Fridge logic. Not every inconsistency has to be an actual plot hole.

On another, and complete random note, does anyone know where JKR came up with the term Auror? I'm doing some reviewing, and came across the (ancient) Hebrew term, ʾārar that means, "to curse or banish."

Most likely coincidence, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

 

Because the muggle police are called 'Coppers', as that was what their badges were made from. Magical police must be better, so they have gold badges- hence, Aurors. If their badges had been silver, they might have been called Argents.

 

Copper badge or gold badge, they're both still law enforcement argents.

 

...and Ardames?

 

That's the derivation of "Cops"? Never knew. I don't remember reading about Auror badges however. Is that (reasonable) speculation, canon, or post-canon from JKR?

 

Y'know, I was firm in my belief that it was a JKR explanation until I went looking for it and came up short. Perhaps Pottermore will shed more light on the matter when they get into Book 5.

EDIT: What's worse is that I have been proceeding from a false assumption. According to Snopes, the derivation of cop and copper had to do with the original meaning of 'cop'- to seize. Of course, JKR may have made the same false assumption, but we're in the tall grass of conjecture at this point.

(It does explain the origin of the phrase 'It's a fair cop'. I feel informed.)

 

IIRC, JKR said something in an interview about the Hebrew translation that was already provided, using the word's meaning (curses, banishment, etc.) to connote their association with Dark wizards and magic.

The word "Auror" is also one letter away from Aurora, which is Latin for 'dawn,' I believe. Either one makes enough sense.

EDIT: It also wouldn't be the first time she had borrowed from that language group. Avada Kedavra, if I'm not mistaken, means "let it be destroyed" in Aramaic.

 

Well smack my arse . . .

Aramaic: ʾǎḇǎḏ (pronounced e'vad, though coming into english, the first letter would be changed to an "A") means to perish or be ruined. Though I'm somewhat out of my depth with Aramaic as opposed to Hebrew, I'd make the guess that the "a" on the end is the infinitive form of the verb.

Kedavra is more difficult however. kiḏ·ḇā(h) pronounced, kid'vah (though a false reading would put an "e" after the "d" for kid(e)avra) means something that is misleading or false, in this particular form, it means specifically, a lie.

The other possibility here is a word that is only attested once in Aramaic, though it makes a lot more sense. It comes from the root meaning "word" and is only found in the Targum of Jonathan. In Hebrew, it'd be "according to the (or this) word," though I'm not sure how it'd play out in Aramaic, though very similar, (according to this manner? I'm not sure). If that was it, then it could very well mean, "Perish according to this word."

Though again, there's a good bit of speculation in that last paragraph.

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And now I understand the origin of "to cop a feel." Never could figure out what "cop" and "feel" had to do with each other, unless you're a Texas state trooper.

 

No no, it's pretty accurate.

Avada Kedavra is basically JKRs twist on Abracadabra which itself came to be used by stage wizards based on a gnostic talisman where you'd write it out subtracting a letter each time. The meaning of the talisman basically being read as "Vanish as/with this word." with the word 'vanishing' as it shrunk down to nothing, whatever illness/curse it was being used to ward against would diminish and vanish away to nothing as well. Except, you know, in JKRs version its their life that just vanishes away to nothing without a trace.

 

It's from the wiki, which is usually unreliable, but they have JKR's actual quote.

EDIT: ninja'd

 

Pretty much this in a nutshell.

 

Why is DLP so epic? Today's my birthday and DLP was the only site that sent me a birthday e-mail

Not Xbox Live. Not even Reddit.

DLP <3

 

Because you bothered to enter the correct data and make it accessible??

 

If Harry were to play professional Quidditch in the British Isles' League, who do you think he'd play for?

 

I like that last one...I'm gonna use that.

 

Why would the Weasleys stay at Burrow after Dumbledore confirmed that Grimmauld passed on to Harry properly, by the elf-test?

It might be said that they had moved out and didn't know that it was already safe to move in, but not only do they spend the rest of the summer there, when Harry has a christmas holiday in his sixth year, he's in Burrow again.

Why did they chose Burrow that time, too?
Didn't the same arguments that made them to move in Grimmauld place work? (Even if we do not actually know the true reasons) It seems to be that Burrow is less safe than London house, right?

I'd understand if Weasleys moved out of Grimmauld when Dumbledore died, but why didn't they move back in?

 

The first three because JKR didn't want the plot to go that way.

The last one was because Snape killed Dumbledore and upon the death of the secret keeper, all those that knew the secret became keepers themselves. So Snape knowing the secret meant Voldemort knew the secret. i.e. it wasn't safe anymore.

 

I think, before Dumbledore's death, he had mentioned something about improving the protections around the Burrow. So, against Death Eaters, they probably had more or less the same protections.

And if Voldemort comes calling and you're protected by anything less than an unbroken Fidelius...well, good luck, wherever you are. And though Grimmauld Place did have that protection, it was also liable to lose it at any time if something happened to Dumbledore. In that sense, it may not have mattered.

After his death, what Heather said.

EDIT: The Fidelius is also a highly restrictive way of living, maybe one that the Wesleys wouldn't have wanted, whatever protection it managed to afford them.

 

I always got the sense that it was just the house itself that was protected, not the surrounding area. Grimmauld Place was merely removed from the street, making it seem as if the two houses beside it were the only ones there. Whether or not that lends credence to the Weasley's-wouldn't-go-under-Fidelius theory... I don't know. There's certainly enough evidence in canon to write it that way in fanon.