Re: Senyecan honorifics

Charlie "caeruleancentaur" wrote:

> Has anyone discovered in his or her conlang the use of honorifics or
> of titles of honor/respect?
>
> I've discovered 3 so far in Senyecan.
>
> 1) aasnárjun - title of respect used to address someone higher in
> rank than the speaker.  áásnin = noble; árjun = lord.
>
> 2) àisnáman (àisápan) - title of respect used to address
> someone
> older than the speaker.  aísa = to revere; aísnin = revered,
> reverend. (shades of "Dune"?)
Is áásnin related to aisa/aísnin?
>
> 3)cuudáman (cuudápan) - title of respect used to address an
> older
> person irrespective of any age difference.  cúúda = to esteem,
> regard, respect, approve, admire; cúúdin = respected, admired,
> esteemed, etc..
>
First off, I'm struck by some resemblances:
árjun : Kash karun (rank equiv. to a duke)
cúúda : Kash çura 'to honor, respect'

I just resurrected one of my old WP files dealing (incompletely) with the
Kash nobility and social structure; too long to post now, and still needs
work. However, in the area of honorifics we have:

Naming children of the hereditary nobility:
First child: mesa
Second child: rona
Third child: sina
4th and later children: prana
Mesa is simply the number 'one'; rona and sina are < ro '2' and sila '3' +
ana 'child'; these were formed before I'd clearly thought out the Noun+adj.
rule....if I were doing them now, they'd probably be "andro" and "anasit",
but it's too late to change, and I like them the way they are.  Prana is
simply the honorific pfx. par- ~pra- + ana.

There are rules of precedence; basically the mesa of a king/queen outranks
all other children; their rona outranks all other rona's and below, etc.

In rank below the king/queen is the karun: his/her mesa outranks all
children below; rona outranks all lower rona's and below etc. However, the
rona-of-karun outranks sina/prana-of-king if they are younger. And so on
down the line.

Anciently, mesa/rona/sina applied only to males; daughters were all prana;
though some families/nations allowed female inheritance and that practice
became universal in the century or so preceding the Destruction, when the
Gwr had abandoned their attempts at colonialism.

If a mesa/rona/sina should die, the children below move up a notch in rank,
but I'm not quite sure how the nomenclature changes....

Technically, the mesa inherits everything upon the father's death-- title
and estates, though the estates are often held in a perpetual trust which
usually provides small stipends to brothers and sisters.
Generally, a mesa will marry some rona/sina/prana from another family (or
nowadays, quite likely a commoner). Marriage of two mesas is possible, but
one or the other must give up right of succession.

Inheritable noble titles and estates are no longer created; there are a
couple titles still handed out as honors or for distinguished service, etc.
but they're for the holder's lifetime only; children may use one or two
special terms, but not "mesa/rona/sina/prana".

Someday I'll get this all arranged and codified, and post it to the website.

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