The Linguistic Features in the Harry Potter Books

Submitted by:

Nanditha Murali

1833146

Submitted to:

Prof.Dishari Chattaraj

CHRIST [Deemed to be University],

School of Business Studies and Social Sciences,

Bannerghatta Road Campus,

Hulimavu,

Bangalore - 560076
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Table of Contents
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………2

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………2
1.1 Objectives……………………………………………………………………………...3
1.2 Statement of the Problem………………...……………………………………………3
2. Literature Review……………………………………………………………………...3
3. Methodology…………………………………………………………………………..4
4. Analysis………………………………………………………………………………..5
4.1 Translation Issues…………………………………………………………..………….5
4.2 Latin roots and etymology……………………………………………………………..6
4.3 Reporting verbs………………………………………………………………………..8
4.4 Adjectives……………………………………………………………………………...9
5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………11
6. References……………………………………………………………………………13
6.1 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………..13
6.2 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….14
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to explore the magical world of Harry Potter, far beyond the
spells and potions through a detailed, structured study. In today’s world, where we read not
just along the lines, but between them, it is important to understand the intricate details of
each scene and why it is what it is. This paper throws light on the influence of linguistic
features in the present day. It goes on to describe elaborately the role of nouns, reporting
verbs and adjectives in the depiction of characters as heroes and villains. With several
examples and details being involved, this study addresses the stereotypical assumptions
formed by the readers.

Keywords: Linguistic features; Heroes and villains; Stereotypical Assumptions.

1. Introduction

From being a single mother to becoming one of the most successful authors in the
whole world, J.K. Rowling has lived the classic ‘rags-to-riches’ life. The pathway to her
success was the first book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone. First rejected by 12 publishers, it is one of the greatest bestsellers now. Everything
changed for us when we read about the skinny boy living in the cupboard under the stairs.
This book was followed by six others in the next few years. Gaining immense popularity,
J.K. Rowling wrote three more books for a charity ‘Lumos’ which she started in 2005. These
three books were partly related to this series, but not actually a continuation of it. Then came
the phenomenal movies, which brought all our favorite characters to life. The craze for Harry
Potter never went down. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was also brought to life by the
Universal Studios. Movies, theme parks, merchandize, plays, games and whatnot; who would
not agree that Harry Potter is a literary phenomenon? But reading for only aesthetic pleasure
is long gone; it is time to dive into the details of how language has a major hold on how we
understand the depiction of each character or a scene. This paper focuses on the difficulties
put forward in translation and in turn, not being able to convey the portrayal of scenes and
characters as intended.

Twenty years later, the Harry Potter series hold us all in a tight knot still, and make us
keep coming back for more. Yet, the true magic lies in the way J.K. Rowling was able to
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enchant us by means of language and hold us in a knot. With linguistic blocks and lexical
cement, she has built a world for us to escape the reality. It is a world full of heroes and
villains, dragons and phoenixes, castles and mansions, monsters and giants, spells and
potions, and whatnot. But is that all? Do we read novels just to escape the exhausting reality?
It is not solely the conflation of words that helps us to capture this world of magic, but also
the construction of social reality within the illusionary world. This paper will help us to delve
into such details.

1.1 Objectives

➢ To explore the linguistic features and understand the word play throughout the series.
➢ To study the role of certain linguistic features of the books in the present-day world.
➢ To analyze the possible problems faced when the books are being translated, due to
certain linguistic constraints.
➢ To look at the influence of Latin on the etymology of several words.
➢ To understand the construction of a character through concepts like nouns, adjectives
and reporting verbs.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

➢ The emphasis is on how adjectives, verbs and nouns play a major role in depicting a
character’s personality. This paves a way for stereotypical assumptions about the
character, that is, if he/she is a hero or a villain.

➢ When these books are translated into various languages, certain details tend to change
and the original element of the language is lost.

