Chapter 14: The Unforgivable Curses

 

(For the romanisation of Chinese and Japanese, see Transliteration. To understand the writing systems of CJV, see Writing Systems. For word order notes, see Word Order)

Where a Vietnamese word has been borrowed from Chinese, the original Chinese character is shown in parentheses.

 

Chinese (Mainland)	不可饶恕咒 Bù kě ráoshù zhòu	不 bù = 'not'. 可 kě = 'able'. 饶恕 ráoshù = 'pardon, forgive'. 咒 zhòu = 'spell, curse'.	The unforgiveable curse
Chinese (Taiwan)	不赦咒 Bú shè zhòu	不 bú = 'not' 赦 shè = 'pardon'. 咒 zhòu = 'spell, curse'.	The unpardonable curse
Japanese	許されざる呪文 Yurusarezaru jumon	許されざる yurusarezaru = 'unpardonable' (許す yurusu = 'to pardon, forgive'; 許される yurusareru = passive 'to be forgiven, pardoned' 許されざる yurusarezaru = 'to not be forgiven, pardoned' - literary-style negative). 呪文 jumon = 'spell'.	The unpardonable spell
Vietnamese	Những lời nguyền không thể tha thứ	những = plural marker lời nguyền = 'oath, jinx'. không thể = 'impossible'. tha thứ = 'forgive, pardon'.	The unforgiveable jinxes

Refers to the 'Imperius curse', the 'Cruciatus curse', and the killing curse, Avada Kedavra.

Japanese 許されざる yurusarezaru, formed as a literary-style negative (with the Classical/formal ending ざる -zaru not') has a weightier, more literary tone than the ordinary negative 許されない yurusarenai.

(A summary of this chapter can be found at Harry Potter Facts. Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)

Chapter 13

Chapter 15