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zazzander · 1 year

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Names of the Hogwarts Founders

The origins of their names (because it's fun)

Salazar Slytherin

Salazar, a surname of a noble family in Castile at the time

Slytherin, from Old English: Slideriend, "Slitherer". Likely a poetic way of saying "the Serpent".

Salazar was likely a nobleman from Castile. He settled in Hogwarts and took on apprentices. He gained the epithet "the Serpent" at some point while living in England / Scotland, perhaps while he was in the fens. We do not know his given name.

Rowena Ravenclaw

Rowena, likely coming from Hrö∂wyn. Latinised to either Ronwen, Renwein, and Romwenna. Meaning "famous spear" in Old English.

Ravenclaw, coming from the Old English Hræfnclawu.

Rowena has a very Old English set of names, so we can guess that she was English (despite canon saying she's from Scotland).

Helga Hufflepuff

Helga, coming from the Old Norse word heilagr, "blessed"

Hufflepuff, this one is trickier. I really couldn't find anything definitive for her name.

If the origin is Old English, it's probably "Húffǽlepyff". This combines three words in Old English. Huf "horned owl", fǽle "faithful, true, dear, good" and pyf "a short blast of wind". Thus meaning something like Wind of the Faithful Owl.

If the origin is Old Norse, it's more likely combining these elements: Hafli "(the name of a giant)" or Hafjall "high mountain" plus either pafi "pope" or paufi "lurker, lurking fiend". So, for example, Hafjallpaufi is Lurker of the High Mountain.

Hufflepuff is said to have come from Wales and while it's certainly possible her family settled in Wales, her name indicates they were originally Norse.

Godric Gryffindor

Godric, a straight forward first name. Old English name meaning "power of god".

Gryffindor, from Old Cornish: Grifuiddouer "[from the] lake / river of the prince". This one is a little complicated to explain. We know the location of Godric's Hollow. At the time, Cornish was spoken throught the West Country.

Old Cornish Grifuid and Old Welsh Grippiud would be Anglicised to Gryffyn or Latinised Griffinus.

Douer (later dowr) means "water, river, lake" in Old Cornish.

Therefore, this is a typographic surname. His name means, therefore Godric of Gryffindor (place).

Godric's surname confirms his origin as coming from the West Country, UK.

#hogwarts founders #salazar slytherin #godric gryffindor #helga hufflepuff #rowena ravenclaw #meta #harry potter #name etymology

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o-whats-in-a-name · 9 months

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O, What's in a Name?

Ariel

Franchise: Disney's The Little Mermaid

Origin: Hebrew (אריאל)

Meaning: Lion of God

Character Connection: The first known mention of the name appears in the Torah as the name of an angel. It's possible Disney decided on the name due to the fact that mermaids are said to have beautiful and "angelic" voices. However, it's more likely that Disney chose to name the character after the spirit from Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Like Shakesperean Ariel, Disney Ariel longs for freedom and is connected to a storm and shipwreck during which no one is harmed. Similarly to Disney Ariel, Shakesperean Ariel is also given a timeframe for when they will potentially gain their freedom (in their case it's two days instead of three).

Sidenote: It's worth mentioning that in the original text by Hans Christian Andersen, none of the characters have names.

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kizzys · 2 years

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The Umbrella Academy + Etymology

#the umbrella academy #tua #theumbrellaacademyedit #tuaedit #tua spoilers #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #lila pitts #name etymology #mine #gifs

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barbie-movie-fun-facts · 1 year

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Fun Facts about the baby name Anneliese

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dialmforolrik · 1 year

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For those wondering why Alyosha gets translated as "saver of humanity"...

#alyosha karamazov #aliocha #alexander #etymology #name etymology

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coquinespike · 1 year

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At work just now I encountered two last names:

Fonger and Peniston.

Each slapped me in the face in completely different ways but slapped me they did.

#last names #name etymology #I’m sure I could look up the meanings and origins and it would be standard stuff nbd #fonger is probably Germanic in some way #but I KNOW that the ‘ton’ suffix meant ‘town’#so that second name HAS to mean Penis Town it simply must

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antsyphon · 2 years

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the lack of encyclopedia-like sources on incredibly niche topics is disheartening

#listen man i just want to know EVERYTHING about a given thing #tbh i might make a sub blog or something just compiling all these sources to make it easier to find #research #niche interests #language of flowers #name etymology #symbolism #zoology #visual aesthetics #tattoo designs #fuckin KALE JAMES IMAGE ARCHIVE BOOKS #god why are they NO WHERE on ANY archive site

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omnist-angels · 1 year

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Don't really know where I'm going with this post, definitely going in the musings tag.

Anyways, I've been thinking about names a lot. I'm thinking of changing mine again soon.

I've been thinking about Muslim names, fae names, witch names. Jewish names, Soviet names, saint names. Multicultural names. Old names, Dead names, alive names.

Names reflecting who we are, or who our parents wished we would be.

How could I, genderfluid and omnist, ever keep a name forever?

