hmm, I had an idea about what "Deathly Hallows" are. I think, Deathly Hallows are people beyond the Veil, where Sirius is. JKR said that Sirius' death was important for the story. Maybe Harry will go to the Ministry and the "Deathly Hallows" beyond the Veil will tell him something very interesting, for example where the Horcruxes are or something. What do you think about this? :D

I'm Dutch too and the most literal translation would be "Harry Potter en de doodse heiligen" ("Harry Potter and the deathly saints"). So... is the choice to go, at least for now, with "Harry Potter en het Fatale Heiligdom" just an intuitive and probably stupid choice (since they don't know more of the book than we know), or DO they know more than we know?

"Bascially it means the Fatal Holy Place. Ow, they have almost never used the literal translation, the first book is called "De Steen Der Wijzen" for example, wich would be in english, The Stone of the Wise" Well, I disagree with this, since the "Philisopher's Stone" and the "Steen der Wijzen" are concepts that already existed. But the dutch 2nd book is translated as Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber (while a more literal translation was possible... but may have sounded a bit weird). And "Goblet of Fire" was translated as "Firegoblet". But those are little things... what intruiges me is that they can't possibly think of a good title before having received inside information or having read the english book (yes, they start translating when the book is published in English). But "Fatale" means "Fatal", which in this case, sounds more like deadly and not deathly. "Doods(e)" is a better translation for deathly. And hallows are "heiligen"... but, that's only correct if the hallows are people and not places or items... and that we can't know for sure before we've read the book. So.. I think they're playing safe with "Heiligdom" bacause that could refer to places AND items (a sanctuary or shrine as a place, a relic as an item.) And it could also mean "Holiness" in a way... The only thing it sort of rules out, is that hallows could be persons. But "Heiligdom" could also refer to an organisation in some way... so it's not completely ruled out. So this might actually work out, as a working title. But they translate deathly as deadly now.. and these words, in dutch CAN be synonyms, both meaning "dodelijk" (deadly). So that's possible... but unlikely. Ah well... it can change.

As a Finnish person I have to say that the Finnish title was made up by some tabloid magazine and it's not official. Jaana Kapari - official translator here - has said that she will first read the book before giving out the title. But it's still fun to have all these theories..

I think the title refers to Ghosts "Dead Saints" or "Saints possessing the properties of death" is how I look at it. I think Lily Potter IS A GHOST! She will reveal important information in that form to harry when he visits Godric's Hollow.

the graveyard bit is intrigiung, since we saw the creation of it in Book 6, after all, Dumbledore his grave is basically the graveyard, and we all saw that his coffin was magical indeed.

HAllOWS--("holy" or "holy night") the Oct. 31 Greater Sabbat, also called November Eve, the Celtic Samhain ("sow-en"); the beginning of the Celtic winter, and of the Celtic year; the beginning of the Witches' Year, when the VEIL Between the Worlds grows thin and the spirits of the dead may return to Earth; the Descent of the Goddess to the Underworld; the final Harvest festival I really think that the "Deathly Hallows" is the veil; jkr did say we would learn more about it eventually. Also i disagree with the people who think that the title translations reveal no clues about book 7; looking at one thing from different perspectives can help you understand it more as a whole.

Here in Italy the translation made by press is "Harry Potter e il rito mortale". In English: "Harry Potter and the deadly ritual". For me, it's completly wrong...

in Slovak the translation is "Harry Potter a smrteľné pomazanie", in English "Harry Potter and the Deathly Anointment", so I think it's absolutely wrong.

wow Jamie is on a posting role!

Well, I think it's clear that we all disagree on the foreign titles then. (except for hp323232, who's american. :P ) In the end, many will read the English (UK) version anyways to fully understand the true storyline behind it. "" KiwiBird: You are right about the person/building but also wrong. But it would be confusing to discuss Dutch and English translations in here. As we both know, grammar of the Dutch language(s) has evolved so terrible that it's the hardest of the planet right now. So there are several ways to translate back and forth. For us it would feel strange, but it's often still true. Don't ask me why.. (shall be glad to move to NZ anyways in a few years.. no more Dutch)

*eep* ! ! ! Finally a name to put to the madness that is Harry Potter 7! My heart is all a flutter. *sigh*

It kind of vaguely reminds me of the Boondock Saints actually (which I just received for Christmas, woot!). On the back cover of the DVD, it says "Brothers. Killers. Saints." Interesting...

