SPOILERS: Book 7 Title Released

[unconvinced]

Originally Posted by lurvmedespair

excruciatingly boring: The dinner party was absolutely deadly.

I really hope Jo does not have this meaning in mind otherwise we will be in for the anticlimax of the century!!

[Grim_Reapster]

OK, I haven't read all the posts, so I'm sorry if this has been said.

Long ago Halloween was referred to as "All Hallows Eve". And the word deathly means "fatal".
So I'm thinking that the title refers to something fatal happening on Halloween.
And as Halloween has traditionally been associated with fear, I think that it would be the perfect time for Voldemort to do something awful.

And considering that for Harry it all started on the Halloween night that his parents were killed, it makes sense to me that it would also end on the same night seventeen years later.

[lupislune]

Originally Posted by rich_505

For me my first impression was to associate "Hallows" with Halloween (All Hallows' Eve) and to associate "Deathly" with meaning either a great amount of deaths or something spirit related.

This does make a good amount of sense It also makes me think of places in the book that JK Rowling referring to, Godric's Hollow, for example.

[guad]

Hmmm, it could be that the final encounter will be at Godrics Hollow on All Saints day...so everything will end the same place and the same day everything began...strangely enough, the Hallows now remind me a bit of the spirits of James and Lily coming out of the wand in GoF...hmmm

[leenielou]

Originally Posted by Daemon_in_a_Box

So Deathly Hallows? Something tells me we will learn everything there is to know about those two words between now and the day the book comes out.

I don't know...we didn't find much out about the Half Blood Prince

[rich_505]

Originally Posted by lurvmedespair

www.dictionary.com -
Deadly
1. causing or tending to cause death; fatal; lethal: a deadly poison.
2. aiming to kill or destroy; implacable: a deadly enemy.
3. like death: a deadly pallor.
4. excruciatingly boring: The dinner party was absolutely deadly.
5. excessive; inordinate: deadly haste.
6. extremely accurate: Annie Oakley was a deadly shot.
–adverb 7. in a manner resembling or suggesting death: deadly pale.
8. excessively; completely: deadly dull.


Deathly
1. causing death; deadly; fatal.
2. like death: a deathly silence.
3. of, pertaining to, or indicating death; morbid: a deathly odor from the sepulcher.
–adverb 4. in the manner of death.
5. very; utterly: deathly afraid.


Deosn't seem to be all that much difference after all.

Hmm yeah in a literal sense there's no major difference but the images conjured up in the mind for Deadly and Deathly are quite different (as the posts above prove) so I think Jo really has thought very carefully about choosing Deathly; we just have to find out why!

[Devon_Evans]

Originally Posted by Runes

What's the subtle difference between the words 'deadly' and 'deathly'? :\

From the "Longman dictionary of contemporary english":

Deadly: likely to cause or able to produce death; aiming to kill or destroy; suggesting death; like death in apparence

Deathly: DEATHLIKE
Deathlike: like a death or like that of death a deathlike paleness/a deadthly cold body

[harryhugger]

I guess it could be talking about two things; Holloween or Godric's Hollow. Put the "Deathly" in, you would think that she was talking about Godric's Hollow in Holloween 1981.

[hazzzbaza]

I think that JKR knows that we are going to tottaly disect every word in the title so i dont think that we will be able to take that much out of it, she will have prepared it so that it sound good (which it does) and that we cannot guess too much of the plot from it.

My problem with the dictionary based theorys is that JKR KNOWS that we will use every resource available to aid our guessing so deliberatly chose words which cant give too much away.

However all the other books (except GOF) have had the final adventures/chapters taking place with the title (if that makes sense) look:
1) PS/SS. Harry got the stone at the end
2) CS. Harry went into the chamber at the end
3) PoA. The trio met Sirius at the end
4) GoF. EXCEPTION we see the goblet at the start
5) OoF. The order come to help at the end (this one is a bit 'wooly')
6) HBP. We find out who the prince is at the end
7) DH. ????????????????????? we shall have to wait and see

Maybee the DH will a place/society/the list goes on

oooooohhhhh

i cant wait!!!

[Runes]

Originally Posted by lurvmedespair

www.dictionary.com -
Deadly
1. causing or tending to cause death; fatal; lethal: a deadly poison.
2. aiming to kill or destroy; implacable: a deadly enemy.
3. like death: a deadly pallor.
4. excruciatingly boring: The dinner party was absolutely deadly.
5. excessive; inordinate: deadly haste.
6. extremely accurate: Annie Oakley was a deadly shot.
–adverb 7. in a manner resembling or suggesting death: deadly pale.
8. excessively; completely: deadly dull.


Deathly
1. causing death; deadly; fatal.
2. like death: a deathly silence.
3. of, pertaining to, or indicating death; morbid: a deathly odor from the sepulcher.
–adverb 4. in the manner of death.
5. very; utterly: deathly afraid.


Deosn't seem to be all that much difference after all.

I think the best way to understand it would be to see how these two words would be used in a sentence. For instance, Deathly means something resembling death.. a word I can very much see associated with the Inferi. (Actually the Inferi are both Deathly and Deadly.) A possible example could be "He had a deathly pale face."

And deadly would be used for something dangerous. Like "He had a deadly weapon." See what I mean.. its a very subtle difference.

