- Confirmed by JK Rowling
- Very confident in its accuracy
- Moderately confident in its accuracy
- Not very confident
- Confirmed false, but I felt like posting it anyway.
Langlock - Spell created by the Half-Blood Prince to glue one's tongue to the roof of his mouth
- Lang: from langue "tongue" [French] + Lock
Lavender Brown - See "Brown, Lavender"
Legilimency - the method of reading around in another's mind. Blockable only through Occlumency.
- From Latin legere (to read) and mens (the mind).
Leprechaun - mischievous Irish creatures
- From Irish legend. Leprechauns are very small sprites who sometimes live in farmhouses or wine cellars. They are known to aid humans and perform small labors for them. Sometimes they ask humans for supplies and furniture, for which in return they give objects which bring luck and fortune. According to popular belief, a leprechaun possesses a treasure (usually a pot of gold) which a human may obtain if he succeeds in capturing one, which is extremely difficult. Even after capture, a person may not take his eyes off of him for an instant, for then he will vanish. (Encyclopedia Mythica)
Lestoat, Amarillo - reportedly contained in the Wizard Cards section of the PoA video game: (1776-1977) Flamboyant American Vampire. Author of "A Vampires Monologue"; intended to bore the reader into a stupor making him/her easier prey for vampires.
- An obvious dig at Anne Rice, author of horror/fantasy books. Her first book, Interview with the Vampire, features a character named Lestat. JKR's "Lestoat" is a pun on Lestat + "stoat," a type of weasel.
- "Amarillo" is a city in Texas, the self-proclaimed "Helium Capital of the World." A cynical person might conclude that JKR is implying Ms. Rice is full of hot air, or perhaps has an overinflated ego? Of course, "Amarillo" derives from the Spanish word for the color yellow, so this could all just be baseless speculation. Still, it's quite fun!
Lestrange, Bellatrix (Black) - Death Eater
- Bellatrix is the 22nd brightest star in the sky. Her name means "warrioress" (west shoulder). Also called The Amazon Star and Gamma Orionis. --Maybethemoon. Before I found this, my line of thought was: "-trix" indicates a female. The Italian word for female is "donna". Therefore, her name punwise is "Belladonna", which is the name of a poison. This might just be a coincidence, but it seems awfully appropriate for Sirius' murderer.
Lestrange, Rabastan - Rudolphus Lestrange's brother
- "Rastaban" is a star whose name means "head of the snake," appropriate for a follower of Voldemort. Also called Beta Draconis. (thanks to Maybethemoon)
Lethifold - a cloaklike creature that envelops and eats humans
- Possibly "lethal" (deadly) + "fold". Thus, a creature with lethal folds.
Levicorpus - spell used to suspend one's victim by the ankle
- Levitate (to float) + corpus (Latin, "body").
Liberacorpus - counteracts levicorpus spell
- Liberate (to set free) + corpus (Latin, "body").
Lily Evans Potter - See "Potter, Lily Evans"
Lockhart, Gilderoy - author of self-glorifying autobiographies, which consist of him taking the credit for what others have done.
- JKR confirmed in an interview that she found the name "Gilderoy" in [Brewer's] Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. "Gilderoy, a handsome Scottish highwayman. Exactly what I wanted. And then I found Lockhart on a war memorial to the First World War. The two together said everything I wanted about the character." Just for those curious, here's exactly what Brewer's has to say about Gilderoy: "A famous robber, who robbed Cardinal Richelieu and Oliver Cromwell. There was a Scotch [sic] robber of the same name in the reign of Queen Mary. Both were noted for their handsome persons, and both were hanged."
Locomotor Mortis - leg-locker curse
- Locomotion is the act of moving from place to place ("Locus" is Latin for "movement"), and "mors" is Latin for "death".
Longbottom, Neville - Gryffindor in Harry's year
- In Lord of the Rings, Longbottom is a villiage inhabited by a hobbit that first cultivated a type of pipeweed. One of it's nicknames is the "Longbottom leaf." This connection applies for Neville as he accels in Herbology.
Lovage - a plant Harry studies in Herbology
- Lovage is any of several aromatic perennial herbs of the carrot family; especially : a European herb (Levisticum officinale) sometimes cultivated as a domestic remedy, flavoring agent, or potherb.
Lovegood, Luna - Ravenclaw in Ginny's year. Her father owns The Quibbler.
- "Luna" probably refers to her large, round, moonlike eyes, and references the fact that she's a bit of a lunatic.
Lucius Malfoy - See "Malfoy, Lucius"
Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman - See "Bagman, Ludovic"
Lufkin, Artemisia - First witch to become Minister of Magic
- Artemis was one of the strongest goddesses in the Greek pantheon. She presided over of the hunt.
Lumos - spell to send a beam of light from the end of a wand, like a torch (flashlight). The counterspell is "Nox".
- "Lumen" is Latin for "light", and "luminous" can mean "giving off light".
Lupin, Remus John - werewolf. DAtDA teacher during Harry's third year and friend to James, Sirius, and Peter.
- Remus and his brother Romulus were twins raised by wolves that supposedly founded Rome. (Roman mythology)
- The people of Normandy and France call werewolves "Lupin" (or "Loup-Garou"). "lupine" means "wolf-like".
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