Professor Snape- Master of This School!

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 162462

Dantzel wrote:
>
> He 
> says, "Professor Severus Snape, master of this school, commands you to 
> yield the information you conceal!"
> 
> Does this strike anyone else as rather arrogant and perhaps power 
> hungry? 

Sydney:

"Master" means the same as "teacher" in England-- it's a little
old-fashioned, but it's used for Snape a lot, as he's always called
the "Potions Master" as someone might have been called the "Chemistry
Master" or the "Latin Master" a couple of decades ago.  So "Master of
this School" means nothing more than "Teacher at this school", as one
is 'Master of', rather than 'Master at'. I suppose he's simply evoking
what little bit of authority he has over the object as he would over a
student.

I've been reading "Tom Brown's Schooldays", from which the HP series
borrows a lot, and that's the word used for the teachers:

"The Masters of the lower school walked up and down the great school
together during this three-quarters of an hour, or sat in their desks
reading or looking over copies, and keeping such order as was possible."

Actually, I just did a search on the etext and the word 'teacher' only
appears twice and never in the context of what we would now call a
teacher!

Snape does use 'Master' more than the other teachers, but I think it's
first because he does like to scrape up a bit of grandeur when he can,
but also because his language in general is a little more
old-fashioned and formal than most.  Persumably because he's trying to
his his Yorkshire accent!

-- Sydney