What does Dumbledore's sign-off translate to?

Question

In the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book the foreword is written by Dumbledore.

In the last he says

To wizards, I say merely: Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus.

Now Dumbledore is known for saying gibberish prior to the school feasts, however this seems to be Latin or pseudo Latin.

What does the line mean in English?

A dragon in your home is 94 times as amusing. Draco = dragon, dormien = home, nun- 9, quad - 4, titillandus - tittilating. — Broklynite, Jan 05 '17 at 22:10
@Broklynite that is really stretching there, dormien is sleep (dormitory, dormant), where a house is domus (domicile, domestic). 94 would be nonaginta quattuor, as nine is novem(I'd go on and say November, but we've stopped using that as the ninth month for a while), and quattuor is four. Though you are kind of close with the last word. — CBredlow, Jan 05 '17 at 22:32

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:43

16

It translates from Latin to English :

Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon

Which is the motto of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ¹

This post discusses the motto and possible meanings and origins.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:43

Community

answered Jan 05 '17 at 22:07

Integration

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 05 '17 at 22:08

Never tickle the sleeping dragon.

2 Answers2