Some links for Larkin

Miss Larkin overheard me talk about an interesting Harry Potter blog with somebody in class the other day and I didn’t manage to catch her after class so she suggested I blog them to her as it’s easier! I’ve found these really interesting, even if Ms Morgan doesn’t consider HP to be Literature!

http://www.mugglenet.com/2014/11/seven-obstacles-for-seven-books/

http://www.mugglenet.com/2014/11/symbols-for-social-change-in-harry-potter/

http://www.mugglenet.com/2014/10/the-importance-of-words/

The last one is especially interesting regarding the etymology of spells, all healing spells are in Greek (the language of medicine), work-related spells are in Latin (most English words related to work are derived from Latin!). An interesting example of etymology in the books is “Wingardium Leviosa” – the levitation spell:

wing, from the Old Norse vængr, which referred to the wing of a bird

arduus (Latin), meaning “high” or “steep”

levitas (Latin), meaning “lightness”

Another interesting thing I found out about the book is the use of “chiastic structure” in JKR’s writing, as displayed in the following image:

I know that this isn’t to do with the course but I thought Miss L (and others!) would find this as interesting as I have!

Thanks for reading,

Jack

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