Sword of Spirit
Legend
I was asking a similar question on another forum, but I want to get some different takes, rephrase, and expand it here.
Question 1
In my D&D worlds all the children of titled nobles are called Lord/Lady. And all of the children of lords/ladies are nobles, though they cannot be called lord/lady. I need a term of respect for what you do call them. (Sir/Dame are reserved for knights exclusively). I need a term that is both used in general, and something you might prepend to someone's name or address them as. In other words, pretty much exactly the way you might use lord/lady. These terms would also be used as the default form of address for any noble whose rank is unknown, since it wouldn't be appropriate to use the lord/lady form for those of lesser rank.
I'm thinking that Gentleman/Gentlewoman work well in the context of general impersonal reference. At a formal event or noble party you might say, "Lords, and Ladies, Gentlemen and Gentlewomen", for example. But I also need something for personal individual address. The exactly equivalent of, "Greeting, my lord", "Lady Althaea", etc. I know it is likely nothing exactly like this exists (I certainly haven't found it in my research), so I'm open to inventing terms--I just want it to sound kind of authentic if at all possible.
I actually think I have come up with a feminine term that hits all the right notes: "Gentress"
When it comes to a masculine version, I'm stuck. "Gent" feels like it has a little too much modern (I'm using the term broadly) colloquial informality to it. It makes me think of things like someone from the 1920 or 30s saying, "you gents".
One I made up that I sort of like is "Sirgent". Conceptually it evokes knight-hood, and contextually means it is referring to someone below the status of "Sir". But...it sounds an awful lot like "Sergeant". I could somewhat mitigate that by making sure it is always pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable, sort of like it's two words, but even then I feel like it would be an awkward struggle all the way. Which is sad, because I otherwise like it.
So...any ideas? Hopefully you can see what I'm going for.
Question 2
And this all got me thinking that I need both masculing and feminine forms for commoners to address any commoner stranger. (If they know they are addressing a noble, they would use the same terms I'm trying to invent for Question 1.)
What I need her is the exact equivalent of the modern everyday polite address of "sir" or "ma'am" for a stranger. "Excuse me, sir", "Ma'am, are you in line there?" etc. I need a term for this because otherwise my players are going to call random commoners "sir" in those situations, which isn't going to work at all. (For added nuance, this term also needs to be respectful enough that if the person in question turns out to be nobility, it wouldn't (normally) be considered offensive, just ignorant, and you may or may not apologize when you find out, just correct yourself (probably depending on rank--so if you accidentally used it for a duke, you'd likely apologize profusely, while if you used it for a gentlewoman, you likely would just use gentress going forward).)
The best masculine I've found is "goodman", and that might work, though I'd be interested in alternatives. For feminine, unfortunately "goodwife" implies marital status, as does "miss", and "goody" sounds really awkward.
What are some good ideas in this area?
Question 1
In my D&D worlds all the children of titled nobles are called Lord/Lady. And all of the children of lords/ladies are nobles, though they cannot be called lord/lady. I need a term of respect for what you do call them. (Sir/Dame are reserved for knights exclusively). I need a term that is both used in general, and something you might prepend to someone's name or address them as. In other words, pretty much exactly the way you might use lord/lady. These terms would also be used as the default form of address for any noble whose rank is unknown, since it wouldn't be appropriate to use the lord/lady form for those of lesser rank.
I'm thinking that Gentleman/Gentlewoman work well in the context of general impersonal reference. At a formal event or noble party you might say, "Lords, and Ladies, Gentlemen and Gentlewomen", for example. But I also need something for personal individual address. The exactly equivalent of, "Greeting, my lord", "Lady Althaea", etc. I know it is likely nothing exactly like this exists (I certainly haven't found it in my research), so I'm open to inventing terms--I just want it to sound kind of authentic if at all possible.
I actually think I have come up with a feminine term that hits all the right notes: "Gentress"
When it comes to a masculine version, I'm stuck. "Gent" feels like it has a little too much modern (I'm using the term broadly) colloquial informality to it. It makes me think of things like someone from the 1920 or 30s saying, "you gents".
One I made up that I sort of like is "Sirgent". Conceptually it evokes knight-hood, and contextually means it is referring to someone below the status of "Sir". But...it sounds an awful lot like "Sergeant". I could somewhat mitigate that by making sure it is always pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable, sort of like it's two words, but even then I feel like it would be an awkward struggle all the way. Which is sad, because I otherwise like it.
So...any ideas? Hopefully you can see what I'm going for.
Question 2
And this all got me thinking that I need both masculing and feminine forms for commoners to address any commoner stranger. (If they know they are addressing a noble, they would use the same terms I'm trying to invent for Question 1.)
What I need her is the exact equivalent of the modern everyday polite address of "sir" or "ma'am" for a stranger. "Excuse me, sir", "Ma'am, are you in line there?" etc. I need a term for this because otherwise my players are going to call random commoners "sir" in those situations, which isn't going to work at all. (For added nuance, this term also needs to be respectful enough that if the person in question turns out to be nobility, it wouldn't (normally) be considered offensive, just ignorant, and you may or may not apologize when you find out, just correct yourself (probably depending on rank--so if you accidentally used it for a duke, you'd likely apologize profusely, while if you used it for a gentlewoman, you likely would just use gentress going forward).)
The best masculine I've found is "goodman", and that might work, though I'd be interested in alternatives. For feminine, unfortunately "goodwife" implies marital status, as does "miss", and "goody" sounds really awkward.
What are some good ideas in this area?