How can anyone find a name that encompasses the entirety of their identity?

Or is that something to want at all, should i instead use my name to protect my identity? Force people to know me rather than let them assume they do?

Am I the only one who takes this so seriously? The task of naming anything gives me so much stress, naming myself is always the most difficult.

#trans #onomastics #onomatology #name etymology #musings #writing #genderfluid #namefluid

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achievementofthemajority · 4 months

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Okay, can we acknowledge the fact that everyone says the name ‘Meghan/Megan’ different? My name is Meghan and everyone in my life has pronounced it differently my entire life. My name is pronounced like ‘Meg-in’ but soooo many people say it like ‘May-gin’. I don’t correct anyone because I honestly don’t care, but we need to either acknowledge that one pronunciation is wrong or that there are two acceptable pronunciations for the same name. And that, as Meghan’s, we each have a way we personally pronounce it. If your name is any iteration of Meghan, how do you pronounce it and do people pronounce it incorrectly? Do you correct them or let it slide?

#megan #meghan #names #linguistics #name etymology #etymology

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cemeterything · 8 months

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the metatron is one of my favorite angels simply because the five year old in me is delighted by the fact that there's an actual real angel canonical to several religious texts with a name that makes it sound like a giant evil robot

#🐉#also theres no general consensus on the etymology of its name. they just named that mf like a decepticon for some reason.#angels

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o-whats-in-a-name · 1 year

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O, What's in a Name?

Alice

Origin: Old High German (by way of Old French)

Franchise: Alice in Wonderland series by Lewis Carroll

Meaning: A shortened form of the name Adelais, which is the French-ified version of the Old High German name Adalhaidis. Adalhaidis, in turn, is made up of the Proto-Germanic words from the Proto-Germanic words *aþala- (noble) and *haidu-, (appearance; kind), and the suffix -heit (-hood).

So, when put together, the name means "Of noble character or rank, of nobility."

#did you know #alice in wonderland #book series #kidlit #name etymology #name meanings #little known fact #random facts #character names #children's literature

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kizzys · 2 years

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The Sparrow Academy + Etymology

(Umbrella Version)

#tua #the umbrella academy #tuaedit #theumbrellaacademyedit #the sparrow academy #marcus hargreeves #ben hargreeves #fei hargreeves #alphonso hargreeves #sloane hargreeves #jayme hargreeves #christopher hargreeves #name etymology #mine #gifs

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barbie-movie-fun-facts · 2 years

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Elina Name History Fun Facts

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vilochkaaa · 2 months

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i did what i've been planning to do for a long time - a fem. version of Pierre..

(*n´ω`n*)

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mockingjaysnakes · 3 months

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ETYMOLOGY | The mentors, part 1.

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silvermoon424 · 7 months

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what do each of the main PMMM girls names mean?

Here's that info in one handy-dandy post:

Madoka Kaname:

Madoka: Written in hiragana, so there's no way to know for sure. But a popular interpretation for her name is that it should contain the kanji for "round" or "circle," referencing her role as the Law of Cycles. It could also be written with the character for "wish" or "ambition," the connotations of which should be obvious.

Kaname: The characters mean "deer" (鹿) and "eye"(目), respectively.

Homura Akemi:

Homura: Like Madoka, it's written in hiragana which has no special meaning. However, in the show itself Madoka takes it to mean "flame" so that's what the fandom has gone with.

Akemi: The first character (暁) means "daybreak," while the second one (美) means beauty.

Mami Tomoe:

Mami: It's written in katakana and has hundreds of potential meanings when we take all the potential kanji into account. I'm really not aware of the fandom's popular take on the meaning of her name. However, she may be named after another magical girl, Creamy Mami.

Tomoe: The character for her last name (巴) literally means "comma design," a Japanese swirl pattern. She may be named after Sailor Saturn (Hotaru Tomoe), a fellow magical girl.

Sayaka Miki:

Sayaka: Her name is written in hiragana- noticing a trend? Some of the potential meanings of "Sayaka" are "clear," "fresh," and "bright."

Miki: The first character (美) means "beauty." The last character (樹) means "tree."

Kyoko Sakura:

Kyoko: Finally we have an exact meaning! Kyoko's given name is in kanji and means "apricot."

Sakura: Even casual anime fans should know this one: it means "cherry blossom."

Bonus round: Nagisa Momoe

Nagisa: Aaaaaand we're back to hiragana. Some potential meanings of Nagisa are "beach, shore."

Momoe: The first character for Momoe (百) means "hundred", but also carries the connotation of "a lot of things". The second character (江) means "inlet" or "bay." "Momoe" could be translated as "a hundred rivers."

Thanks a bunch to the PMMM Wiki for providing etymology for every single PMMM character, including all spinoffs! Or at least for every magical girl character, which to be real are the only characters who matter.

#pmmm #madoka magica #puella magi madoka magica #madoka kaname #homura akemi #mami tomoe #sayaka miki #kyoko sakura #etymology #name meanings

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