Onomastic Tropes in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

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

2. Part One: Surface-Structure SchemesSee Companion PowerPoint • Alliteration • Assonance • Cacophony • Deconstruction • Ethnicity • Euphony • Poetic Scansion

3. Part Two: Deep-Structure TropesThis PowerPoint • Aptness • Irony • Metaphor • Metonymy • Synecdoche

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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)

7. 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)

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. 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)

11. 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)

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

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

14. 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)

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

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

17. Parody:

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

19. SYNECDOCHE andVISUAL IMAGERY: • Fang: Hagrid’s Dog • Extendable Ears

20. CONCLUSIONTHE 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)

23. Harry Potter Web Sites *HARRY POTTER LEXICON: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/ *HOW HARRY POTTER SHOULD HAVE ENDED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsYWT5Q_R_w *INFORMATION FOR MUGGLES: www.Mugglenet.com *J. K. ROWLING: http://www.jkrowling.com/ *TERMINUS: www.terminus2008.org