[HPforGrownups] Re: Severus

[Margaret Fenney]

No: HPFGUIDX 190131

>
> >June:
> >I wasn't speculating, I was repeating what I had read on the net
> >while looking for information on when Order of the Phoenix was
> >coming out. I had read that the name Snape and at least one other
> >name had been taken from town names in England. I don't remember
> >all the details but this gives you some idea of how long ago it
> >was.
>

Margie:

The page about Snape on the Harry Potter Lexicon website (
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/snape.html)  says:

*'Severus' meaning:*
'Severus' has obvious connotations of severity and strictness. There are
also several saints with the name 'Severus.'
*'Snape' meaning:* JKR says "Snape is an English village" ([image: WEB LINK]
eT <http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/fall00-etoys.html>), probably
the one in North Yorkshire near Hadrian’s (aka Severus’) Wall. This village
also has a '[image: WEB LINK]Snape
Castle<http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/slhg/page2.phtml>.'
There is another Snape Village that is near Saxmundham, northeast of Ipswich
near the Alde River.
*snape* (v.) - 'to be hard upon, rebuke, snub,' c.1300, from Old Norse *
sneypa* 'to outrage, dishonor, disgrace.' ([image: WEB
LINK]etymonline<http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=snape>
)
*sneap*: to nip; pinch; put down; repress; snub ([image: WEB LINK]
phrontistery <http://phrontistery.50megs.com/s.html>).

and if you go to the referred to page of JKR quotes (
http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/fall00-etoys.html), it says:

*How do you come up with all the unique names, places, and things that help
make Harry Potter so intriguing?*
Many of the names are invented, for example "Quidditch" and "Muggle." I also
collect unusual names, and I take them from all sorts of different places.
"Hedwig" was a saint, "Dumbledore" is an old English word for "bumblebee,"
and "Snape" is the name of a place in England.

I don't think there is a "hidden agenda" to most of the names although some
beasts, plants and objects come directly from mythology and legend with
previous meanings and some others, often spells or potions, do have a clever
meaning (usually the ones from latin or other ancient languages).  From what
I've read in quotes of JKR, she mostly collected interesting sounding names
and words which she eventually used in the books.

Margie


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