# Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726 "2004-06-23T00:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726/21 "2004-06-25T04:46:35Z")
[**bibliophage** ’s Latin column](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlatinroot.html) I’m a little disappointed with some of those translations. The translators seem to have fallen into the trap of describing modern objects, rather than producing a word for them. Were any speaker of Latin to have reason to speak of a motorbike, for instance, he wouldn’t call it anything so unwieldly as a “birotulam automatariam” (literally, “two-wheeled self-moving thing”). A Roman Hell’s Angel might more likely refer to it just as a “birotulam”, or perhaps even a “biro” (which I presume would be placed in third declension, “birotis”). And “ex argento factum”? Doesn’t Latin have an adjectival form for silver? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726/22 "2004-06-25T15:27:37Z")
Somewhat OT, but of value in the Latinizing of modern usage: After his retirement, President Harry S Truman was awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University, with the degree and an encomium by the official University Orator both in Latin. His surname was left alone as an indeclinable borrowing, but his given name was rendered as **Harricum**. Geeky students cheered him with “Dona eis infernum, Harricum!” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726/23 "2010-07-17T23:43:16Z")
In both cases, wouldn’t the personal name first be converted to its original form – Henry – and then translated into Latin as Henricus? ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726/24 "2010-07-18T02:09:55Z")
Henricus Zombicus? ---
**Author:** ![red\_lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@red\_lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_lantern)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726/25 "2016-09-13T14:45:16Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Not that my high school and early college Latin is up to the task, but I am enjoying almost-reading HP/SS in Latin, especially what appear to be references to classical literature (e.g., Hagrid’s wand “in partes duas divisum est” and puns that may or may not exist (e.g., though I understand “Petasus Distribuens,” I keep reading it as “Distributor Cap” as well). So– > > 1. Okay, I can’t parse “hamaxostichus” using my Lewis Elementary Latin Dictionary. Etymology, please? > > 2. It’s time to come out of the closet, my nerdish friends. What are you enjoying in _Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis?_ > > [spoliator] tags not necessary. In fact, hamaxostichus is a Greek word, from hamaxostikhos (ἅμαξαστίχος), from ἅμαξα ‎(hámaxa, “waggon”) + στίχος (stíkhos, “a row or file (of soldiers)”, “a line (of poetry)”). In the Ancient Greek version, Ἅρειος Ποτήρ καί ή τοῦ φιλοσόφου λίθος (Hareios Poter kai e philosophou lithos), ἡ ἁμαξοστοιχία (he hamaxostoichia) is also used for the train. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726/26 "2016-09-14T05:08:07Z")
Gratias tibi, O vivens mortua. Well worth a 12-year wait. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrius-potter-et-philosophi-lapis/251726.md?page=1)