The Big Name Question

Right. So I am not a native speaker of English, as most of my flistees know by now. Consequently, English pronunciation is a complete mystery to me, and if I have not heard a specific word spoken or have not looked it up in a dictionary, I may take a spectacularly wrong stab at how it sounds (Papa Sigune: "Hmpf. Those English can't spell!"). And then I haven't even mentioned the weird guesses I take at Potterverse words.

A smattering of Sigunese:

Legilimency = "luh-dzjil-li-mun-see"
Occlumency = "oh-cloo-mun-see"
Pensieve = "pen-sieve"
Auror = "or-or"
Severus = "suh-vee-rus"

I have just found out that at least one of these is totally off: the pronunciation guide at the Scholastic website has informed me that I should say "pen-siv" like "pensive" and not "pen-sieve". But of course none of these words really matter as much to me as Snape's own first name.

Listening to snapecast's first episode (*highly* recommended, as well as their second!), I was surprised - and a little bewildered - to hear that nobody at all pronounced Severus the way I did, but instead spoke it the way it is done in the films (and which, frankly, makes my toes curl). Of course, being me, I wrote a message on the spot, suggesting that surely Severus is a Latin name, the word being the root of the English "severe", and as such would most logically be pronounced just like it is in "Alexander Severus" (this link has audio pronunciation, check it out) and "Septimius Severus". Anything else is in my eyes simply a linguistic abomination.

However - the entire Snape-cast agreed that it had never even crossed their minds that my way of pronouncing Severus was as much as an option, making me feel really quite forlorn. Although I can already make an educated guess at the result, I am posting here in the hopes of finding at least one other person who doesn't think my pronuciation entirely unlikely. Else I'll have to retract my Lumos paper, because I automatically say "suh-vee-rus" and don't wish to be greeted with great cries of "WTF?!!!?" and "WHO?!!!?" because I have little enough self-confidence as it is ;P.

So, is there anyone who:
- has heard the British audio-version of the books and can tell me how Stephen Fry pronounces the name?
- has heard an interview in which Rowling pronounces "Severus" and can tell me how she said it?
- has a heart for the Classics and can reassure me that I'm not completely daft?

Well, that's that off my chest; I look forward to any reactions...

Rec! Rec! Rec!

While I'm hanging around, I must take the opportunity to pimp two gen rec lists:

ani_bester is setting up a Gen Art masterlist

and

chthonya is setting up a Gen Fic masterlist.

Please, dear flistees, help Gen survive in this harsh world of fandom, where the poor phenomenon is threatened by strangulation with smut, kinky hanky-panky and other porn. Please recommend any Gen gems you may have encountered during your roamings on the web, and vote for those you like that are already on the list, so that we may all share in them!