Fandom Discussion: How did Snape get his nickname?

[themostepotente]

In book number five, we learn that Severus has a very unflattering nickname -- this, of course, being Snivellus.

We've been left to wonder if this is simply nothing more than a bastardization of 'Severus,' or if 'Snivellus' has a much deeper meaning. 'Snivellus' would seem to indicate 'sniveling', yet when he unwillingly becomes the target of the Marauders' bullying in the 'Snape's Worst Memory' chapter, he seems only to lose his temper with a feeble attempt at getting even. Not even when he's hung upside down are we given any indication that he's moved to tears. Of course the Pensieve scene cuts out with James asking if anyone would like to see Snape pantsed, but what about before this incident?

Was Severus Snape prone to tears from repeated bullying -- or perhaps you have another explanation?

How do you think Severus earned his nickname?

--P

Comments

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

Sometimes when people get angry, they cry. Which makes them angrier... So it's possible he's had an angry cry or two. He seems the type.

On the other hand, I went to school with Elle McPhearson, and her nickname was Smelly Ellie, and that was just because it rhymed, not because she smelled.

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

I agree with iibnf: I think the Marauders must have seen Severus cry, while angry or otherwise. He's clearly high-strung, and that isn't just because he's been spying for twenty odd years.

[exbentley]

I like the idea I read in a fic somewhere that he never cries because of the nickname - he was in tears on, say, his first day, they called him Snivellus, he refuses to prove them right.

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

I think it's the combined frustration/anger thing. I've known plenty of people cry when they get really frustrated/angry/humiliated. Which then frustrates them even more.

I don't think Snape's weepy, like in a (I hate to use a misogynistic term) 'girlie' sort of way, but I could see him crying with anger. Tears, not really sobs, though.

[ook.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that when he was younger that Snape was the kind of kid who would cry when he got angry or frustrated. I bet that Black (and perhaps James) picked on Snape on their first train ride to Hogwart's and it was all downhill from there on.

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

I agree: he'd let one get away---at least in public---but that would be more than enough to earn him his nickname.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I'm guessing it's the old cruel game of making up a mean name from some's name. I can't see Snape breaking down in front of them, not at all.

[alexajones22.livejournal.com]

Although he could have actually cried in front of them, it's also a play on words, so they could have just started calling him that as another way of implying that he's a baby or weak, without him actually having ever cried.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

I always thought that someone managed to drive him to frustrated tears as a first-year - with the hysterics he's capable of as a grown man, I can see him prone to tantrums as a young boy. Or maybe it's meant more in the whiny sense. I can see the Marauders giving him a name like that after he went tattling to teachers on them.

[vain-chan.livejournal.com]

>_> I always thought of it as a reference to First Year homesickness. *wrinkles her nose in thought*

In my little universe, Severus did not want to go to Hogwarts too much because (a) it would require leaving his mother alone with his father, (b) his education was restricted by his inability to actively learn Dark Magic and potions, which I think he would have bridled against, (c) he had no friends, and any that he made would have quickly left him one the bullying started, (d) Hogwarts was far too regimented for his tastes, (e) it's almost impossible to be alone there, and (f) I think he probably admired Albus a great deal when he arrived, but was quickly and harshly disillusioned when the Headmaster's apparent favoritism came to light. While he probably didn't like his home, he most likely liked Hogwarts even less by the time he got settled there. At least at home, he could run and hide, or lose himself in a book.

Under such circumstances, I can easily see a young, disenfranchised, isolated Severus being a sniveling mess for his first year. As time when on (a very unpleasant first summer back at the Snape residence probably helped, too), he gradually shut down, becoming angrier and more and more bitter as time passed and he buried himself in work and research. When Voldemort came 'round, Severus no doubt had visions of revenge, power, and unrestricted research dancing in his head and leapt before he looked, leading to a lifetime of regret.

If you look in canon, Severus is (arguably) extremely immature, childish, tantrum-prone, and has an almost non-existent ability to properly deal with any emotions beyond sublimating them all into aggression and lashing out at those who either will not harm him, or cannot harm him. Just because he doesn't cry now doesn't mean that he never did before. In fact, I think that the violent and unpleasant response with which any tears or happiness he displayed was met is the reason why he's so emotionally crippled.

...But I have a rather detailed and elaborate idea of what I think his pre-Harry Potter life was like, so I'm biased against seeing other POVs. =^^=

[odogoddess.livejournal.com]

There's a good fic that attempts to explain how he earned his nickname called "The Cupboard" by Enahma.

It's at:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1754428/1/

I found her extrapolations logical and, given what we see of the Mararuders in OoTP, all too likely.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

I realy like the concept of your Snape. Agree that canon really does set up this kind of scenario, what with that brief glimpse of his home life in the Pensieve.

