If you are a Potterhead like me, you will certainly know that there are four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland. These are:
- Gryffindor
- Slytherin
- Ravenclaw
- Hufflepuff
In this lesson, we will take a look at the translation of Gryffindor in Italian, and we will even talk about its founder, Godric Gryffindor, its main personality traits, and its resident ghost.
All aboard the Hogwarts Express!
How do you say Gryffindor in Italian?
Grifondoro is how you say Gryffindor in Italian.
Grifondoro
Gryffindor
The pronunciation is close to grief-fohn-doh-roh. If you have trouble pronouncing Italian sounds, check out the Italian pronunciation guide.
Now, let’s see some example sentences with Gryffindor in Italian to learn how to use this word.
Title: Italian All-in-One For Dummies
Language: English / Italian
Publisher: For Dummies
Pages: 672
Learn to speak Italian like a native? Easy.
Italian All-in-One For Dummies appeals to those readers looking for a comprehensive, all-encompassing guide to mastering the Italian language. It contains content from all For Dummies Italian language instruction titles, including Italian For Dummies, Intermediate Italian For Dummies, Italian Verbs For Dummies, Italian Phrases For Dummies, Italian Grammar For Dummies, and Italian For Dummies Audio Set.
I colori di Grifondoro sono rosso e oro.
Gryffindor’s colors are red and gold.
Hermione Granger è una Grifondoro.
Hermione Granger is a Gryffindor.
Unlike the English word Gryffindor, it’s interesting to note that Grifondoro in Italian doesn’t have a plural form. The plural remains unchanged.
I Grifondoro non vedono di buon occhio i Serpeverde.
Gryffindors do not look kindly on Slytherins.
Grifondoro is a compound word
Grifondoro is a compound noun. This means that it’s made up of three words. In this case, it’s made up of grifone (griffin) and d’oro (of gold), the shortened form of di oro.
Il grifone
The griffin
D’oro
Golden, made of gold
Literally: Of gold
Grifondoro literally means golden griffin in Italian.
For example, you could say…
Il grifone è un animale che figura spesso nei bestiari medievali.
The griffin is an animal that often appears in medieval bestiaries.
Ho perso un anello d’oro in fondo al lago.
I lost a gold ring at the bottom of the lake.
Grifondoro is a literal translation of Gryffindor in Italian because the -dor ending in Gryffindor comes from the French d’or.
It’s easy to see why it starts with grifone, because the symbol of Gryffindor House is indeed a griffin. The color gold is also one of Gryffindor’s official colors along with red, and that’s why it was also used in the translation. All translations of the 4 Hogwarts Houses in Italian feature a different color.
Who founded Gryffindor in Italian?
As you may have noticed, all the Hogwarts founders’ names use alliteration:
- Godric Gryffindor
- Salazar Slytherin
- Rowena Ravenclaw
- Helga Hufflepuff
This too was reproduced in the Italian translations of the Harry Potter books and movies, and since Grifondoro starts with an G, just like Gryffindor, the original name was kept in the translation: Godric Grifondoro. Other founders, like Rowena Ravenclaw, weren’t so lucky.
Godric Grifondoro
Godric Gryffindor
For example, you could say…
Godric Grifondoro è il fondatore della Casa di Grifondoro.
Godric Gryffindor is the founder of the Gryffindor House.
Fondatore comes from the verb fondare, to found, and literally means male founder. If you’re talking about a female founder, use fondatrice instead.
Godric Grifondoro is famous for having a spada, sword, with an inscrizione, inscription on it.
C’è un’inscrizione su questa spada. Che cosa dice?
There is an inscription on this sword. What does it say?
Who is the resident ghost of Gryffindor in Italian?
Sir Nicholas, also known as Nearly Headless Nick, is Gryffindor’s resident ghost in the original English versions of the Harry Potter books. This was translated into Italian as Sir Nicholas or Nick-Quasi-Senza-Testa, literally “almost headless Nick” from quasi, “almost”, senza, “without”, and testa, “head”.
Nick-Quasi-Senza-Testa
Nearly Headless Nick
For example, you could say…
Nick-Quasi-Senza-Testa è il fantasma di Grifondoro.
Nearly Headless Nick is the ghost of Gryffindor.
Gryffindor’s main traits in Italian
Each Hogwarts House values a different set of personality traits. Gryffindor especially values:
- Coraggio (courage)
- Bravery (eroismo)
- Determinazione (determination)
- Audacia (daring)
- Fegato (nerve)
- Galanteria (chivalry)
For example, you could say…
Marco si è distinto per i suoi atti di eroismo.
Mark stands out for his heroic deeds.
Chi ha abbastanza fegato da inoltrarsi di notte nella Foresta Proibita?
Who has enough nerve to venture into the Forbidden Forest at night?
That’s it, now you know how to say Gryffindor in Italian!
What next?
Read more info about Grifondoro here (in Italian).
Now that you’ve seen how to say Gryffindor in Italian, you might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
Aiuta Lingookies con un 👍!
❤️ If you liked this lesson on how to say Gryffindor in Italian, consider sharing it with your social media friends who are also studying Italian.
Harry Potter © J.K. Rowling