Words that helped create ‘Harry Potter’

Why do you think JK Rowling refered to the non-magical folks in her Harry Potter series as muggles? She created the word muggle from mug, an English term for someone who is easily fooled. At the 2004 World Book Day, Rowling said: “I was looking for a word that suggested both foolishness and loveability. The word ‘mug’ came to mind, for somebody gullible, and then I softened it. I think ‘muggle’ sounds quite cuddly.” A marauder is someone who roams or goes on a quest of plunder. In Harry Potter, marauders are more mischievous than criminal. The Marauder’s

Map is a magical document that young wizards use to roam within Hogwarts and find secret passages to leave the castle. In classical mythology, a griffin—also spelled gryphon or griffon—is a fabled monster with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Legend has it that griffins were brave, strong and wise. In the wizarding world, the symbol of Gryffindor House is a lion, and the characteristics of Gryffindor students are courage, bravery and determination. A basilisk in classical mythology is a creature that looks like a serpent, lizard, or dragon, and can kill by its breath or look. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk that’s gotten loose in the Hogwarts castle is just as dangerous. Any person or animal that looks directly in its eye will be killed—and looking at it indirectly can cause the victim to be Petrified.