2. Literature Review

Muggles are trying to bring back some magic into this world; they do not read The
Harry Potter series anymore to escape the reality temporarily, but actually analyze the text
and get to the deeper roots of the linguistic features in it. And yes, ‘muggle’ is now a word. It
was added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2003. Another word which was recently added to the
Oxford Dictionary is ‘Quidditch’ in the year 2017. A potential problem lurking in the
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perspective of language is the translation from British English to the American English.
There are several words with different spellings, phrases that the British commonly use which
are unheard by the Americans. The need to translate this text is to make sure that the
Americans do not feel alienated by the British language. Another point of relevance is the
title Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which became Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone mainly because the Americans are not aware of the ‘Philosopher’s stone’
which is a myth originated in the European countries. Also, the books have been translated
into 80 different languages across the globe. The translators faced several problems because
of the new made-up words and spells introduced in the books, not sure whether or not to
translate certain phrases. Despite all the word plays, the translators have been successful in
translating this book to their regional languages.

The characters’ personalities can be revealed by their names and the words that make
up those names. For example, consider the villain of this series, Voldemort. The words
making up his name, volde and mort “implies a definite characteristic of Voldemort himself.
He is the will of death, it is his will that those who oppose him shall die” (Morris 9). The
depiction of characters is done in several other ways, each of them hidden in language. This
can be seen through adjectives used to describe them or their actions. For example, Harry is
described to have “jet black hair”, whereas Professor Snape’s hair is just “black” and
“greasy”. Also, another feature that stands out is the eye colour of each character. Harry has
“bright green” eyes, which implies some sparkling energy as if he was very special. Lord
Voldemort has red eyes and that is rarely associated with good characters (Nygren 22). Also,
reporting verbs too determine whether the author is implying if a certain character is positive
or not. But then, it is always people’s opinions that decide whether a word is negative or
positive. The word itself is neither positive nor negative, but gets rated by the community in
which they are used (Nygren 17). For example, Draco Malfoy’s speech is considered to be
negative because it is written that he “sneered” or “snapped”. These words are generally
considered to be negative only because getting angry is considered as a negative trait in a
person by the society. There are several points like these; a critical analysis of the text helps
us to note them all.

3. Methodology
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This research paper delves into several topics, both qualitative and quantitative, and
thus the approach to the research can be classified as mix-method approach. The qualitative
part of the study mainly focuses on the influence of Latin in the Harry Potter books, the
translation issues and the adjectives used to describe certain characters and its effects. This is
majorly done by a thorough reading of all seven books, which were my primary sources,
along with different papers, websites and articles as my secondary sources. The quantitative
part of the study includes the analysis of how many reporting verbs have been used by certain
characters, but is narrowed down only to the first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone.

4. Analysis

4.1 Translation Issues

The magical world of Harry Potter has a major influence in the real world, in ways
more than just being an escape from reality to the readers. This literary phenomenon has its
own impact on the English language, we have seen twice before when The Oxford English
Dictionary introduced two new words “Muggle” and “Quidditch” in the recent times.
According to The Oxford English Dictionary, the term “Muggle” means “a person who is not
conversant with a particular activity or skill”. The term “Quidditch” means “a team sport
played while straddling broomsticks, in which goals are scored by throwing a ball through
any of the three hoops fixed at either end of the pitch”. According to The Oxford English
Dictionary Online, in the honor of the series’ 20th anniversary, more words influenced by
Harry Potter will be added to the dictionary if they gather enough evidence of widespread
usage. But the same terms can be potentially problematic when the focus is on the issue of
translation. Harry Potter is translated to various languages due to popular demand.

The most challenging part is the translation of culture itself. The environment in the
books is decidedly British, from the very place Harry lives with his relatives, to virtually
everyone having tea and crumpets in the afternoon. In the Chinese version of these books,
there is a footnote for the word ‘Cornflakes’ which describes it as “these are consumed
immersed in milk for breakfast.” I wanted to keep it very British and make the readers
understand they are in Britain, says Jean-François Ménard, the French translator. One way to
do this was to translate invented words and names in a sort of anglicized French: “Snape”
became Rogue, “Slytherin” became “Serpentard”, and the British word “Bagman” became
Verpay, from the acronym VRP, describing someone engaged in door-to-door sales
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(Goldstein). Lena Fries-Gedin, the Swedish translator, transplanted the entire boarding school
setting onto Swedish soil. Some argue that this results in forced cultural shift and that the
books must be kept in its original form to retain its charm.