The German newspapers "Frankfurter Allgemeine" and "Spiegel" (you can compare Spiegel with the Time-Magazin) translated "Deathly Hallows" as "Harry Potter und die Heiligen des Todes" which would re-translated mean "Harry Potter and the Saints of Death". But that has nothing to say because the Chamber of Secrets was in German translated as "Kammer des Schreckens" which means re-translated "Chamber of Horror". "Hallows" seams to be very difficult for being translated. Is "Hallows" refering to an act or persons or an object or even a place???? I don´t know and I have the impression that the English don´t know, too.

whatever d title is and whatever d meaning is no probs. but d main thing is.......WHEN R WE GONNA READ D BOOK????? pls pls pls release d buk fast.i am ready 2 read it evn without a title!!!

^^ without a story you can't read it

hey i got my grandmother to help me translate the german verison and it mean the deadly holy ones lol kinda weird but

Well thats pretty cool!

HI, As someone living in Germany, and speaking fluent German, I can tell you that the title of book 7 will most definately NOT be Harry Potter und die todbringenden Heiligen! That would be some whacked out German!! LOL Someone (a non-native speaker no doubt) must have looked up the word "deadly" in the German/English dictionary and taken an exact translation..but you know..that is NOT how to do a translation. In fact, mistakes like that are the reason we have the expresssion, 'lost in translation'. Germans are much, much more likely to use the word "tödlich", meaning "deadly and deathly" than "todbringenden". They may also use the word "furchtbar" meaning both "terrible and deathly". Also, although "holy" is translated to "heilig" the word for "to make holy" or to "sanctify" (which is what "to hallow" means) would be: "weihen". But if JKR is taking creative liberties with the word "hallows" and using it as a noun..then the Germans might use "Heilig". It will be interesting to see how the German translation turns out. If they use "todbringenden" in the title..I promise to take a bow and eat my hat ;) Cheers Everyone! Layla

y on earth cant they put the literal translation!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!*growling noises*

y on earth cant they put the literal translation!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!*growling noises*

FYI - The Japanese press (Asahi Newspaper, Mainichi Newspaper, etc) are translating the title as "Hari Potta to Shi no Seijin" which translates literally to "Harry Potter and the Death Saints (Sages)". I am not sure if this is just a bad translation or what...but it doesn't seem to capture the essence of the English title. Go figure.

Lol... "Angels of Death" I like that one, "Harry Potter and the Angels of Death." (or even "Saints of Death" and "Deadly Blessing")

It is interesting to note the different reaction of Japanese bloggers to the title announcement versus the reaction of American and European bloggers. Because "death" (or "shi" in Japanese) is in the title, Japanese people tend to focus on that character and it seems to depress, rather than excite, them. In a sense, Harry and the other characters will all be dead after the book is finally on sale - unless Jo decides to write another prequel or sequel...

Really cool... All this points more to a spiritual thing than an actual thing, doesn't it? I wonder if they'll use the literal translations. I'm German and the translation of the German title would be: Harry Potter and the Deathbringing Saints. But like in Dutch, they didn't really translate literally for the first one either, they called it "Stein der Weisen" which means "The Stone of the Wise"...

FYI- the translation of the Hebrew title "Harry Potter ve Hakdoshim Hamemitim"- is a little off: Hakedoshim= the holy (plural) Hametim= the dead (also plural) so the title more closely translates to: Harry Potter and the Holy Dead (or Harry Potter and the Dead who are Holy).

That's interesting. A "saint" in Catholicism is someone who the church decides has gone to heaven, no questions asked. So, for example Saint Francis is definitly in heaven, according to the church, while your late aunt may not be. They might not be using saint the same way though...

I just noticed most have something to do with a saint or angel....interesting.

"Harry Potter und die todbringenden Heiligen" would translate from German as "death bringing saints" ("holy ones"). Doesn't seem quite appropriate to me, it's seemingly more of a reference to Dementors.

