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Onomastic Tropes in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

By Don L. F. Nilsenand Alleen Pace Nilsen

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Part One: Surface-Structure Schemes

See Companion PowerPoint• Alliteration• Assonance• Cacophony• Deconstruction• Ethnicity• Euphony• Poetic Scansion

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Part Two: Deep-Structure TropesThis PowerPoint

• Aptness

• Irony

• Metaphor

• Metonymy

• Synecdoche

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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

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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

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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)

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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)

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• 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)

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• 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)

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• 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)

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• 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)

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IN MEDIAS RES:

•All Names which are Apt or Ironically Apt

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IRONY:

• Lavender Brown: Oxymoron

• Regulus Arcturus Black: Good Guy

• Sirius Black: Good Guy

• Amicus Carrow: Death Eater

• The Daily Prophet

• The Dementor’s Kiss

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• 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)

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• 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)

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Metaphor:

•Bathilda Bagshot is as nutty as squirrel poo.

Parody:

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Riddle:• Q: Which came first the

Phoenix or the flame?

• A: A circle has neither a beginning nor an end.

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SYNECDOCHE andVISUAL IMAGERY:

• Fang: Hagrid’s Dog

• Extendable Ears

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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)

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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=YsYWT5Q_R_w

*INFORMATION FOR MUGGLES:www.Mugglenet.com

*J. K. ROWLING:http://www.jkrowling.com/

*TERMINUS:www.terminus2008.org