In Poul Anderson's A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, the head of state of the planet, Dennitza, is the Gospodar.
In Anderson's The Merman's Children, when the merman, Tauno, masquerading as the human Herr Carolus Brede, visits Dalmatia, he is there addressed as "Gospodar Carolus." (Book Four, VI, p. 223) We are surprised to recognize a title used in A Knight... repeated here. At least I am. (Two very different novels.)
"Carolus" is "Charles." Thus, King Charles III of England was referred to, during his coronation, as "Rex Carolus."
Thus, the phrase, "Gospodar Carolus," evokes considerably more than it is probably meant to but that is the nature of words and names.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Dennitza was settled by Slavs who came from, apparently, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia. Iow, the roughly same region Herr Carolus visited. All three regions spoke more or less the same language, even if the Slovenes and Croats used Latin letters for writing. So "gospodar" would be familiar there and on Dennitza.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that "Mister"/Mr. was originally 'master'. As late as Shakespeare's time it was a title reserved for upper-class people; ordinary respectable types were "Goodman".
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