Onomastic Tropes in Harry Potter and The Deathly

Onomastic Tropes in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows By Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen 1

• • Part One: Surface-Structure Schemes See Companion Power. Point Alliteration Assonance Cacophony Deconstruction Ethnicity Euphony Poetic Scansion 2

Part Two: Deep-Structure Tropes This Power. Point • Aptness • Irony • Metaphor • Metonymy • Synecdoche 3

APTNESS—GOOD GUYS: • • • Crookshanks: Cat with crooked legs Albus Dumbledore: White Argus Filch: Security Person (cf Argus Camera and Argus Peacock) from Greek Argus, a creature with a thousand eyes) Filius Flitwick (Small Charms Professor) Rubeus Hagrid: Blushes Easily (Red Faced) Neville Longbottom Maxime Olympe: Giant (Maximum + Mt. Olympus) Peeves: Poltergeist Lily Potter: (lilies symbolize purity) Pomona Sprout: (Pomona is the goddess of agriculture) Teaches Biology Arthur Weasley: Has a Weasel Patronus and Lives in the Burrow 4

APTNESS—BAD GUYS: • • • Aragog: Giant Spider (cf. “arachnid” and “Gog and Magog”) Phineas Nigellus Black: Bad Guy Portrait Fenrir Greyback: Werewolf Griphook the Goblin: Holds onto treasures at Gringotts Bank Draco Malfoy: Dragon, “malfoy” means bad faith Narcissa Malfoy: Egocentric, from the egocentric Narcissus The Inferi: Dead People in a Lake: They are “below” Rufus Scrimgeour: The Minister of Magic, in theatre, a scrim partially obscures things Dolores Umbridge: Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic and Hogwarts Professor. “Dolores” means sadnesses, and umbridge relates to shade, and shadow, cf. umbrella Lord Voldemort: Flight from Death 5

APTNESS—OTHER TYPES: • • • Professor Binn: Teaches History of Magic (what has been) Dobby and Kreacher: Dobby is a house elf who daubs up messes, and Kreacher is a creature Professor Flitwick: Teaches Charms Professor Sprout: Teaches Herbology The Thief’s Downfall (Waterfall in Gringotts Bank that washes away all charms and enchantments) 6

APTNESS—CHARMS AND SPELLS: • • Accio! L: ascendere (ascend) Aguamenti! L: aqua (water) Apparate! L: apparere (to appear) Confringo! L: confringo (to break to pieces) Crucio! L: crux (cross) Defodio! L: defodio (to dig down) Deprimo! L: deprimo (To press or sink down) 7

• • Descendo! L: descendere (to descend) Diffindo! L: diffindo (to split or cleave) Disappare! L: apparere (to appear) Duro! (Turns something to stone—makes it “durable”) L: durus (hard) Erecto! L: erectus (erect) Expecto Patronum! L: exspectare (to expect), L: patronus (protector) from L: pater (father) Expelliarmus! (Expels the Arms of an opponent) L: expellere (to drive out) 8

• • • Expulso! L: expulsare (to drive out) Fidelio! L: fedelis (faithful) Finite Incatatem: L: finitus (finished) L: incanto, incantare (to enchant) Flagrante Curse: (Makes Fire) L: flagrantia (burning, blazing) Gemino! (To Make Things Double or Multiple) L: gemellus (twin or double, cf. Gemeni—Castor and Pollox, the twins) Glisseo! (Slide)(cf. “Glissando” on a piano—sliding, cf. “glacier”) I: glissando (slipping) Homenum Revelio: (Reveals any People in the Room) L: homo (human) L: revelo (reveal) Impedimenta! L impedimentum (impediment) Imperio! L: imperium (command or order) Levicorpus! L: levis (light, not heavy, cf. “levitate” and “levity”) L: corpus (body) 9

• • Liberacorpus! L: libera (free) L: corpus (body) Lumus! (For Light) L: lumen (light) Nox! (Night or Darkness) L: nox (night) Obliviate! (To Obliterate Someone’s Memory) L obliviosus (forgetful, oblivious) Obscuro! L: obscuro (obscure) Occlumency: (Occludes Harry’s mind from Voldemort’s thoughts) L: occludo (to shut up) L: mens (mind) Petrificus Totalus! (To Petrify Someone) L: petra (stone or rock) L: totus (complete or entire) 10

• • • Priori Incantatem! L: prior (former or prior) L: incanto (enchantment) Protego (Totalum)! (For Protection, cf. Protegé) L: protego (to cover or protect) L: totus (complete or entire) Reducio! L: reducere (to draw backwards) Reparo! L: reparare (to repair) Repello Muggletum! L: repellere (to repel) Salvio Hexia! L: salveo (safe or in good health, cf. “salvation”) Sectum Sempra: (Snape’s Curse) L: sectura (cutting) L: semper (always) Stupefy! L: stupor (stupefaction) Tergeo! L tergeo (to wipe, scour, dry off, clean) 11

IN MEDIAS RES: • All Names which are Apt or Ironically Apt 12

IRONY: • Lavender Brown: Oxymoron • Regulus Arcturus Black: Good Guy • Sirius Black: Good Guy • Amicus Carrow: Death Eater • The Daily Prophet • The Dementor’s Kiss 13

• Lucius Malfoy: Bad Guy (c. f. Lucifer) • Norbert (the Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon): The name changes to Norberta when it is discovered that she is very violent and therefore female • Kingsley Shacklebolt: Oxymoron: “Kingsley” is opposite in connotation to “shackle” or “bolt” • Pius Thicknesse: Minister of Magic (is not pious, but he is “thick”—stupid) 14

• Nymphadora/Dora Tonks: Good Guy • Xenophilius Lovegood: ct. Xenophobia (Luna Lovegood’s Father) • ALL WEASLEYS ARE PURE-BLOODS, BUT HAVE MUGGLESOUNDING NAMES: Arthur, Molly, Fred, Percy, George, Bill, Ron and Ginny • Whomping Willow Tree (cf. Weeping Willow Tree) 15

Metaphor: • Bathilda Bagshot is as nutty as squirrel poo. 16

Parody: 17

Riddle: • Q: Which came first the Phoenix or the flame? • A: A circle has neither a beginning nor an end. 18

SYNECDOCHE and VISUAL IMAGERY: • Fang: Hagrid’s Dog • Extendable Ears 19

CONCLUSION THE TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE: • “Neither can live while the other survives. ” • HARRY: “I live…while he lives? But I thought… I thought it was the other way round! I thought we both had to die? Or is that the same thing? ” • ALBUS: “You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. ” (709) 20

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Harry Potter Web Sites *HARRY POTTER LEXICON: http: //www. hp-lexicon. org/ *HOW HARRY POTTER SHOULD HAVE ENDED: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Ys. YWT 5 Q_R_w *INFORMATION FOR MUGGLES: www. Mugglenet. com *J. K. ROWLING: http: //www. jkrowling. com/ *TERMINUS: www. terminus 2008. org 23