Many people know that Dumbledore from the Harry Potter books is Brumbál in the Czech translation. But very few know why.
The translator, Pavel Medek, who translated the stories of The Boy Who Lived, did not invent anything – he did the same as the original author. “Dumbledore” is an old English word meaning bumblebee. And Brumbál is an old Bohemian word for čmelák, which means… bumblebee
When you have mastered the B1 level of Czech at our courses, come back to this article again and find out why Gryffindor is Nebelvír and Slytherin is Zmijozel.
Here is what the translator has to say about it: „Škola čar a kouzel má čtyři koleje. Nebelvír se anglicky řekne Gryffindor. Slovo gryffin ve slovníku najdete, je to okřídlený lev, a slovo Nebelvír to respektuje – je v něm nebe i lev. Havraspár (Ravenclaw) se dal přeložit skoro otrocky, kdežto Slytherin čili Zmijozel vychází ze zvukové podoby – slyšíte, jak oboje syčí, je to prostě hadí jméno. Čarodějná škola je v Hogwarts – a warts jsou bradavice, ba dokonce wart hog je podle slovníku prase bradavičnaté – a Bradavice byly na světě. Uznejte, že tak by se klidně mohla nějaká vesnice u nás jmenovat. Lidé, kteří neumějí čarovat, jsou u Rowlingové muggles. Muglové by asi nebylo to pravé, ale mudlové? To zní docela česky, něco jako šmudla nebo budla… a tak pořád dál. Takže většinou je to konstrukce, ale doplněná nápadem a intuicí.”
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