From made-up words and magic spells to regional accents and unknown creatures, the
magical world is fraught with challenges. While Harry and several other characters use the
typical English accent, characters like Hagrid use an accent which originates somewhere in
Northern England. When translated to French, Hagrid’s way of talking was simplified to
sound friendly and straightforward. Lia Wyler, the Brazilian Portuguese translator, ended up
coining over 400 words to re-create Harry’s expansive universe. The German translator,
Klaus Fritz, often found it very difficult to translate the puns used; the street “Diagon Alley”
became Winklegasse, or “Corner Alley.” Taking a broader view of the books, he reproduced
the same flow of jokes by inventing new gags making up for the lost ones.

4.2 Latin roots and etymology

Numerous words are derived from Latin language, from the Hogwarts motto “Draco
dormiens nunquam titillandus” (never tickle a sleeping dragon) to “Knockturn
Alley” (‘nocturnus’ meaning night, apt for a pretty sinister place). “Veritaserum” is a potion
that forces the drinker to answer any questions put to them truthfully; in Latin, Veritas means
truth and Serum means potion. “Felix Felicis” is supposed to be a potion that makes the
drinker lucky for a period of time. Felix is the Latin word for happy and Felicis for luck.
These terms perfectly make sense when looked into their Latin roots.

Rowling draws her spells and incantations from the Latin and all of them shed light
on the effects of these spells and incantations when used. The Cruciatus Curse (“Crucio”) is
used inflict excruciating pain on the victim. The word Cruciare literally means ‘Torture’ in
Latin. The spell “Evanesco” is used to vanish both animate and inanimate objects; it is
derived from the word Evanescet which means “Disappear.” The charm “Lumos” is used to
illuminate the tip of the caster’s wand; it is derived from the word Lumen which means “The
light.” The counter-charm for this, that is “Nox,” means “Night.” The spell “Avis” conjures a
flock of birds when used; it literally means “Bird.”

Apart from all these, even names of several characters have Latin roots. It was not a
random choice for Rowling to choose these names; they too have a deeper meaning to it and
actually describe those characters in a way. Considering the character Draco, there is a
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definite suggestion of lizard-ness to him, given the fact that the word “Draco” translates to
‘Dragon’ which is never a good comparison to a human. Furthermore, Draco is also the name
of an archon in Athens in 621 B.C. and his qualities and style of leadership has led to the
adjectives draconic and draconian which mean harsh, cruel and severe. In this series, the
terms harsh and cruel perfectly fit with the character and his behaviour; although, the name
was not revealed when Harry met Draco for the first time in Diagon Alley.

‘He’s the gamekeeper,’ said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.

‘Yes, exactly. I heard he’s a sort of savage – lives in a hut in the school grounds and every
now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed.’

‘I think he’s brilliant,’ said Harry coldly.

‘Do you?’ said the boy, with a slight sneer. ‘Why is he with you? Where are your parents?’

‘They’re dead,’ said Harry shortly. He didn’t feel much like going into the matter with this
boy.

‘Oh, sorry,’ said the other, not sounding sorry at all.

(Rowling 60)

The next time Harry met Draco in the Hogwarts Express (the train), Draco’s name was
revealed. He was harsh and cold as ever, even in this scene.

‘Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same way as your parents. They didn’t know what
was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid
and it’ll rub off on you.’

(Rowling 81)

In the case of Draco’s character, his main traits are clearly shown to be mean and cold
in the beginning. Later, when his name is finally discovered, it reinforces the readers’ pre-
conceived opinion on him. His family name “Malfoy” also helps aid this idea, because Malus
is translated to “bad” or “evil” in Latin.

Other names like Severus (Snape) also reveal some of their important traits through
their names. Severus means “Severe” in Latin; this is an accurate description of Snape
throughout the series. Another character, Bellatrix is one of the most aggressive characters in
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the series. Her name Bellatrix means “Female warrior” and also “Aggressive” or
“Combative” which goes hand-in-hand with the way she is depicted in the books. The
character of Lupin is shown to be a werewolf. Interestingly, Lupus means “of, like, or relating
to a wolf or wolves.”

