From our man at the OED :)

[dreiviertel]

dobby | dobbie, n.

2. A household sprite or apparition supposed to haunt certain premises or localities; a brownie. dial. (In Sussex called Master Dobbs

Comments

[parrot_knight]

Continuing to show up Jenny Turner's sideswipe at Rowling in her Tolkien LRB piece all those years ago...

[dreiviertel]

Could you remind me what it was?
I am pretty sure 'muggle' occurs in some medieval text too, but I've forgotten which one.
(And, of course, 'dumbledores' can be found in Tolkien - a nice quiz question)

[parrot_knight]

It was that Rowling's use of the name Dumbledore showed that she was ignorant of the word's etymology and meaning, whereas I thought it was quite the contrary.

[dreiviertel]

I agree with you! She may be too fond of pig-Latin for us the strict Tolkienists ;-), but she knows her sources and uses them wisely.

[pereille]

Oh yes, I answered that quiz question all right! :-))))