# How to adress a king?



## TheokinsJ (Jul 10, 2013)

I am not sure if any of you will be able to find an answer, but I have been searching and found nothing. In my WIP, there is a culture based heavily on the vikings/norse peoples and my main character is the nephew of a king. However, I have no idea what people should call the king; your majesty, your royal highness, my liege- are all out of the question because they sound too medieval. 'my lord' won't work either because the king is not a lord, so he would not be spoken to with that title. I want something similar to 'my lord', except befitting to his title; does anyone know of any other ways to address a king that sound like they match the norse culture I have created?


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## Ireth (Jul 10, 2013)

How about just "my king", or "sire"?


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## Jess A (Jul 11, 2013)

I'm with Ireth - 'sire' and 'my king' are pretty good options.


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## CupofJoe (Jul 11, 2013)

It may or may not work in your context but 'Lord' or 'My Lord' are reasonable titles to be used by those just below the King in rank... He will be their lord.
They can also work as catch-all titles for those that are not certain of the Noble's exact status...
And there is always 'Sir' - the ultimate safe bet if you are in doubt...


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## Lunaairis (Jul 11, 2013)

If Skyrim has taught me anything, I would say "My Jarl" which I believe is actually what Vikings and Norse people would called their rulers.


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## C Hollis (Jul 11, 2013)

Jarl is probably nearest to correct for the viking culture, keeping in mind a Jarl was not a King in the general European sense.

The terms King and Earl have been used to refer to those regional rulers, though I have a feeling those were likely foreign conventions for Jarl.

My Jarl, My King, My Earl, My Gosh.  I would lean toward Jarl if you were seeking a term that wasn't maybe quite as common, though, as pointed out above, Skyrim has brought the term back to life.


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## ALB2012 (Jul 11, 2013)

Oi you? Him in the fancy seat!

Yes I would say Jarl or my King or somesuch is fine. Even my lord is appropriate, he is still the lord of the land.


What is the viking word for king? - Yahoo! Answers
Vikings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://sites.google.com/site/mikillvotnumum/home/old-norse-lang
Viking Answer Lady Webpage - In Service To The Crown: Warriors' Oaths To The King


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## Trick (Jul 11, 2013)

You could go the foreign language route - My Konig/Kunig/Cyning... Those are all old Germanic words for king.

There is also Laedan (leader) or the scottish Laird (lord)...

Also, my Chief is fine (Chieftains were the heads of branches of clans in Scotland but the Chief was the head of the whole clan)


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## SeverinR (Jul 11, 2013)

"Wasssup, Crown top, Da princess is... yea" nods at the king, licking his lips enthusiastically.
Would probably be responded with an Alice in Wonderland quote:
"Off with his head!"
Sorry, the rest answered so well, I had to throw in the anti.


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## skip.knox (Jul 11, 2013)

How to address a king:
start with the name, then put street address below that, followed by city and province
put a stamp on the upper right shoulder
put your return address on his upper left
Of course, there's the ancient wisdom that while you can address a king, you'll have a devil of a time mailing him.

Oh, sorry. What was the question?

There wasn't any established form of address for any sort of king, Viking or otherwise. That comes more with the late Middle Ages, as the whole notion of royalty evolved. So you can call him anything you please, really.

One angle you might consider is to have different kinds of people speak to him differently. There would be his _mesnie_, his battle companions, there would be close family, there would be judges (the Vikings called them Law Men) and other muckie-mucks (Vikings didn't really have much of a formal royal court), and then there would be ordinary folk. The setting would matter, too, with formal events such as a religious ceremony being in a different tone from an all-night drinking party.


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## Filk (Jul 19, 2013)

Hey there,

I searched the site for "addressing royalty" and came up with this: http://mythicscribes.com/forums/research/4124-royal-titles.html

This link off of that topic seems best: Forms of address in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm sure this topic can be taken much further from there. Good luck!


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