Some names are derived from the Gods and Goddesses in Roman Mythology; though
a little vague, it is definitely noticeable. Professor McGonagall’s first name is “Minerva”
which is also the name of the Goddess of Wisdom in the Roman Mythology. Her character
has been portrayed as a very powerful and intelligent woman throughout. Although a little
vague, there is another connection between the character Quirinius Quirell and Janus, because
he is sometimes called Janus Quirinius. He is usually depicted as having two faces. This can
refer to Quirrell having two faces, while aiding Voldemort, in Harry Potter and The
Philosopher’s Stone.

4.3 Reporting verbs

Table 3: The frequency of some reporting verbs and their usage by few characters
(in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone).

Harry Ron Hermione Voldemort Draco Snape Quirrell

Asked 58 2
Gasped 10 3
Whispered 10 5 2 1
Muttered 7 1
Suggested 2
Cried 2
Shrieked 2 1
Snapped 2 1
Screamed 1
Screeched 1
Snarled 1 1
Shouted 1 1
Sneered 1
Laughed 1
Murmured 1
Stammered 1
Cut in 1
Spat 1

Harry, Ron and Hermione appear to be rather humble because they are associated
with terms like “asked” and “suggested” rather than use words like “demanded” or “yelled”.
 Murali 9

Voldemort is an important character, yet he is still the most mysterious one initially, that is,
in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. But on the rare occasions that he is shown, he is
reported to have “shrieked”, “screamed”, “screeched” and “snarled”. These terms are
generally considered to have negative connotations, rather than positive. For example, the
word “snarl” has two meanings, where the first says “make an aggressive growl with bared
teeth” and the second “say something in an angry, bad-tempered voice”. It is rather obvious
that the word has no positive side to it and thus gives an idea about the character of
Voldemort himself. Draco is seen to have used words like “snapped”, “shouted” and
“sneered” which indicated anger and contempt. This is also, again, considered to be negative
because being angry is considered to be a bad thing in this society.

The heroic character like Harry, Ron and Hermione are shown to be decent whereas,
villainous characters like Draco and Voldemort are clearly shown to be rather harsh. This
gives us the clear picture as to who the hero or villain could be. But, this can go wrong when
the example of Quirrell or Snape is considered. Quirrell is shown to have used “stammered”,
“murmured” and “whispered” which helps us form an image of him being soft and innocent;
whereas, Snape is associated with the terms “snarled”, “cut in” and “spat” which gives us the
idea of a rather mean character. The turn of events in the end of first book leads to the readers
finding out that Snape was the good one while Quirrell was actually the one helping
Voldemort kill Harry. Thus, reporting verbs associated with various characters can lead to
stereotypical assumptions about them which may or may not turn out to be correct.

4.4 Adjectives

Along with reporting verbs, adjectives used to describe a character too plays a major
role in understanding if they are heroic or villainous. Language is a powerful tool that the
author uses to portray each of the characters. Adjectives have different positive and negative
connotations associated with them and thus enables the readers to decide if a character is
“good” or “bad”. It is in the writer’s hands to make a character look ugly or beautiful. Certain
way of describing a beautiful character might have a connection with the fact that the
character is a “good” one.

Harry Potter:

As a baby, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry’s first description goes
like this: “Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped
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cut, like a bolt of lightning.” (Rowling 17, 18). Here, the emphasis is clearly on the scar. If a
villain had a scar, it might have been described as something very ugly and irregular instead
of this. Later, when Harry is a 10 year old boy, he is described to be “small and skinny for his
age” (20) and that he “had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair and bright green eyes” (20).
Instead of just describing his eyes as green, Rowling chose to call it as “bright” green eyes,
wanting to make it sound more special. He is not particularly fond of himself: “The only
thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was
shaped like a bolt of lightning” (20). When Harry met Mrs.Weasley for the first time in the
train station, she admires his politeness: “He was ever so polite when he asked how to get on
the platform” (73). Such descriptions in the initial stages of the first book helps the readers to
get a good impression on Harry and easily like him.

