I'm done!

Last night I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! I probably stayed up too late, but the last few chapters simply must be read in immediate succession. You can't stop in the middle of the conclusion of a seven book series to go to sleep!

I will post my review later...for now, I just wanted to announce that I have finished.

By the by, the whole time I was reading this book, I was intrigued by the word "hallows." What truly is a hallow? All I could think of was, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..."

I know it's not Monday (which is when I post the Word of the Day), but here's what I've found, courtesy of Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

hallow
Pronunciation: ˈha-(ˌ)lō 
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English halowen, from Old English hālgian, from hālig holy

1: to make holy, or set apart for holy use
2: to respect greatly: VENERATE

Function: noun
obsolete: a saint, a shrine, or a relic

Interestingly enough, M-W notes in this entry that the use of hallow as a noun has been rare over the past several hundred years and is considered obsolete (other than in words like Halloween and Allhallows), and does not appear in most dictionaries anymore. M-W's Online Dictionary only added it to their database because of the "renewed interest" kindled by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I give three silent cheers to J. K. Rowling for resurrecting a nearly extinct word. The title makes perfect sense now if you have read the story and know what the deathly hallows are.