animagus

English

Etymology

Coined by J. K. Rowling for her Harry Potter series as a blend of animal +‎ magus. Term is introduced in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999).

Noun

animagus (plural animagi)

1. (fantasy) A person who can transform into an animal.

   Hypernym: shapeshifter

   • 2007, Rodney D. Holder, “Is the universe designed?”, in Denis Alexander, editor, Has Science Killed God? The Faraday Papers on Science and Religion‎^[1], Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, published 2019, →ISBN, part 4 (Science, Faith and Philosophy):

     There is also the question of what we imagine the universes in the multiverse would look like in general. One is virtually forced to speculate, way beyond anything physics can say, that all possible universes exist, in order to guarantee one like ours coming about. Most of these universes would be dead. Of the tiny minority that had life at all, some would really have mythical creatures like unicorns, werewolves and animagi.

   • 2011, Richard Leviton, Hierophantic Landscapes: Lighting up Chalice Well, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, the Rondanes, and Oaxaca, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 519, column 1:

     When we match our crown chakras with the topmost lion and its crown, we have the odd experience of looking out from the eyes of the golden lion atop the Ray pillar, as if we have become this lion, shapeshifting like an animagus into a lion’s form, or perhaps into the Lion, as in the Lion archetype, one of the Holy Beasts, the angelic order with the four heads, one for each of the zodiacal quarters and one the figure of a lion.

   • 2022, Barb Cantrell, I Want My Kids to Know Who God Really Is‎^[2], Conneaut Lake, Pa.: Page Publishing, →ISBN:

     Lucifer was an Animagus, not by God’s hand, but perhaps by evolution or by willing it later and he used it in a successful attempt to lead Adam and Eve astray in the Garden of Eden.

   • 2022, C[harlie-]L[ee] Davies, The Dark Elf: The Return of the Queen‎^[3], London: Europe Books, →ISBN:

     "This is my friend Leonard. Leo you can transform back now." / Alexa smiled at the dog. All of a sudden, the husky jumped up onto his hind legs and before their very eyes the husky turned into a man. / "Dude that was awesome! Are you a..." Shinara questioned. / "An animagus? Yes." Leonard said looking back at Alexa.

Usage notes

In Harry Potter, an animagus is someone who changes into an animal voluntarily. A werewolf is different: an involuntary shapeshifter.