Master of This School

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112204

"zendemort" wrote:
> > When Snape comes across the Marauder's Map, he tells the map
"Professor Severus Snape, master of this school, demands that 
you reveal the secrets you hide" (snip). But there is a little
problem here. You see, Snape is not the master of Hogwarts! DD 
is the "master of this school"! So why does Snape call himself 
> > master of the school? 
> 
Zoe C responded:  
> In English public school, (private & fee paying) teachers are 
> referred to in the old fashioned way as a school master or mistress, 
> which is where the title head master or head mistress comes from
> (now overtaken by the phrase head teacher).  So Snape is just using 
> his proper title of school master or potions master, which is just 
> an older term for potions teacher or school teacher.
> 
> This doesn't mean however that he hasn't got designs on DD's job!


Carol adds:
As a side note, the same term ("master" for "teacher") is used in
LOTR, which doesn't even have formal schooling. The Elf Gildor
Inglorion, complimenting Frodo on his Elvish, tells Frodo that he had
a "good master," meaning that Bilbo (who of course was never Frodo's
master in the usual sense) was a good teacher.

So I agree with Zoe C: Snape is simply referring to himself as a
Hogwarts teacher. But it *is* interesting, and perhaps significant,
that he's referred to elsewhere (starting with SS/PS, chapter 8, which
actually bears that title) as "the Potions Master." He's a master of
his craft or art or science, or whatever you want to call it, and that
mastery appears to be acknowledged in his title.

He doesn't call himself "*head*master," which would be an obvious
falsehood, or even "assistant headmaster" (McGonagall holds the
feminine version of that title). And he doesn't say "*the* master of
this school." There's no article ("a", "an," or "the") at all. (Not
that "an" would work here, but I couldn't leave it out.) Read, "I,
Severus Snape, Hogwarts teacher, demand . . ."--only he's stating the
same fact in a more impressive but still perfectly truthful and
legitmate way.

Carol