Is "Justiciar" the new "Rogue?"

[Brennin Magalus]

Ah, okay, reading is extraordinarily rash and elitist. Gotcha. Thanks for setting me straight on that. And anything that isn't in the 400 word TV vocabulary is archaic.

Huzzah for ignorance!

Reading is not the issue. Unless one is familiar with the IPA or hears the pronunciation, "black-guard" is how the modern reader will parse it.

 

[Wayside]

Incidently, Justiciar is a real word while Justicar isn't. I prefer it when, within the limits of common sense, D&D repackage real historical term with a fantasy twist rather than inventing a whole new one.

"Justicar" isn't a word. It's a misspelling. To hear an audio of the pronunciation of Justiciar, go here.

Cheers,
Cam

In fact, like most combinations of letters used by actual speakers, it is very much a word. English has no equivalent of l'Académie française.

But even if that weren't the case, English speakers have been using 'justicar' for hundreds of years. This kind of thing isn't hard to ferret out.

The OED reveals that 'Justiciar' or 'Justicer' are correct. Just-i-car is not.

There are a lot of words and variations on words that the OED has overlooked. Despite (or maybe because of) the fact that I use it so regularly for my work, I find it very disconcerting how quick people are to defer to the OED's supposed authority. Is it the best English dictionary out there? Absolutely. Is it the final word? Not even close.

 

[AZRogue]

If I heard someone near me say "blaggard" I would naturally assume they were a hair lip accusing me of boasting. Thank goodness I've learned the truth before the next gaming convention!

 

[Korgoth]

If I heard someone near me say "blaggard" I would naturally assume they were a hair lip accusing me of boasting. Thank goodness I've learned the truth before the next gaming convention!

Actually, if you hear someone say that word you're supposed to take a swig of your Smithwicks* and then punch them in the face (unless they're a priest or a woman). Or maybe you're supposed to punch them in the face and then take a swig of your Smithwicks. I get that mixed up.


* - As you may have guessed, it's pronounced "Smith-iks" for some irritating reason.

 

[hong]

Perhaps it's time to have some bourbon. Bottoms up!

 

[Tuft]

But even if that weren't the case, English speakers have been using 'justicar' for hundreds of years. This kind of thing isn't hard to ferret out.

Weeeell, looking at your examples:
Example 1, Wars of Scotland: 28 occurences of Justiciar, 2 of Justicar
Example 2, Commentaries on the Common Law: 4 of Justiciar, 1 of Justicar
Example 3: The Lives of the Chief Justices of England: 30 of Justiciar, 2 of Justicar
Example 4: Emperors, Kings, and Paupers: 1 of Justiciar, 1 of Justicar
Example 5: The Seaton Family, 0 of Justiciar, 1 of Justicar
Example 6: A History of Northumberland: 5 of Justiciar, 1 of Justicar
Example 7: Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research: 0 of Justiciar, 1 of Justicar
Example 8: Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls: 30 of Justiciar, 3 of Justicar
Example 9: Invernessiana: 13 of Justiciar, 1 of Justicar

Congratulations, you have just proven that old books can contain misspellings and typos...

It is especially funny as "Justiciar" is in the title of example 8, and in the chapter title of example 3 ("Hubert de Burgh, Chief Justiciar") ...

 

[Plane Sailing]

Congratulations, you have just proven that old books can contain misspellings and typos...

Heck, as I understand it the idea that there are 'proper' spellings for words is a relatively recent idea

 

[OakwoodDM]

What I don't understand is how people are claiming Justicar is pronounced just-a-car. To me, that 5th letter is an 'i', not an 'a' or a 'u'. I pronounce it jus-tic-ar, like it's spelled.

And count me as one of those who had never heard of Justiciar before this article appeared, but had been using Justicar for years. Justiciar may be correct, but Justicar is known.

 

[Tuft]

Heck, as I understand it the idea that there are 'proper' spellings for words is a relatively recent idea

Well, being a recent idea does not make it less useful; anesthetics is a recent idea too.

And the comparison is not as far-fetched as you might think; one makes surgery less painful, and the other does the same for communications - something that is sorely needed in these times, when you consume vastly more written text than you did 200 years ago.

And as someone for whom English is not a first language, being able to look something up in a dictionary or thesaurus, rather than having to have to know about (assumed) archaic usage or a mistake someone made at a specific RPG company a few decades ago, well you can guess how much that improves things...

 

[Nytmare]

One interesting point that has not yet been thrown out into this exciting melee is the fact that languages are ever-changing and constantly evolving things. Pronunciation, spelling, and even the meaning of words change over time, and it's not something you can fight.

Much like cultures, video formats, and rpg systems, common usage ends up trumping archaic rules, much to the chagrin of purists and grognards everywhere.