In correct italian it is "il rito mortale", not "l rito moratle"...eheh! But I think it won't be the exact title. Salani (it. publisher) will spend a lot of time deciding it...

I think the Italian title translation (Deadly Ritual) would make more sense to the fans**horcrux hunting or destroying, risky spellwork, etc.**

You have to know that for HBP (at least for the spanish version) when the english title first came out they translated and announced one title, but then they changed it after the book came out. [first they said it was "Harry Potter y el principe mestizo" and then it came out as "Harry Potter y el misterio del principe"]

Harry Potter and the Angel of Death is too much Gundam Wing for me, it just reminds me too much of Duo Maxwell

I don't think it's angels... I believe the literal translations are not used because it is impossible in many languages and even the original one can refer to many things. By the way, English is not my first language, can someone explain me what "deathly" means and how is it different from "deadly"?

Probably, the italian title will be "Harry Potter e le anime mortali" ('Harry potter and the deathly souls'). Bye from Italy

I also think that the title in spanish does not come along nicely like in english.... "Harry Potter y los santos de la muerte"... I really do not think this should be the title, "Deathly" means more like "mortal" in spanish not "muerte" that is translated as "death". And "Hallows" translated as "santos", which means "saints" could not be a good option. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" must be translated like "Harry Potter y las Reliquias Mortales" which translated means "Harry Potter and the Deathly Relics" or something alike, this would be because in plural, "hallows" is applied to the shrines or relics of saints [very important wizards like Hogwart's founders] and we are sure "hallows" must be a noun and "Deathly" an adjective.

I like the Romanian title...Harry Potter and the Angels of death *shivers* loving it, loving it...

english is not my first language either,but i am guessings deadly means that a person, or item can be lethal if it wants to me, whereas deathly is more like a vibe, a thing of being, feeling. something that is, already is dead

I'm Danish, and I have to say, that the Danish title is the most inaccurate there is... It was said that the title was going to be: Harry Potter og de Dødelige Hyl which translates to: Harry Potter and the Deadly Howls. I think they pretty quickly took that back though, and now people are just guessing... There is no literal translation, 'cause Hallows can be translated to sooooooo many things, so I guess the Danish translator is going to read the book first, and then she'll decide what to translate 'Hallows' to ^_^

Well, I had figured that 'Hallows' meant some sort of spirit as in the 'All Hallows Eve' on Halloween. I find the title more mysterious in English. 'Deathly Hallows' can have more interpretations than 'Saints of Death.'

Hmmmm..It might give us a clue to book 7...(I hope)...Though it is a bit confusing..(At least I think it is...) Any one have anything?

It's great, I can't wait to read it !!! However, translations might be very different from a language to the other ... the french version of HP & Sorcerer/Philosopher Stone was "Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers"... which means Harry Potter at the witchcraft school. Who knows how it will be named in its own language ?

a hallow is a cry or exclamation that bring someone into action, and deathly is relating to death. i really think that this book has somehting to do with the voices behind the veil.

If those are true, it seems that the foreign publishers are about to make some more typical goofs. Unless I'm quite wrong, I'd tend to think that "hallows" is here meant as cemetery; like in Italian "Campo Santo". Those who read the Lord of the Rings book III will know what I mean. Problem is, current Harrap's and the like only list the two definitions "All Saints Day" and "Blessing". If such is the truth, it'll be another matter of annoyance for those who read English and see some stupid translations. Mind you, in translating "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" into French, the translators omitted pages full that they found too difficult to translate... Just to mention one example. I'll not mention the ridiculous childish names given to the characters of Harry Potter in the French translation.

im serbian and since the translation of the serbian title was not posted the translation is "Harry Potter and The Deadly Blessing"

Harry Potter and the Saints of Death seems so... stupid. Harry Potter ja Surmapühakud... noh, ma ei tea, minu meelest üsna mõttetu :D. I would like to know what does it mean.. I'm not so good in english... (deathly hallows).

this is extremely confusing. some people are saying its about dementors, some the horcruxes, some the veil. in a way, the title relates to all of those things, and i think that JKR's done a good job of finding 2 words that connect to all of those subjects.

Here in Argentina the possible title to that book is "Harry Potter y los sepulcros santificados".That means something related to Holy Graves.

coolies