School Mottos

[OliveOil_Med]

Former? Former? -looks at knee socks and plaid skort- Well, three years from now, anyway...

Actually, I was refering to myself. I was a former veteran of the Catholic school system, and now I attend an all-women Catholic university (my next door neighbor is a nun named Sister Lois.)

Wow, there are actually more Catholic schoolgirl Ravenclaws? We should start a club! Combining the natural finess of being a Ravenclaw and the certain 'behaviors' pounded into us by God's little helpers...it makes for quite a reaction...

But anyway, putting ourselves back on topic...

Maybe words replaced with Latin would actually depend on where the traslation was being made. Sure, in England they would use English; it's what would make the most sense. But for Durmstrang, we seem to see more of a trend in Germanic languages. Russian would be my first choice, then followed by German. Also, you could all choose from Swedish, Finnish (THEY would certainly have words for mittens) and then several other nations in Eastern Europe: Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Croatia, Bosnia, Lithuania, Lativa, the list goes on and on as you can see. Giving the thread a map of Eastern Europe would probably proof more informative:

Map

This gives us an idea of some of the different countries that might attend Durmstrang. According to Tim, any student west of Germany would be something rare, except for Sille, my little Dane!

Which also brings up another question just for me. Do a fair amount of Romania kids go to Durmstrang? Do think there would be another school just in Romania. Looking at the map does make it seem like a good deal od distance.

But wouldn't this imply that at Durmstrang, spells would be taught in Germanic tongues? (etc.) After all, we're forgetting that most of northern and eastern Europe had completely different cradle languages - Swedish, German, Russian, Turkish, Gaelic, even - none of those come from Latin, even if they have possibly been influenced by its worldliness.

But Latins were also never knows for staying content with what they had. They spread their influence all across the much of Europe. And even afrer the fall of Rome, the principles left by the society. And woth Roman conquered Europe united though this common heritege, they were able to reach out to all corners of Europe.

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that the Sweeds, the Celts, the were probably practising magic in thei own langages before they had even heard of Latin. So time passed, Latin became used by more and more people until it only seemed logic that all children in Europe where taught Latin spells in their schools. I sure not all the spells actually could have been translated into Latin (becuase Latin has no word for mittens). Some schools may try to teach they old spells to their students, and it woulfd be seen as arcanic magic, even if there were truly nothing special to it.

But I digress, Nations would probably replace any missing Latin with the word in their own langague. Tim's only question is finding out what that language would be for Durmstrang.

[Halgy]

J.K. tried to make Hogwart's school motto rather silly or absurdly practical, so you can follow along that line if you want. For instance:

Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur - Anything said in Latin sounds profound
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Likewise, it could be a source for in-jokes for those who bother to translate them.

Ego fio non dico sophismata - I must not tell lies
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However, if you want to make a point about some value or trait of the school, you can work it in. In my story, the school of importance was founded by a herbologist. As such, the motto is "Auctus Jugiter", which translates to "grow constantly."


All in all, it is really up to you. You are the author, you can be as creative or as silly as you want. This is, as they say, your party.

Here is a Latin word list for some ideas, if you want; I use it all the time. Good for spells and such, too.

[Tim the Enchanter]

J.K. tried to make Hogwart's school motto rather silly or absurdly practical, so you can follow along that line if you want. For instance:

Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur - Anything said in Latin sounds profound
=====
Likewise, it could be a source for in-jokes for those who bother to translate them.

"Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"... I better remember that one!

Currently, my favourite Latin phrase is "Nill illigitimi carborundum" - I'll let you translate that, ha! Anyway, I'm pretty sure it is not correct Latin, but I like it anyway.

Back to Durmstrang, I think that "potentia verum est" best fits the school's demeanor. Concerning the lingua franca at the school, I have it as German before 1945 - I chose German because "Durmstrang" is very German sounding word, and such illustrious (ha!) Germans such as Grindelwald had attended the institution. However, after the end of the Grindelwald War/WWII, I have the school switching from German hands to Russian ones, so the school's centre of gravity and language is shifted eastwards, so as to resemble the school seen in Goblet of Fire.

But about the language of magic spells, I like to think that whatever ancient language a modern culture's writing system is derived from would use that language. So with western nations that use the Roman alphabet (UK, France, Spain, etc.) would use Latin. Nations that use alphabets derived from Greek (Russia, Bulgaria, and Greece, obviously) would use Greek for their spells.

Tim the Enchanter