[ANSTHRLD] Precedence in period

[Tim McDaniel]

On Sat, 17 May 2003, Diane Rudin <serena1570 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Daniel wrote:
> >       2 Item.-- A Dukes eldiste son is borne a Marquis,
> > What I wonder about is the exact meaning of "borne": does it
> > include "to be styled"?
>
> "Borne" = born.

Usually spelled "borne" even today, I think, as the past participle of
"to bear".  But if that's the meaning (as I assumed anyway), the
grammar is seriously strange in modern terms.

By "exact meaning", does it mean "shall have precedence as" or "shall
be styled as in conversation, introductions, et cetera"?  I suspect
both.

> (1) Earlier on, they did, and there's a whole lot of period before
> the Wars of the Roses.

True 'nuff.

> (2) Most people's titles probably still did derive from their
> land-holdings.

I have no evidence whether early or late.

> (4) I was stating the general rule, of interest to the layman.
> Exceptions are legion, and of interest to the specialist.

But I *like* exceptions and weird cases, regardless of whether I'm a
specialist or not.  Unless I'm, like, shopping for something or
trying to get a computer program to work or some such.

(According to Miss Manners, the Holy Roman Emperor refers to himself
as "ma majeste", 'my majesty', even when talking to himself.
Isn't that neat?)

Daniel de Lincolia
--
Tim McDaniel (home); Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com; work is tmcd at us.ibm.com.