Albus Dumbledore:

The Headmaster of Hogwarts appears in the very beginning of Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone and is described as: “He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver
of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long
robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes
were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and
crooked” (Rowling 12). His description immediately gives us the idea of an old man who is
very wise. His light, bright and sparkling eyes hints that he someone who is intelligent and
powerful and definitely does not sound like a description of a negative character.

Dolores Umbridge:

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry thought she looked like “a large,
pale toad. She was rather squat with a broad, flabby face, as little neck as Uncle Vernon and a
very wide, slack mouth. Her eyes were large, round and slightly bulging” (Rowling 134). Her
voice is described to be “fluttery, girlish and high-pitched” (134). Later on, she speaks: “with
a simper that left her big, round eyes as cold as ever” (134). There is clearly nothing pleasant
about her appearance. Her description immediately pushes the readers to dislike her.
Everything about her physical appearance sounds as unpleasant as she is later portrayed to be.

Lord Voldemort:

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Voldemort is described as follows:

“Where there should have been a back to Quirrell’s head, there was a face, the most terrible
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face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a
snake” (Rowling 212). Later, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, his physical appearance
is further described: “The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry… and Harry
stared back into the face that had haunted his nightmares for three years. Whiter than a skull,
with wide, livid scarlet eyes, and a nose that was as a snake’s, with slits for nostrils”
(Rowling 558). Red eyes are usually associated with evil because it is uncommon. Nothing
about his features strikes the readers as innocent or kind. His description creates an aura of
terror and brings about fear in the readers’ heads. All these adjectives are used in such a way
that there is a definite tone of negativity in it.

5. Conclusion

This paper is defined by five different objectives that it hopes to have achieved. The
main one being, the importance of the intricate linguistic details provided throughout the
books. Language plays a major role in every writing, but here, it need not necessarily refer to
only English. Rowling has derived several words from Latin for different characters’ names,
spells, places and much more. The readers barely notice the etymology and meaning behind
these words, but there is much more to just sounding good. Every word derived from Latin
has a certain reason behind it and it is not something that is obvious to every reader. This
paper throws light on that to make the readers understand the world beyond something as
simple as a creative magical world. Furthermore, another discussion is about how these
words pose a threat to the translators. With so many made-up words and myths, the books
loses its originality when translated. It goes on to talk about how some translators overcame
these obstacles.

Language, being the most powerful tool of a writer, helps achieve the goal of a writer
to make the reader believe exactly what the writer implies. Classification of the characters
into good or bad is mostly based on the description provided and some methods to depict
their behaviour. But it is not entirely dependent on it, this paves a way to stereotypes and pre-
conceived notions about the characters, just as the writer wants the readers to do. This has
been covered in the paper in detail, with a defined structure such that these have been divided
into different methods of using the linguistic features. These features are so important in
determining whether a character might be good or bad. Though Rowling is criticised to have
used many adjectives, there is clearly a reason as to why she has done it. The heroic
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characters clear-cut difference in its description when compared to a villainous character’s

description.
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6. References
6.1 Works cited

Morris, R. M. J. The Function and Etymology of Proper Nouns in the Work of J.K.
Rowling. http://www.fallen-angel.co.uk/essay/

Nygren, Åsa. Essay on the Linguistic Features in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone. Stockholm University, Department of English, Spring 2006, pp.:1-
24. www.diva-portal.org/diva/getDocument?urn_nbn_se_su_diva-1283-1_fulltext.pdf

OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2018.

www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/11125

Goldstein, Steve. “Translating Harry – Part 1: The Language of Magic.” Bytelevel.com, 2005,
https://bytelevel.com/global/translating_harry_potter.html. Accessed 25 September 2018.

“Why Latin was so important to the Harry Potter books.” Pottermore.com,

https://www.pottermore.com/features/why-latin-was-so-important-to-the-harry-potter-
books. Accessed 28 September 2018.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Bloomsbury, 1997.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Bloomsbury, 2000.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bloomsbury, 2003.
 Murali 14

6.2 Bibliography
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Bloomsbury, 1997.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Bloomsbury, 1998.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Bloomsbury, 1999.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Bloomsbury, 2000.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bloomsbury, 2003.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Bloomsbury, 2005.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury, 2007.