# Horcrux - “Horcrux” when broken down in many languages means “outside the cross.” This is consistent with the very unholy nature of creating one, and why it is stricken from the pages in a lot of textbooks. “Crucis” means “pain or torture,” and “hor” is a shortened form of the noun “horreum,” which means “storehouse.” Thus, “tormenting storehouse.” A Horcrux is effectively a “storehouse” for the part of the soul that an individual destroys when killing someone. “Hor” can also remind readers of the words “horrible” and “horrid.” The English meaning for “crux” is “the critical feature or essence,” like the crux of an argument. Similar to the Latin translation, it then becomes understood as “essence storehouse.” Many consider the soul to be the essence of an individual. A “crux” is also defined as a “difficult puzzle,” so Horcruxes can then be seen as “horrible” or “tormenting puzzles.” In Egyptian mythology, Horus was the son of the god Osiris, who became the God of the Dead. Crux is also Latin for “cross.” If you combine these two words, you get the “cross of Horus,” also known as the “ankh” (a cross with a loop at the top). The ankh was the symbol of life. Thus, a Horcrux would ensure life.