Snape and Arsenius Jigger

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 165599

Re: Discussions of whether or not Snape used a 
potions textbook and, also, whether or not he 
participated in DE atrocities directly or 
"slithered out of action".

I've started re-reading the series from the 
beginning.  I recently came across Harry's list 
of course books again in chapter 5, and I enjoyed 
the humorous names of textbook authors.

My favorite: _Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling (She oughta know!) 

Emeric Switch (_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_) 
and Phyllida Spore (_One Thousand Magical Herbs and 
Fungi_) are obvious plays on the subject matter.  
But when I got to _The Dark Forces:  A Guide to 
Self-Protection_ by Quentin Trimble, I thought 
that the author's name seemed to point to Quirrel 
as much as it did to the subject of DADA,  so I 
decided to take another look at Arsenius Jigger.

I know the conventional wisdom is that "Arsenius" 
sounds like arsenicum-arsenic and a jigger is a 
measuring glass for liquor, but I wanted to see 
if there were other possibilities.

http://www.answers.com/topic/jigger
(in addition to shot glass)
One who jigs, as in a dancer or worker on a sailing ship
Slang for a person who acts as a lookout while a 
crime or other forbidden act (e.g., adultery) takes place

>From Wikipedia:
Saint Arsenius-tutor to the sons of  Byzantine 
Emperor Theodosius I the Great.  He lived in 
great pomp in Constantinople, but all the time 
felt a growing inclination to renounce the world.  
After praying long to be enlightened as to what 
he should do, he allegedly heard a voice saying 
"Arsenius, flee the company of men, and thou 
shalt be saved." Thereupon he embarked secretly 
for Alexandria, and hasted to adopt the life 
of a hermit in the deserts of Libya at Scetis.  
During the fifty-five years of his solitary life 
he was always the most meanly clad of all, thus 
punishing himself for his former seeming vanity 
in the world.  At all times copious tears of 
devotion fell from his eyes. [Dare I mention the 
forbidden medium.  Every time I've seen GoF The Movie, 
the rain spattered stained glass window behind 
Neville has made me think of Snape.] 
He lived to be a hundred.

Arsenius Autorianus--He received his education 
in Nicaea at a monastery of which he later became 
the abbot, though not in orders. Subsequently he 
gave himself up to a life of solitary asceticism 
in a Bithynian monastery, and is said, probably 
wrongly, to have remained some time in a monastery 
on Mount Athos.

Interesting that both Arseniuses were ascetics.  I 
believe someone on the list (Sorry, I can't remember 
who) made a point about Snape's monk-like qualities.

houyhnhnm