[Vocabulary] The boy who lived!"

[englishhobby]

If anyone happened to read "Harry Potter", what does the verb "live" mean in the following context? Does "live" mean "survive" here?

"A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!"

http://www.readfreeonline.net/Onlin...e/Harry_Potter_and_the_Sorcerers_Stone_1.html

 

[MikeNewYork]

Possibly, but I would ask "survived what?"

 

[BobK]

The attack by Voldemort in which his parents were killed. The mark of this attack is the scar above his L/R? eye.

It‘s a long time since I read the first book, and I didn‘t enjoy the experience - so don‘t go assuming I‘m an HP fan/expert. JKR is imaginative, but self-indulgent and wordy in my view. I preferred the films.

b

 

[englishhobby]

The attack by Voldemort in which his parents were killed. The mark of this attack is the scar above his L/R? eye.

Why didn't the author just write "The boy who survived"? (I am not a fan of the book either, just interested in translating it into my language)