So how this relates for us is that the 'Hallows' whatever they are, are not dangerous, but they perhaps might contain something related to death. The best explanation I heard was that its the term for where a Horcrux is kept. But that would not mean that the Hallows in themselves are dangerous or lifethreatening.

Well, you can never tell with Jo.

[Daemon_in_a_Box]

Well...Voldemort fears death more than anything, so maybe the Deathly Hallows will be the place where Harry defeats Voldemort? Or maybe a place he has to visit in order to defeat Voldemort, like it's where the last Horcrux is.

Hallows also reminds me of Halloween, but I don't the book will end there, since all the other books have ended at the end of the school year.

[guad]

I really am excited about the title but strangely enough it also makes me sad...it means that the last book will appear and it will all be over soon

[AllanTheGreat]

An excellent Christmas present from Ms. Rowling!

But I just remembered that, when she was in the United States about 4 months ago she said she was trying to choose between two possible titles in her head. And then some time later, in one of her journal entries, she said she had thought of a third possible title which also fit the book well. I wonder what did she do to choose between the three, and I hope she tells us the other two titles after the book is released. Or maybe before, so we can make more theories

[rich_505]

Originally Posted by hazzzbaza

I think that JKR knows that we are going to tottaly disect every word in the title so i dont think that we will be able to take that much out of it, she will have prepared it so that it sound good (which it does) and that we cannot guess too much of the plot from it.

My problem with the dictionary based theorys is that JKR KNOWS that we will use every resource available to aid our guessing so deliberatly chose words which cant give too much away.

However all the other books (except GOF) have had the final adventures/chapters taking place with the title (if that makes sense) look:
1) PS/SS. Harry got the stone at the end
2) CS. Harry went into the chamber at the end
3) PoA. The trio met Sirius at the end
4) GoF. EXCEPTION we see the goblet at the start
5) OoF. The order come to help at the end (this one is a bit 'wooly')
6) HBP. We find out who the prince is at the end
7) DH. ????????????????????? we shall have to wait and see

Maybee the DH will a place/society/the list goes on

oooooohhhhh

i cant wait!!!

That's a really good way of looking at it; we could either have DH being another exception like GoF was or it could follow the pattern. Personally I think, as it's the last book, it'll follow the pattern and we won't know a massive amount about DH until then; however I think we, Harry included, might have a good idea what DH will entail quite early on but we won't encounter DH until the end (if that makes sense).

[leenielou]

Originally Posted by Devon_Evans

Deathly: DEATHLIKE
Deathlike: like a death or like that of death a deathlike paleness/a deadthlu cold body

Pertaining to death seems to be the main link between all the definitions of 'deathly'. Sooo....Hallows that pertain, in some way, to death. I still have really hardly any idea It does make me think of the whole 'there are worse things than death' scenario though, for some reason.

So, if the Hallows are "deathly", does this mean that they are not dead? The fragments of Voldemort's soul are like death, since it is the ending of a united soul, but are not...a little like the effect of the Dementor's kiss. That is not death, but it is death-like.

If we're assuming that 'Hallows' means saints, then that would equal saints that are like death in some way, but not dead Souls substituted for saints makes the title very close to the idea of the horcruxces, but I'm really not sure if such a title would be used - it's pretty obvious that the last book is going to be all about horcruxces. Stuck!

[lurvmedespair]

Originally Posted by unconvinced

I really hope Jo does not have this meaning in mind otherwise we will be in for the anticlimax of the century!!

Same here.

Maybe Jo chose deathly rather than deadly because there are less meanings for it and she wanted to be nice and cut down on us thinking of theories that wouldn't have worked ... ?[/clutching at straws]

Originally Posted by rich_505

Hmm yeah in a literal sense there's no major difference but the images conjured up in the mind for Deadly and Deathly are quite different (as the posts above prove) so I think Jo really has thought very carefully about choosing Deathly; we just have to find out why!

There as to be a reason as to why she chose one over the other, as deadly 'sounds' more, well, correct you might say.

[siebensprung]

Thanks rich_505,

Exactly what I had on mind in terms of Halloween, too. I will explain why.

Hallow is Old English and comes from Halgion which fits the German Heiliger. A Halgion is a HOLY person. To be holy is a special gift. But holy people use to be dead.

All Hallows Eve and All Hallows Day are celebrted originally in Ireland (the celtic samhain is the offspring), but later on Catholics reminded their deaths (the holyies who died in Christ) while visiting the graveyards.
The All Hallows Eve and Day is therefore a deeply religious fiest, not a funny costume event.

When we see the context to the Harry Potter books we find out that, even the children at Hogwarts celebrate it, it´s a day ususally connected to Death, Suffer and Pain.

[weasel_queen]

Okay, so, now I've read through all 12 pages. *puh* Alot of greath theorys, but since I have english as a second language, I'll need some help. Does the "deathly hallows" mean that the hallows are deathly for other people or that the hallows are mortal? This may be a stupid question, but if you never ask, you'll never learn

[Daemon_in_a_Box]

I wonder if the title is hinting at Harry's death? Jo Rowling knows that everyone is wondering if Harry will die at the end of the last book.

[rich_505]

Originally Posted by lurvmedespair

There as to be a reason as to why she chose one over the other, as deadly 'sounds' more, well, correct you might say.

Exactly, everything from the grammatical sense of the word just to the way you say it seems very well chosen, and "Deadly" fits and sounds better (for lack of a better word) and as you've said "correct".