Looking for an appropriate title

[GorogIrongut]

So I've been working hard on establishing every detail of my archipelago adventure. And I thought that I had it sorted. Until I realized that something didn't fit the setting.

In the Archipelago there are a few 'civilized' areas that are essentially a central point where much of the governing occurs. The farther away from one of these central points in the archipelago, the more tribal and primitive the islanders become. So while in a centralized island, a lot of the language, titles and descriptors would be what I would call, modern. The farther away you go the more modern practices will be stripped away.

So to keep the verisimilitude going in my story, when my characters are in the more primitive islands, what would you use in the place of Mr/Mrs/etc? (the tribal leadership positions are something I had no trouble finding, but how I would describe a woman or a man who was married is eluding me)

Would you differentiate the title between an older married woman and a newly married younger woman?

[DMThac0]

Etymology is a strange thing, it changes drastically through the ages.

Prior to the 19th century there were no feminine titles to denote marital status, and even during the transition those titles were give to women of affluence.

Mister/Mr. used to be used as an honorific for those of status too, or to indicate the elders of the family.

I know this doesn't give a direct answer to your question, but it is indicative that those older societies didn't use the honorifics that we are accustomed to today.

[Scyrner]

I'm a fan of "werman" and "wyfman" as words for male and female humans. So they could be "Werman *name*" or "Wyfman *name*". Children don't get that until they've hit adult age.

[Unoriginal]

So I've been working hard on establishing every detail of my archipelago adventure. And I thought that I had it sorted. Until I realized that something didn't fit the setting.

In the Archipelago there are a few 'civilized' areas that are essentially a central point where much of the governing occurs. The farther away from one of these central points in the archipelago, the more tribal and primitive the islanders become. So while in a centralized island, a lot of the language, titles and descriptors would be what I would call, modern. The farther away you go the more modern practices will be stripped away.

So to keep the verisimilitude going in my story, when my characters are in the more primitive islands, what would you use in the place of Mr/Mrs/etc? (the tribal leadership positions are something I had no trouble finding, but how I would describe a woman or a man who was married is eluding me)

Would you differentiate the title between an older married woman and a newly married younger woman?

They could have no honorific for it.

Hell, they could have no marriage.




Mister/Mr. used to be used as an honorific for those of status too, or to indicate the elders of the family.

People tend to not know/forget that the female form of "Mister" is "Mistress".

[Laserlight]

I might use Headman for the village leader. Other than that, I probably wouldn't use titles. If you live in a group of 100 or so people, you already know who's adult, or married, or whatever.

If you want titles anyway, you might decide what occupations are status related. An unmarried woman might be Netmaker, a married one Steerswoman. A young man might be Warrior, and older one Fisher. Or landchild, sailor, master, captain.