‘Harry Potter’s fantastical words are from Yorkshire’

WEIRD words used in the Harry Potter books can be traced back to ancient Yorkshire, an expert has claimed.

Archivist Alexandra Medcalf, editor of a dictionary of Yorkshire words from 1100 to 1800, said niffler, wiggentree and squib are all real.

In her books, a niffler is a creature that steals shiny objects and court records INVENTIVE Author JK Rowling from 1755 show a thief found guilty of nifling at Barnby Dunn, near Doncaster. A Wiggentree’s bark is used in potions – and a wiggen is an old word for the rowan tree, cited in witchcraft trials. Squib, used by JK Rowling for magicborn people who cannot use magic, was a term for a firework. Ms Medcalf, of York University, said: “It seems plausible that old Yorkshire terms form part of the source of squibs, the Wiggentree and the niffler.”