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Wizarding
World
Titles,
Names, and Honorifics
Various titles
are used for people in the Wizarding World. Most of them are fairly common,
but a few are unique.
Head
Boy/Head Girl
There is one
Head Boy and one Head Girl each year at Hogwarts. These are students in
their seventh year who are given some of the responsibility of maintaining
order and administering discipline. They are also in charge of the Prefects.
Percy Weasley was Head Boy in his seventh year. James and Lily were also
Head Boy and Girl.
Headmaster/Headmistress
The witch
or wizard who runs a wizarding school such as Hogwarts uses this title.
Dumbledore is currently the Headmaster of Hogwarts; McGonagall is the Assistant
Headmistress. Karkaroff is Headmaster of Durmstrang while Madame Maxime
is Headmistress of Beauxbatons. Portraits of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses
hang in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts; they are all snoozing in their
frames. Amando Dippet was headmaster in the 1940s when Tom Riddle was a
student at Hogwarts.
Keeper
of the Keys and Grounds
Hagrid's title,
along with Gamekeeper.
Madam
(Madame)
Witches are
given this honorific. Those on staff at Hogwarts who are referred to as
"madam" are those who are not professors, such as Madam Pince, the librarian,
Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, and Madam Pomfrey, the nurse. Others
referred to in that way are Madam Malkin, who runs a robe shop in Diagon
Alley, and Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham who really likes the Kwikspell course.
Madam Marsh was a little old witch who rode the Knight Bus the same night
as Harry. Madam Rosmerta is the proprietor of the Three Broomsticks in
Hogsmeade. Madame Maxime is the Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy.
Minister
This title
is given only to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He is sometimes
referred to simply as Minister. This is a term used for top officials in
the British government, equivelent to Secretary in the U.S. Cabinet.
Mr./Mrs.
This commonplace
title is used for Mr. Ollivander, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Filch, and
even Harry himself on occasion. In the case of Filch, it may be the male
counterpart of "Madam" to refer to an unmarried staff person who is not
a teacher. Note that in British English, there is no period used with the
abbreviation, while in the US there is.
personal assistant
Percy Weasley
was made the personal assistant of Mr. Crouch. It is unclear if this was
actually Crouch's intention--he, after all, didn't even remember Percy's
name, and mentioned that Percy was a bit overeager. Crouch may have
done this only under the Imperious curse.
Potions Master
Why this particular
branch of magic is given a special title, that of "master," is unclear.
But at Hogwarts, Snape is the Potions Master. Is Sprout, then, the Herbology
Master? It would seem not.
Prefects
Students who
accept some responsibility for maintaining order and discipline at Hogwarts.
There are several Prefects from each house (the exact number is not given,
although there are clearly more than one). They are under the jurisdiction
of the Head Boy and Girl. Percy Weasley was made a Prefect in his fifth
and sixth years, then made Head Boy in his seventh year.
Professor
The teachers
at Hogwarts are referred to as Professors. Karkaroff of Durmstrang is also
called a Professor.
Sorcerer
Almost without
exception, the title of Sorcerer implies evil and Dark Magic. Voldemort
is referred to as a Sorcerer. However, Dumbledore's list of titles includes
that of Chief Sorcerer, and he is clearly not an evil Dark wizard. Perhaps
Dumbledore has studied the Dark Arts in order to be able to fight them,
thereby earning the title. As Binns states, "Just because a wizard doesn't
use Dark Magic doesn't mean he can't." In Dumbledore's case, this would
suggest that he has learned about Dark Magic but that he chooses not use
use it, thereby demonstrating that he is not a Sorcerer and is in fact
good. It is a person's choices that determine who they are, after all.
Generally speaking,
sorcery is just as terrible in the Wizarding World as it is in the Muggle
World. However, the term is also used for Celestina Warbeck, who is referred
to as "The Singing Sorceress." Since there is nothing to suggest that she
is evil, this is probably a reference to her bewitching voice as well being
as a mildly clever alliteration.
The
term "Sorcerer's Stone" as used in the American version of the first book
was changed from the original, which was "Philosopher's Stone." The stone
is not evil, even though it was given that unfortunate name by a well-meaning
Americal editor.
Supreme Mugwump
The term "Mugwump"
refers to a leader, derived from an Algonquian word meaning "great chief."
But over the years, a number of interesting definitions have evolved for
this strange word, some more flattering than others.At one time or another
the term referred to a leader who stayed aloof from controversy, a somewhat
humorous name for a person in authority who thinks they are more important
than they are, and even a political term during the late 1800s in the US
suggesting someone who sits on the fence, with their mug on one side and
their wump on the other side. How this applies to Dumbledore is unclear,
although he is clearly a leader in the Wizarding World and this title would
suggest that. It doesn't seem likely that he would proudly claim to be
self-important, so it isn't likely that the term "Supreme Mugwump" is used
with its later, less complimentary meaning.
Warlock
Warlocks are
older male wizards. Dumbledore is a Chief Warlock, according to his list
of titles, which probably identifies him as a member of the International
Federation of Warlocks. The term warlock seems to indicate only age, not
temperament. There are distinguished warlocks--Ernie McMillan is more than
happy to proclaim himself decedent from nine generations of them, for example.
But some warlocks get a little wild sometimes, as with the groups
Harry sees in the Three Broomsticks and the Leaky Cauldron.
-
Madcap Magic
for Wacky Warlocks (book)
-
"Dragon breeding
was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that."
(Ron Weasley)
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"We would also
ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members
of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section
13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy."
(letter to Harry from the Ministry)
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"an old warlock
called Perkins" (works with Arthur Weasley)
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Warlock D. J.
Prod of Didsbury (fond of the Kwikspell course)
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Professor Binns,
glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International
Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed.
-
"I might tell
you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches
and warlocks and my blood's as pure as anyone's..." (Ernie McMillan)
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"No one wants
to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village
from werewolves." (Gilderoy Lockhart)
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"Fudge has been
criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks
for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis." (apparently the
Confederation is also referred to as the Federation)
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Harry ate breakfast
each morning in the Leaky Cauldron, where he liked watching the other guests:
funny little witches from the country, up for a day's shopping; venerable-looking
wizards arguing over the latest article in Transfiguration Today; wild-looking
warlocks; raucous dwarfs; and once, what looked suspiciously like a hag,
who ordered a plate of raw liver from behind a thick woollen balaclava.
-
A curvy sort of
woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the
bar.
Witch/Wizard
The members
of the magical community refer to themselves as witches and wizards. Technically,
they are all called Wizard, although female wizards are more often called
Witch. There is a difference, however, between just a wizard and a "fully-qualified
wizard." Even a two-year old is a wizard if he has the magical power within
him. It is only through years of training, however, that a person becomes
fully qualified. Not all witches and wizards attain this status.
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