Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Potter Dictionary

Three weeks before the release in Britain of the very last Harry Potter book, a publisher in France has released a special English-to-French dictionary .

The dictionary is designed to help French Potter-buffs plough their way through the much-anticipated English-language edition.

"More and more readers do not have the patience to wait for the French translation and buy each volume as soon as it is published in English," publishers Editions du Temps said.

Thus "namby-pamby" means "gnagnan" in French and "nutter" becomes "cingle", but notions from within the Potter world such as "muggle" or "quidditch" have not been listed.

The more than 3,600 words are referenced to each of JK Rowling's blockbusters already released, but volume seven may throw up new linguistic challenges.

No comments: