From The Sunday Herald:
“Harry Potter has magicked his way into the English language: the word ‘muggle’ is to appear in the Oxford Dictionary.
Coined by author JK Rowling, the word was originally used in her bestselling Harry Potter series of books to mean a person who cannot practise magic. It has since passed into popular culture as a way of describing anyone who is clumsy or unable to master a skill, such as computing. “
An interesting article which mentions some of the history of fictional words in the OED. Unfortunately Toby McDonald’s research is attrocious! This paragraph:
“Last year the author won a high profile legal battle after US-based writer Nancy Stouffer, who wrote the Worst Witch series, claimed Rowling was a plagiarist who had stolen her material. Stouffer argued the word ‘muggle’, now credited to Rowling, was used by the student witches in her own fiction to the same effect.”
is completely wrong!
Jill Murphy wrote The Worst Witch books. Nancy Stouffer wrote “The Legend Of RAH And The Muggles”.
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