Muggle

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For other uses, see Muggle (disambiguation).

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Muggle is a word used in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling to refer to a human who does not have magical abilities. The word was used in popular culture and literature prior to the usage by J. K. Rowling. However, the Harry Potter series popularized the word and it has come in to common usage with similary meaning among some groups that share a common interest.

1 Harry Potter
2 Prior usages
3 Later usages
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Harry Potter

Muggle is a term, sometimes used a pejorative, from the fictional Harry Potter series of books that refers to a human who is a member of the non-magical community. According to JK Rowling, a quarter of the annual Hogwarts intake have two Muggle parents; thus far in canon, there have also been a few children shown to derive from a mixed parentage of one magical parent and one Muggle parent. Children from mixed households families are called half-bloods (strictly speaking, they are 'Literal Half-bloods'); children with recent Muggle ancestry are also called Half-bloods (strictly speaking, 'Technical Half-bloods'). Children from Muggle families with no recent Wizarding ancestry are called muggle-borns. Children from full wizarding families with no recent Muggle ancestry are called pure-bloods. The derisive wizarding word for a child with magical powers when both parents are Muggles is mudblood and is considered a great insult. Those from wizarding families with no magical abilities (very rare) are called Squibs. They do not appear identical to Muggles: Argus Filch can see the Hogwarts ghosts, whereas Muggles are incapable of seeing ghosts.

J. K. Rowling 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. It is unclear if she supposes the wizards to have derived it from the same word.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Prior usages

"Muggles" was a slang term for marijuana in the 1920s and 1930s, associated with the jazz scene.^{[citation needed]} In 1928, Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded a song Muggles.

The word "muggles" is used in a 1946 book "Raggedy Ann in the Snow White Castle", and in "The Gammage Cup", a 1959 book by Carol Kendall. [1]

In Zap Comics No. 0 (published 1971), a reference is made to a spliff, referring to it once as a muggle.

Nancy Stouffer, wrote a 1984 book called "RAH" (later retitled "The Legend of Rah and the Muggles") which featured a race called "Muggles". She claimed that she owned the trademark for the word muggle, and sued Rowling and her publishers. In 2002, the case was dismissed.^{[citation needed]}

Another controversy has occurred involving Roald Dahl's novel, The Twits, which featured a family of Monkeys named the Muggle-Wumps. Monkeys are often mistaken for apes, apes are often considered just below humans in intelligence. So Muggles could be considered the wizard's ape, or below their intelligence.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Later usages

The word "muggle" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003, where it is said to refer to a person who is lacking a skill.

The term has found its way into more common English usage by those in small specialised groups (such as geocachers) to refer to those outside the group. See, e.g., Geomuggle.