Harry Potter | First Wizarding War
“Imagine that Voldemort’s powerful now. You don’t know who his supporters are, you don’t know who’s working for him and who isn’t; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You’re scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing… The Ministry of Magic’s in disarray, they don’t know what to do, they’re trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere… panic… confusion… that’s how it used to be.”
Harry Potter Etymology | Tom Marvolo Riddle (Voldemort)
TOM: The name “Tom” means “twin.”
MARVOLO: Implies “marvelous,” but also contains the Latin root “volo” meaning “I wish, want, will, ordain, suppose, maintain that, be willing, to mean, signify, or denote.” “Volo” also means “to fly, speed, or move rapidly.”
RIDDLE: A “riddle” is “a form of word puzzle designed to test someone’s ingenuity in arriving at its solution.” Riddles were used as a way to both puzzle the audience and teach them to understand poetic language.
VOLDEMORT: In many European languages, “mort” or “mord” refer to “death or evil.” In French, “vol-de-mort” means “flight from death” (meaning escaping death). Also in French, “vol” translates as “the act of stealing,” giving Voldemort’s name the alternate meaning to “steal from death.” In Norwegian and Danish, “vold” means “violence.” In Danish, “volde” means “to cause” and could be derived from the Latin “valde,” meaning “great, exceedingly, strongly, powerfully.” Using these defintions Lord Voldemort’s name would then mean “excessive, great, or extreme death.”