Spinner's End

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 156738

KJ writes:

> The whole issue of seeing what appears to be an abusive 
> muggle husband with a witch wife is made more confusing 
> by naming the son, if that is what he is, after what is 
> most likely the wizarding half of the family. Severus is 
> not a muggle name. Was Snape taught to hate his muggle 
> heritage as Riddle came to do? Harry, also hates his 
> muggle relatives. I find the comparisons between these 
> three perplexing.

houyhnhnm:

I, too, was thinking that the choice of "Severus" as a name 
was his mother's, which suggests she may have been the one-up 
partner in the marriage (contradicting the image that Harry 
saw in Snape's mind).  It could also mean that Eileen's Muggle 
husband had already abandoned her by the time the child was 
born.  Or Snape's father could have been perfectly okay, even
proud, of having a wife who was a witch.  We just don't know.  

Latin names are not unheard of in the RL Muggle world.  I 
personally have known a Lucius and several Marcuses.  
"Severus' seems like a bit more of an affectation, 
though I have known a Severino.

Except for the scene in the Pensieve when Snape called 
Lily a Mudblood (which can be explained both by the fact 
that he was humiliated and that he may have begun, at 
this time, to be seduced by Voldemort and his followers 
whom he wanted to ape) there is no evidence that Snape 
hates Muggles or Muggle-born.  In all of his sarcasm 
towards Hermione, there are never any cheap shots about 
her Muggle heritage.  Snape takes cheek off the Muggle-born 
(as far as anyone knows) Dean Thomas without so much as 
deducting a House point.

We've been thrown all of these suggestive, but insubstantial, 
little tidbits about Snape's background. I think for now, 
it is impossible to know which are revealing and which are 
merely distractions to mislead the reader.