King

[Green Knight]

Discussion thread for King (http://www.birthright.net/brwiki/index.php/King). If you would like to add a comment, click the Post Reply button.

[Green Knight]

Seeing as how the other Rjurik titles are Scandinavian in origin, should not a Rjurik King be called something else than "King" - "Kung" for example? King could then be the Anuirean version of the title.

[kgauck]

Since there are no Anuirean kings, except in a general sense, it seems unnecessary to throw in an additional loan word when King is such a natural Rjurik type of word. The Scandinavian versions are too similar to Brecht. Doing away with king in favor of something else means not using king at all, but adding a new word.

I don't see the point, given the circumstances.

[Green Knight]

The ruler of Aerenwe is a Queen (which to me implies that there could be a King as well). And non-human rulers are often referred to as Kings or Queens, which makes me suspect this is a title Anuireans are using to describe sovereigns that lack any other title for.

Anyway, Kung isn't more similar to König than it is to King...

Another related issue: If there isn't any difference between Anuirean/Rjruik "King", why would the Rjurik need a separate word for Emperor ("Kejsare")? They never had one, and it would make more sense if they just used the Anuirean word.

[Green Knight]

Since there are no Anuirean kings, except in a general sense, it seems unnecessary to throw in an additional loan word when King is such a natural Rjurik type of word. The Scandinavian versions are too similar to Brecht. Doing away with king in favor of something else means not using king at all, but adding a new word.

I don't see the point, given the circumstances.

Hmm, maybe the "King" page could just have a reference to the language variants of "King"?

For example:

Anuirean - King
Brecht - Könung
Rjurik - Kung

[kgauck]

Everyone has had an emperor. Basil Zariyatam was a Vos emperor, and everyone else has generations of Anuirean emperors.

Non-humans are called kings because we don't know non-human languages. Aerenwe doesn't have a king, and the fact that in theory they might, doesn't seem like a good enough reason to add a new title for every Rjurik realm.

[Green Knight]

So "King" is an universal word across all languages, while the Rjurik made up their own "Kejsare" instead of borrowing the word from the only Emperor they had even known?

[Draac]

Is it not only the way they pronounce "Kaiser"?

[Green Knight]

Yes, but neither the Rjurik nor the Brecht have ever had a "Kaiser". I don't see what they haven't adopted the Anuirean "Emperor" instead (since they don't have their own words for "King" I don't see why they would have one Emperor...)

[kgauck]

Only the Rjurik have kings. That's why they are the only ones who have that word. Its hardly a universal. Anuireans have Dukes. Brecht have the traditional Pfalzgraf. The Khinasi have Sultan. The Vos have Tsar. Everyone has their own word for the standard regent.

When the Anuireans came with the idea of a Duke, a war leader, a puller of armies, the Brecht applied their own word for a puller of armies, a Herzog.

Perhaps there is a presumption that the player is English speaking and so king is used widely, but that is an out of character consideration and not an in character situation.