Muggle
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For other uses, see Muggle (disambiguation)
Muggle is the word used in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling to refer to a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born into the magical world. (A non-magical person who has wizards for parents is a Squib.) The word occurred in popular culture and literature prior to Rowling's adoption of it. However, the Harry Potter series popularised the word, and it has come into common usage in other contexts.
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[edit] Harry Potter
The term Muggle is sometimes used in a pejorative manner in the Harry Potter books, the first of which was published in 1997. Since "Muggle" refers to a person who is a member of the non-magical community, the Muggles are simply ordinary human beings rather than witches and wizards. According to J. K. Rowling, a quarter of the annual Hogwarts intake have two non-magical parents;[citation needed] thus far in canon, there have also been some children known to have been born to one magical and one non-magical parent. Children of this mixed parentage are called Half-bloods (strictly speaking, they are 'Literal Half-bloods'); children with recent Muggle ancestry on the one side or the other are also called Half-bloods (strictly speaking, 'Technical Half-bloods').
In the Harry Potter books, non-magical people are often portrayed as foolish, sometimes befuddled characters who are completely ignorant of the Wizarding world that exists in their midst. If, by unfortunate means, non-magical people do happen to observe the working of magic, Ministry of Magic officials cast Memory Charms upon them causing them to forget the event.
Some Muggles, however, know of the Wizarding world. These include Muggle parents of magical children, such as Hermione Granger's parents, the Muggle Prime Minister (and his predecessors), the Dursley family (Harry Potter's non-magical and only living relatives), and non-magical spouses of witches and wizards.
J. K. Rowling has said she created the word "Muggle" from "mug", an English term for someone who is easily fooled. She added the "-gle" to make it sound less demeaning and more "cuddly". [1]
[edit] Prior usages
The word "muggle" or "muggles" occurred in several contexts prior to its appearance in the Harry Potter novels. Arranged in chronological order, these include:
- "Muggle" as the name of the antagonist in Lewis Carroll's 1854 short story "Wilhelm von Schmitz".
- "Muggles" used in a 1946 book Raggedy Ann in the Snow White Castle.[3]
- "Muggles", a character from Carol Kendall's first Minnipins novel The Gammage Cup (1959).[4]
- "Muggle" used once to refer to a spliff in Zap Comics No. 0 (published 1971).
- "Muggle-Wumps", a family of monkeys in "The Twits", a novel by Roald Dahl first published in 1980.[5]
- "Muggles", a race in "RAH" (later retitled "The Legend of Rah and the Muggles"), a 1984 book by Nancy Stouffer. Stouffer claimed that she owned the trademark for the word "muggle" and sued Rowling and her publishers. In 2002, the case was dismissed.[6]
[edit] Later usages
The word "muggle" or "muggles" is now used in various contexts in which its meaning is similar to the sense in which it appears in the Harry Potter series of books:
- "Muggle" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003, where it is said to refer to a person who is lacking a skill.[7]
- "Muggle" is used in informal English by members of small, specialised groups, usually those which consider their activities to either be analogous to or directly involve magic (such as within hacker culture;[8] and Pagans, Neopagans and Wiccans[9]) to refer to those outside the group.
- "Muggle" (or geomuggle) is used by geocachers to refer to those not involved in or aware of the sport of Geocaching. A cache that has been tampered with by non-participants is said to be "muggled".[10][11]
- "Mister Muggles" is the name of the Bennet family dog in the NBC drama, Heroes, first aired in 2006. Mister Muggles is a pomeranian.[12]
[edit] Related Terms
In the 13-volume manga Sorcerer Hunters, any non-sorcerer (a muggle) is called a "parsoner". In science fiction and related fandoms, a person who is not part of the group is sometimes referred to as a "norm" or a "mundane".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, March 4, 2004
- ^ Harry J. Anslinger, with Courtney, Ryley Cooper, "Marijuana: Assassin of Youth", American Magazine, 124 (July, 1937): 19, 150.
- ^ Court document: SCHOLASTIC, INC., J.K. ROWLING, and TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY, L.P.,
Plaintiffs/Counterclaim Defendants, -against- NANCY STOUFFER,
Defendant/Counterclaim and Crossclaim Plaintiff, -against- ABC CORPORATIONS - ^ Court document: SCHOLASTIC, INC., J.K. ROWLING, and TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY, L.P.,
Plaintiffs/Counterclaim Defendants, -against- NANCY STOUFFER,
Defendant/Counterclaim and Crossclaim Plaintiff, -against- ABC CORPORATIONS - ^ The Twits, ISBN 0-224-01855-8 (hardcover, 1980)
- ^ Court throws out 'Muggles' claims against Rowling
- ^ BBC: 'Muggle' goes into Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ Jargon File: muggle
- ^ Faith von Adams, "I Roomed With A Muggle", New Witch Magazine, Issue 5 (Fall 2003) pg. 34
- ^ Geocaching Glossary (HTML). Geocaching.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Muggle (HTML/wiki). GeoWiki. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Heroes episode Fallout
[edit] External links
- BBC: 'Muggle' goes into Oxford English Dictionary
- Muggle Guide: The Muggle Guide to the Harry Potter Wizarding World
- I Roomed with a Muggle: Tips for Living with Non-Magical People
