[HPforGrownups] Snape's special title

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 56077

 

Gomes Moor wrote:
 
I'm delurking for a minute just to ask you: does anyone have any idea 
about why Snape is the only member of Hogwarts' staff who is 
called "master"?
 
There is a passage at GoF where this is quite remarkable:
 
"Harry scanned the table more carefully. Tiny little Professor 
Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was sitting on a large pile of cushions beside
Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, whose hat was askew over her
flyaway gray hair. 
She was talking to Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department. On 
Professor Sinistra's other side was the sallow-faced, hook-nosed,
greasy-haired Potions master, Snape." (GoF, US, ch 12)
 

 
 
 Now me -

Well it could be nothing more than JKR varying her descriptions - we get
Charms teacher, 'of the Astronomy Department' and potions Master
 when she could have said Charms teacher, Astronomy teacher and Potions
teacher.

Having added that disclaimer that it could be nothing ..... JKR has said
there is no formal further education in the wizarding world and 
many of us have speculated that some professions could well use a more
traditional apprenticeship/guild type system. In which case Master
 would be a designation of skill level - apprentice, journeyman, master. An
apprentice would study with a master until the master felt they were
competent enough to become a journeyman at which point they would work on
their own and through practice improve their skill until they 
could reach the level of skill necessary to passs the test to become a
master - generally achieved by producing a master piece. This would work
well with professions like Potions Brewing/Alchemy, Wand Making etc With
subjects like Charms it would we a lot more subjective - possibly based
on performing a specific spell or maybe inventing a variation on a spell.

K