Greatest Wizards of the Harry Potter Universe
Lord Voldemort
This is by far the most fascinating name. de mort is very obviously French. Of Death is what I understood, but I didn’t know what Vol meant. I had to ask my aunt, who was a French teacher. She asked me to look up a French pun, whose origin is as follows: When Napoléan Bonaparte- YES!! I can make accents with Lion! Sorry, couldn’t resist showing off- so when Napoléan seized the estates of the surviving nobles before the Revolution, one of them said, C’est le premier vol de l’aigle, which means it is the first flight/theft of the eagle. This would translate the name to flight/theft of death. Other possible origins could be velle- / volens- (wanting [others’] death). It could also be voile, meaning a veil(of death?) that could be related to the veil in the Ministry of Magic. Rowling stated that the ‘t’ at the end of the name was meant to be silent. And it was, in the first few audio books. Till the movie came out, that is, after which they had to modify and re-release the audio books. So, if you pronounce his name as Voldemor, it could originate from vol d’amour- flight/theft of love? Flight from love definitely makes sense. He was also born of a loveless union. But I feel the root was death, rather than love, especially since he continually refers to his fear of death.
A more obvious explanation would be from the Knights of the Round Table. If anyone remembers the English textbook stories, in the years before King Arthur, an evil wizard named Voldemortist tried to kill Merlin(Dumbledore? The beard and everything.) but was instead defeated by Merlin using a paralyzing charm(Petrificus Totalus?) and fed to a three-headed dog(Fluffy, anyone?).
One last theory that can be incorporated as well was revealed after a little googling- the character M.Valdemar from Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘Facts in the case of M.Valdemar’ (which many people still widely believe is true), was put into a hypnotic trance at the moment of his death. What follows is a highly gory medical description, but he ultimately returns as a rotting mass of flesh, which we all know was what Voldemort was before he regained his body.
A last crazy idea is that Voldemort pronounced without the ‘t’ sorta kinda rhymes with Dumbledore.
Albus Dumbledore
I remember reading in Bombay Times that Dumbledore in Old English means bumblebee, and Rowling named him so because she imagined him to be ‘busy as a bee, bustling around in the Hogwarts Castle. He is also passionate about music, so is always humming’, or something to that effect. Albus seems to have come from the root Alb- which means white, as in Albino. The words Alps also comes from the same root. Thank you, Word Power Made Easy. Studying for GRE definitely has its advantages. Notice that Albus, mentor to our hero, as white, which signifies pure and clean is diametrically opposite to the antagonist, the Dark Lord. This was definitely intentional and a very similar analogy can be drawn between Gandalf the White(previously Gray) and Sauron, the Dark Lord. In fact, many similarities are observed when it comes to Gandalf and Dumbledore. Gandalf can be broken into Gand- that stands for staff(duh!) or wand. Yes, WAND. Alf- is a modification of elf(Gandalf is implicitly understood to be a more powerful form of an elf), whose root is the word Alb. On an side note, Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in the films is openly gay. Rowling has also mentioned that Dumbledore was gay, and his ‘greatest tragedy’ was falling in love with Gellert Grindelwald; this also offers and explanation as to why he flirted with the idea of wizard domination over muggles- “He lost his moral compass completely when he fell in love and I think subsequently became very mistrustful of his own judgement in those matters so became quite asexual. He led a celibate and a bookish life." Does your brain feel fuzzy yet? Lastly, Ian McKellen was actually offered the role of Dumbledore.
Severus Snape
Severus, the root of the word ‘severe’ means ‘stern’ in Latin. Septimius Severus, also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor sometime around 200AD, known for his killing of the Early Christians. After deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus(reminded me of Dudley), Severus fought his rivals, the generals Pescennius Niger (alluding to Phineas Nigellus Black) and Clodius Albinus (Albus Dumbledore). Severus defeated Albinus a few years later(maybe pointing to Snape killing Dumbledore?).
J. K. Rowling has said that she took Snape from an English village in Suffolk. There is also a village called 'Snape' in Yorkshire, which was rebuilt by the very same emperor, Septimus Severus. Snape is also a verb in English, meaning "to snub or rebuke or give a hard time to", which is what Snape constantly does with Harry. An interesting theory mentions that just like the anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle,
if you rearrange the letters in "Severus Snape" you get "Pursues Evans". This could be a reference to the fact that Snape is in love with Lily Evans and tried hard to make her reciprocate.
Why did I include Snape in this list? He was a very accomplished Occlumens and Leglimens, evident by the fact that he was in close quarters with Voldemort on so many occasions and his true intention was never revealed to him. If Snape hadn’t overheard Trelwney’s first prophecy, if Snape hadn’t loved Lily, if Snape hadn’t killed Dumbledore, if Snape hadn’t told Harry the truth at the very end, Voldemort would have never met his downfall.