romulus, were found and reared by a she-wolf, after their uncle Amulius abandoned them into the currents of the Tiber River."
I had recognized a lot of names through Rowling's work as associating with their dispositions, but Remus is one name I didn't recognize as having a connection to anything before. And the fact that Romulus has yet to be mentioned yet in Potter means that it's possible that there will be a Romulus in the next book.
So after finding this little tidbit, along with a reference to Fenrir on the site, I decided to jump onto dictionary.com and look up some more names in the Potter universe. Here's what I found, with stuff in parentheses referring to the rest of the name for those not adept in Potter characters on a first-name basis:
Sirius (Black): A star in the constellation Canis Major, the brightest star in the sky, approximately 8.6 light-years distant from Earth. Also called Dog Star, Sothis.
(Remus) Lupin: Middle English, from Old French lupin, from Latin lupnum, from neuter of lupnus, wolflike. See lupine
Lupine: Characteristic of or resembling a wolf.
Severus (Snape): Lucius (Malfoy?) Septimius. A.D. 146-211.
Emperor of Rome (193-211) who created a military monarchy and ruled as a despot.
Draco (Malfoy): 1) A constellation in the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere near Cepheus and Ursa Major. Also called Dragon.
2) Athenian lawmaker whose code of laws prescribed death for almost every offense (circa 7th century BC)
Minerva (McGonagall): goddess of wisdom; counterpart of Greek Athena.
One for those who have read Half-Blood Prince:
Fenrir (Greyback): (Norse mythology) an enormous wolf that was fathered by Loki and that killed Odin.
And finally, one for those who read HBP and may see it as a possible spoiler for Book 7:
Regulus (Black): A bright double star in the constellation Leo.
So you have Sirius and Regulus named after stars in various constellations. Sirius is named after a star in a dog constellation, and Regulus is named after a star in a lion constellation. What that means, and if it means anything, is up to Rowling.
I was reading an article on werewolves at American Monster (which, by the way, is a FANTASTIC database for anyone interested in learning about the history of legendary monsters in America and the rest of the world), and in their discussion about the origin of werewolf mythology I came across this paragraph:
"he (sic) Roman's carried on the Greek tradition of retelling horrific tales of Werewolves, and even did them one better by claiming that the founders of their capitol city, Remus and Romulus, were found and reared by a she-wolf, after their uncle Amulius abandoned them into the currents of the Tiber River."
I had recognized a lot of names through Rowling's work as associating with their dispositions, but Remus is one name I didn't recognize as having a connection to anything before. And the fact that Romulus has yet to be mentioned yet in Potter means that it's possible that there will be a Romulus in the next book.
So after finding this little tidbit, along with a reference to Fenrir on the site, I decided to jump onto dictionary.com and look up some more names in the Potter universe. Here's what I found, with stuff in parentheses referring to the rest of the name for those not adept in Potter characters on a first-name basis:
Sirius (Black): A star in the constellation Canis Major, the brightest star in the sky, approximately 8.6 light-years distant from Earth. Also called Dog Star, Sothis.
(Remus) Lupin: Middle English, from Old French lupin, from Latin lupnum, from neuter of lupnus, wolflike. See lupine
Lupine: Characteristic of or resembling a wolf.
Severus (Snape): Lucius (Malfoy?) Septimius. A.D. 146-211.
Emperor of Rome (193-211) who created a military monarchy and ruled as a despot.
Draco (Malfoy): 1) A constellation in the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere near Cepheus and Ursa Major. Also called Dragon.
2) Athenian lawmaker whose code of laws prescribed death for almost every offense (circa 7th century BC)
Minerva (McGonagall): goddess of wisdom; counterpart of Greek Athena.
One for those who have read Half-Blood Prince:
Fenrir (Greyback): (Norse mythology) an enormous wolf that was fathered by Loki and that killed Odin.
And finally, one for those who read HBP and may see it as a possible spoiler for Book 7:
Regulus (Black): A bright double star in the constellation Leo.
So you have Sirius and Regulus named after stars in various constellations. Sirius is named after a star in a dog constellation, and Regulus is named after a star in a lion constellation. What that means, and if it means anything, is up to Rowling.
posted by Bill at 10:45 AM
1 Comments:
All of the Black cousins are have astronomical names (Bellatrix, Andromeda, etc.).
I think JKR has said that there are no plans for there to be a Romulus, but I can't remember where. It might just be that she denied the possibility of Remus having a twin brother.
Albus Dumbledore means "White Bumblebee," FWIW:-)
Er... there are more cool little details, but these are the ones I've got off the top of my head.
Back to the daily grind.
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