I'm also thinking that his only 'friends' at Hogwarts would have been the Lucius gang (2 years older I think). Perhaps vaguely protecting him, or any in case, showing him a way to escape from the bullying; i.e. joining the DE. There were too many references of Lucius in relation to Snape in OotP for it too by innocent. :)

[starkittyn.livejournal.com]

You know, I always figured it was the way people make up names that rhyme for people they hate. Severus-Snivellus ...I never thought it had to do with anyone actually seeing him cry and I find it highly unlikely that he would cry in front of anyone without extreme provocation and the thought that Severus was crying say over a family member's death and Sirius made fun of him makes me want to smack Sirius. *sigh* *protects teh Sev*

Anyway, my two cents as per usual.

Um. However, if he did cry for some reason we do not as yet know, I suppose it's *possible* since he does not seem to be terribly in control of his emotions if we take his regular explosions of temper as written. I mean, yelling may seem more of a big deal to Harry since one assumes that for the most part, the Dursleys are at pains that no neighbors hear anything untoward.

[ias.livejournal.com]

I have assumed that at sometime when younger (possibly even pre-Hogwarts), at least one of the Mauraders reduced Snape to tears. That said nicknames, based around the first name and/or surname is a typically British schoolboy thing to do and they don't even have to reflect personality traits. my mother was known as Loony (from Loony Bin because her name was Lunan), I had a classmate to was know as Ena (from Ena Sharples, a gossipy tv character, because his surname was Sharp).

[underlucius.livejournal.com]

My personal view is that they caught him crying on the day he found out that his father killed his mother (I'm convinced that will come up in the plot line at some point)

The marauders never found out that was why he was crying, and the nickname stuck from there - which is why it makes him so very angry.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! That's what *I* think, too. And those first tears were tears of rage and frustration, no question.

Why, yes, my maiden name was "Weiner," pronounced "whiner," and I know those sorts of tears...

[ninepointfivemm.livejournal.com]

I really don't know why. It could be a matter of reasons. I was "hobbit" for being short, "Weasley" for having ginger hair, and then there was the absolutely awful "Messy Jessi" when I was ... pretty organized.

Maybe he cried, maybe it just matched his name. We may find out eventually.

[arseaboutface.livejournal.com]

I can see him as an angry cryer when he was young, but I think he'd grown out of that by the time he was an adult. Well, "grown out" in the "learned to force back the urge to shed tears of frustration" respect.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I went to college with a girl whose last name was "Slutsky." She changed it when she married, and I've always wondered why it took her so long....

[amberdiceless.livejournal.com]

(Here via (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=daily_snitch)daily_snitch (http://www.livejournal.com/community/daily_snitch/) or (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=quickquote)quickquote (http://www.livejournal.com/community/quickquote/))

I tend to agree that he was either caught crying by the Marauders or made to cry by them, probably as a first-year, and/or he snitched on them to the staff at least once. Quite likely both, and he's probably decided since that it's preferable to express his anger in any way but tears. Thus, flying cockroaches and the occasional bout of capslock syndrome.

On a related tangent, I suspect another lesson he's learned (and that is repeatedly reinforced throughout the books) is that calling people on the rules is no use unless you personally have the power to enforce them. I wonder where that's going to lead him before the end...

[stardustmajick.livejournal.com]

According the the HP Lexicon's timeline, Lucius was in his 7th year when the Mauraders and Snape started Hogwarts as first years. (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/timelines/main/timeline_1970-1990.html). I always figured he was older than that, though, before I found the timeline. ^^;

[iczer6.livejournal.com]

Actually I doubt he would've meet Lucius while in Hogwarts, I believe Rowling listed their ages and Lucius was in forties while snape was still in his thirties so he would've either left school or been in his last years when Snape showed up.

[grrliz.livejournal.com]

I've often heard the theory that it was based on the Marauders seeing Snape cry at some point, but I remember when first hearing the nickname (long before I entered fandom), my immediate reaction was not that it was related to crying but related to complaining and whining, or even being sick . For me, Snivellus is pretty similar to Snuffles in that way: they both sound like four year-olds with stuffed up noses.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Here from the DS. I've always had these associations with the name:

-"Snivelling" is an adjective often associated with "coward." ("You snivelling coward") I think they probably saw him as a coward.

-Snivelling does not have to refer to snuffling from crying. It also means you are complaining and whining "tearfully." I suspect Snape, in their view, whined and complained. I actually doubt there were real tears involved (they might have liked him better if there were), but suggesting he was actually crying is a good insult.

-That it referred to Snape having a runny nose. Snape's been cursed with greasy hair, a big nose, sallow skin, grey underpants and an awkward, jerky posture. I can easily imagine him being a first year with allergies who never had a handkerchief and James and Sirius finding this repulsive. It just seems to fit that kind of kid, the one who's allergic to everything or who always seems to have a runny nose even when he doesn't.

So in general, while I see the connection between the name and Snape's crying, the real image it puts in my head is of someone who's repulsive and cowardly, not a crybaby.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh bummer... There goes that theory. My fault for misinformed... But a girl can dream!