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I was not able to find a real life reference to this term and am not aware of its linguistic background. Perhaps someone has information on that.
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I don't know anything for sure, but I'm going to use these two premises: a) JKR made up the word 'horcrux' and b) as in many of her spells, she based the word off of Latin.
If that's so, the word "horcrux" is not itself a Latin word (according to my dictionary). However, "crux" is, meaning cross, or more loosely torment or trouble. "Hor" is the beginning of many words (horror, horribilis, horreo, etc.) whose meanings run along the lines of dread, fright, horror etc. To me this makes sense; the making of a horcrux might be thought of as a crucifixion of the soul, or simply a torment. The "hor" prefix might have something to do with the dread that the concept of horcruxes inspires in normal wizards.