Fluffy...

[Holly Golightly]

I know that this isn't exactly a rumour, but I coudn't think of anywhere else to put it... maybe an "interesting things that I might have come up with" section???

Anyways, when looking up that Perseus stuff, I found this...

Cerberus is one of the offspring of Typhoeus and Echidna. It is a three headed dog with a snake tail and snake heads proturding from his back. He guards the entrance to the underworld, allowing the dead to enter but, never to leave. One of the few living mortals to get past Cerberus was Orpheus who charmed it to sleep with his song during his attempt to rescue Eurydice from death. Fetching Cerberus from the underworld and displaying him to King Eurystheus was the last labor of Heracles .

Now, I know it's not identical, butn otice the similarities to Fluffy! I'm wondering exactly how much effort JK puti nto these books, because as I was going through the page *it had a whole list of greek mythology creatures and other stuff* I found other creatures, very similar to some of those in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'.

I think it's jsut phenomonal the amount of work JK put in... either that or she is one lucky guesser!!! hehehe!

[Hermione]

She put in the work- she's not a guesser

For instance, the name Lupin comes from the Latin word for wolf, which makes sense, since Professor Lupin is a werewolf.

The spell "Immobilus" "ennervate" and others also probably have latin roots in them. And I think 'Albus' means white in Latin, though I could be wrong.

[Scellanis]

yep, i definately think she put in the work....

another example...aragog actually means giant spider.....

if she was guessing she wouldnt guess right so many times would she

[Blaise Zabini]

Yay! This is my favourite Harry Potter subject! Nearly all of the spells, character names, and places have some grounding in classical literature and foreign languages.
Among the many that I've noticed:
Accio - The Summoning Spell - From the Latin accio, 'To Summon.'
Animagus - From the Latin ani-, a root meaning 'Animal' and magus, the Latin for 'Wizard.'
Apparecium - The Appearance Spell - From the Latin appareo, meaning 'To Become Visible/To Appear.'
Argus Filch - Argus was a legendary figure from Greek mythology who had one hundred eyes. Argus was used by the Goddess Hera to watch over her husband Zeus so that he would be unable to carry on his affair with Io. The story goes on and on, but Argus is basically associated with watchfulness and supervision.
Avada Kedavra - The Killing Curse - From the Aramaic for 'Let the Thing Be Destroyed.' It's the original spelling for Abracadabra, as well.

[Mistress Siana]

You're right Minzhi, 'Albus' means white...and in addition to 'Lupin' meaning wolf, Remus and his brother Romulus, the founders of Rome, where raised by a wolf.

A few other that I find quite amazing:
Sirius: Dog Star (brightest star in the 'dog'-constellation)
Malfoy: from french, mal foi=bad faith
Salazar: Former dictator of Portugal, believed in the superiority of pure bloods
Draco: means dragon, was the name of the first legislative in Athen who became famous for his 'draconian' cruelty
Lucius: from Lucifer, the fallen angel...interesting connection,hm?
Minerva: goddess of wisdom
Severus: without friendliness, severe, also cruel
Voldemort: french, vol de (la) mort=flight of death
Ronald Weasley: In a British (?) legend, there is a knight called Running Weasle who had a yellow rat (remember when Ron tried to colour Scabbers yellow?) that later on tried to kill him. I love that one!

[Sacred Guardian]

wow, i love this kind of stuff, my teacher has a book that gives the history of words, it's very interesting

[azn wizard]

hermionie also happens to be a greek goddess...

wonder if harry potter and quiddich haz a special meaning...

[Holly Golightly]

About the JK just being a good guesser, I was joking hey!

I can see the smount of research that must have gone into all the names and creatures, those with Latin references, born from mythology, and even things like Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort...

I am curious to know how everyone finds out these Latin meanings of words though, I would dearly love to have somehwere that I could jsut look them up! Please tell me where you find them!!

[Mistress Siana]

hm, I guess that won't help you, but I found them in my latin dictionary...I've always know that there'd be a day where 5 endless years of learning Latin in school would finally pay off!

[Hermione]

Azn wizard- Hermione isn't a goddess, she's just Helen of Sparta's daughter. Read up on your Greek Mythology, for Zeus's sake!

[Neo]

Harry Potter hasn't a very complex explanation: Harry is the name that Jo likes the most, and the Potters were her neighbors when she was a kid.

[Holly Golightly]

hrmm,Neo, that's just not half as interesting as all the Latin/Greek mythology stuff...

Maybe I'll go out and getmyself a Latin dictionary...

[Sacred Guardian]

yeah, it might be interesting, but has no meaning

[Neo]

I didn't mean to make an interesting comment, it is just what Jo said (if she had had a son, then Harry would be named different)
And you can check the latin root, but I'm not usre it will be very interesting.

[azn wizard]

Azn wizard- Hermione isn't a goddess, she's just Helen of Sparta's daughter. Read up on your Greek Mythology, for Zeus's sake!

oh really? my bad...itz been a while since i studied it...