Quick HP fandom question - Severitus/ Sevitus

[hobgoblinn]

At first, I though it was just an alternate spelling, but now I'm not sure. As I understand it, "Severitus" is a HP fandom lingo for a story in which Snape is somehow Harry's father - biological or adoptive. Right? So what's "Sevitus"? Are they distinct words with different meanings (one biological, one adoption/ mentor fic)? Help me out here, HP fans. I really did try to google this, but I'm not getting anything particularly useful.

ETA: So, consenus is, "Severitus" was originally a particular challenge, not unlike the "Marriage Law" Challenge, and it's been somewhat appropriated to cover fics that share some of the same characteristics as those in the challenge. The name comes from the originator of the challenge. "Sevitus" denotes fics that deal more generally with Snape as father/father figure, but many authors use "Severitus" interchangeably with it.

Comments

[cmojess.livejournal.com]

Severitus is the username of the person who first put forth a specific challenge. In the challenge Snape is found to be Harry's father, with Harry's appearance changing to match that of Severus' on his 15th birthday.

Sevitus is what I've seen fics where Snape is found to be Harry's biological father at some point other than the 15th birthday. Sevitus fics don't always include the appearance change.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That makes sense. I was thinking the name came from a challenge, but that there was a meaning attached to the name itself (something like veritus as a masculinized version of veritas "truth" combined with Severus to make Severus a true father.)

I should just get back to writing my decidedly not severitus/sevitus fic.

[cmojess.livejournal.com]

I spent a good bit of time tracking that down myself awhile back. Good luck with your writing.

I have to get back to writing my thesis. I would much rather be writing fiction at the moment. :) (Or reading it...)

[arcanetrivia]

Ohhhh! Okay. A username. I always wondered where the -itus part came from, since it didn't seem to have any semantic relationship to the nature of the challenge.

Thanks hobgoblinn for asking this "dumb" question for me. ;)

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

dumb question? I'm your man....

(except in, you know, the manly sense...)

I got a completely erroneous semantic meaning out of the -itus , so don't feel bad.

Thanks.

[arcanetrivia]

Severitus sounds like a disease ("Severitis"?) but if so, I'm enjoying suffering from it. :)