Fun with Anagrams: Severus Snape

Ok, so I'm on this anagram stint.

We all know "Tom Marvolo Riddle" is an anagram for "I am Lord Voldemort", but what other anagrams can we find in the series that might actually shed light on something?

Damn all you people out there who have mentioned that an anagram for Irma Pince (the librarian) is "I'm a Prince"! Now, I'm not sold on the idea that Madame Pince is related to Severus Snape, but this gets me to thinking about other people's names, as well as potion and spell names.... So here's my first installment about anagrams.

S-E-V-E-R-U-S-S-N-A-P-E...gives lots of meaningless anagrams, including “Persues Evans” (misspells “pursues”) and “Perseus Evans” (that’s not his real name!). However, I did find these gems:

• "Seen versus Pa" -- like Harry saw in the pensieve, "Snape's Worst Memory". Variants on this are "Sure seen Pa vs." and “Sure seen vs. Pa”.
• "Pa seen vs. Ruse" – Here Snape is the ruse. A ruse is a “deceptive device”. So, what’s the ruse about Snape? Taken into context with the reference to seeing “Pa” vs. the ruse, it could be another “Snape’s Worst Memory” situation…Snape seems to be innocent, like Lily asked James what Snape had done to him, but what if that’s the ruse…what if Snape had been horrible to James, and we just haven’t seen the things he’s done. Or what if Snape is just a general ruse? That would be like the variant “Pa seen vs. User”
• "Spun as severe" -- as if JKR has spun - put a spin on - how we see Snape.
• "As Supervenes" -- I had to look up "supervene", just to make sure I was getting the right idea here. http://www.dictionary.com/ has this definition:

  Main Entry: su·per·vene. Pronunciation: "sü-p&r-'vEn. Function: intransitive verb. Inflected Forms: -vened; -ven·ing: to take place after or later in the course of something else as an additional and usually unforeseeable development with intervening or countering effect.

  As if this could have something to do with Snape saving Dumbledore's life after the incident with Marvolo's ring...and then later killing Dumbledore after the incident with the potion in the cave. "As Supervenes" suggests Snape is as he is portrayed the second time around. This would bode very unwell for people like me who are in the "Snape's not evil" camp. We could rearrange this again to get "Ass Supervene".
• "Severe ass pun" -- Haha. The only ones I saw were Ron mentioning "Uranus".
• "Spear evens us" -- er...muggle fighting would make Snape and Harry even? Yeah, okay that's a bit too out there for me....
• "Senses a 'rev-up'" -- this could only refer to the running bit about time. A variation is
• "Sees a spun rev". As we go from one book in the series to the next, the narator mentions how time seems to be speeding up. This is very interesting in conjunction with my theory that Harry goes back further in time. Perhaps to get back to the present in a timely manner, Harry turns the time-turner (or whatever he uses to time travel this time) forward to speed up time. Perhaps Snape realizes something about time is amiss....
• "See? Spun versa" -- Again, this suggests JKR has lead the reader to believe Snape's against Harry. Then, in Book 7, we'll find out he's on Harry's side after all.
• "Ares? Venus? S.E.P." -- Ok, so this mixes Greek and Roman names for gods and goddesses, but I still find this one funny. Basically, it would mean “Matters of war and love are not my problem.” S.E.P. stands for “someone else’s problem”. This would be a good one for those who think Snape’s just on his own side.
• “Evans ruse? S.E.P.” -- Ugh. I wanted a ruse having to do with Evans, but what on earth could this mean, coming from Snape? Yuck, I’ll just toss this in the bin, along with “Perseus Evans” and “Persues Evans”….
• “Aver suspense” – Aver is defined:

  Aver:1. assert confidently: to assert something confidently. 2. allege: to state or allege that something is true

  So, would this mean to “allege that suspense is true”? Er…whatever.
• “Vera suspense” -- which literally means “faith suspense”. This is interesting considering Malfoy was a name JKR came up with, basically meaning "Bad Faith". We know the Malfoys have "bad faith", and here we have an anagram showing that Snape's faith really is unknown.
• “Suspense rave” – this would suggest all of us hung-up on Snape’s loyalties are nutters…
• “Suave serpens” – Oh! Oh! We immediately see the connection to serpent or snake. However, there is more to it than that. Look at what http://www.dictionary.com/ says:

  Ser·pens ( P ) Pronunciation
  Key (sûr p nz, -p nz )n. A constellation in the equatorial region of the northern sky, made up of two parts, Serpens Cauda, the “tail,” and Serpens Caput, the “head,” both near Hercules and Ophiuchus.

  Not only does is connect Snape to stars and constellations, but also to Ouroboros:

  Main Entry: ouroboros. Part of Speech: noun. Definition: a circular symbol of a snake or dragon devouring its tail, standing for infinity or wholeness; also written uroboros or Ouroboros. Etymology: 1940 Greek.

  So, what can se say about this? It makes me think about “Spinner’s End”. Though he’s not a particularly charming man, he does seem to take on a sophistication, a bit of grace and charm to coax info (or trust) out of Narcissa and Bellatrix. However this encounter seems to seal his fate. This could be the “spinner’s end” as he devours himself, leading to the end of his relatively comfortable life at Hogwarts…. However, since Serpens is not the same snake as Ouroboros, we should take Serpens and Ophiuchus into consideration:

  Æsculapius was an immortal man who had been schooled by the centaur Chiron in the arts of botany and medicine. So he was knowledgeable of the various herbs and plants and a student of nature. One day, it is said, he was in the house of a friend when he killed a snake. He watched in astonishment when another snake slithered into the room with a particular herb in its mouth and with it restored the slain reptile to life. Recognizing the plant, Æsculapius soon had learned to use its mystical powers to heal the sick and resurrect the dead. It is from this history and from the ability of a snake to cast off its skin and assume a new revitalization that serpents have become symbols for healing. The staff of Æsculapius, with a snake coiling about the rod, is well known in today's medicine. Unfortunately, this symbol is often confused with the caduceus of Mercury, which is a doubly-winged wand entwined by two snakes. Truly, however, the symbol of Mercury is the symbol of essengers.Æsculapius, the first doctor, sailed on the famous voyage of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. Following the journey, he continued to heal the sick and to advance the practice of medicine. On the death of Orion, he was about to attempt to restore the life of this great hero when Pluto, lord of the underworld, intervened. Pluto reasoned that his realm would decline if Æsculapius were allowed to revive the dead. He appealed to his brother Jupiter to agree that death should be the ultimate end of mortal man, not to be trifled with even by the most skilled of physicians. Jupiter, king of the gods, struck Æsculapius with a thunderbolt and ended his life on Earth. But in tribute to the accomplishments and skill of the great physician, Jupiter placed him among the stars, where today he is known as Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer. (http://www.eastbayastro.org/articles/lore/ophiuchus.htm)

This constellation is centered over the (prime?) meridian in July.
Okay, so...staying with the "Suave Serpens" anagram, what would this say about Snape? Serpens was the smart snake who revived the snake Ophiuchus had killed. So, if Snape is that snake with medicinal knowledge (he's a Potions Master for a reason) whom did he save, and to whom did he impart his knowledge?