[HPforGrownups] Re: teachers' personal lives / ''Madam''

[KEN ADAMS]

No: HPFGUIDX 190344

>
Carol responds:

And yet Madame Maxime, the French witch who's headmistress of Beauxbatons, isn't
married. It seems that both "Madam" and "Madame" function as titles of respect
that a professional woman (or even a glorified seamstress like Madam Malkin or a
pub owner like Madam Rosmerta, who combines "Madam" with her first name) can
choose to use. It seems to function something like "Ms.", allowing a woman to
hide her marital status, except that it adds a hint of increased social status
as well. OTOH, happy housewives like Molly Weasley are addressed as "Mrs." (with
no indication that the term is derogatory) and young, unmarried girls are
addressed as "Miss" by their teachers, just as the boys are addressed as "Mr."
(I think it would have been "Master" in Victorian England and maybe even into
the 1950s, at least for Muggles, but the Wizards seem to have a slightly
different terminology.

Most likely, JKR didn't think it out. She may have started with the nicely
alliterative "Madam Malkin" and gone from there. In any case, the use of "Madam"
extends beyond Hogwarts into the British WW in general.

Carol, just thinking on her keyboard and arriving at no real conclusions.

Ken:
The prefix Madam is commonly used in British English as a term of respect
towards a lady, so that a schoolchild would be expected to refer to a teacher as
madam. This applies whether the lady is married or not hence Madam Maxine. In
the case of Madam Malkin it would no doubt indicate respect for an accomplished
robe maker who also had the acumen to hold a business together, the same would
apply to Madam Rosmerta. A shop assistant especially in a more quality shop
would be expected to refer to a female customer as madam, as in those shoes fit
you very well Madam do you know they are on a special offer this week. It is
thus perfectly possible for a Mrs Bloggs to also be referred to as Madam Bloggs,
especially in a school setting. This term almost certainly has French origins,
probably from the days of the Norman conquest when the villains would be
expected to refer to their newly acquired Norman mistresses as Madam. This may
be more familiar to American readers in its commonly shortened form of Maam. It
really is very common in Britain.
Ken



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