Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-11-15
WHAT is A cENTLEMAN7
Titles in England Designate the Rank
OF the Man.

Of the Man.
esq" is still commonly placed
after the name of person addressed
by letter, says London Answers.
Nine-teaths of the people who use it
probably never waste thought upon
what it means Esquire" is derived
from a French word, meaning shield
bearer, and from the older Latin
"scutum,'' a shield The shield, en-
blazoned with armorial bearings, is
termed an 'escutcheon,' which is an
other form the same word. Strictly
speaking, therefore, no one may term
himself esquire" unless he be en-
| titled to coat-of-arms. An esquire in
the days of chivalry was entitled to
wear silver spurs, while gilded ones
were reserved for knights.
Younger sons of noble families are
still often termed cadets" This is
another word of which few persons
know that the origin is heradic. 1t
arises from the fact that the armorial
shields of such younger sons are
marked with a difference known in
heraldry as cadence"
Five centuries ago a gentleman was
one who bore arms IN the field, yet
had no title The term is derived
from Latin word which means lone
who comes from a common stock or
ancestry" Gentry is contraction for
gentlery.''
Earl" is nothing more than the old
Danish word 'jarl," which simply
meant "elder." The first earls were
the wise elders of the camp, with
whom the king took counsel.
''Viscount," on the other hand, has
rather less evident origin. 1t means
zone who acts in place of count"
During the Norman dynasty each
count had a steward. who remained at
home to look after his estate, and he
was known as the "vicomte" or Wis
count. Count and earl were in those
days interchangeable titles. This is
shown by the fact that - he present
day the wife of an earl is termed a
countess"
"Marchioness" explains almost
equally clearly what a marquis orr
to guard the marches or boundaries.
The original word used to indicate
boundary was the Anglo-Saxon
'mearl,' so march and boundary are
practically identical words.
AS for lord" the word is contrac-
0f l, 10
term, meaning the keeper of the loaf.
LADY" is not merely the feminine of
| lord. Tracing it back to it's deriva-
ton, we find that the Anglo-Saxon was
'hlafdige," which meant the loaf
giver. So, in those days, a lord kept
the key of the granary, while his lady
distributed the wheat as it was need
ed. The word laird" is the Scottish
equivalent for the English lord.
The lowest rank in our peerage is
that of baron. Its origin is hardly
complimentary. "Baro," Latin word,
means nothing more nor less than "a
perfect fool"
Among the oldest words in our Ian
guage are king and queen. They trace
back through the Anglo-Saxon "cyng"
and "swen" to the Gothic word
'kuni," a race. They really mean,
therefore, father and mother.
1t might be imagined that the word
Knight" had similar origin, but the
fact is quite the reverse. The Saxon
word is "cnight," a servant. Later it
came to mean a fighting servant, or
defender. Chevalier means no more
than horseman. "Cheva" is, of
course, the French word for ''horse."
The ruler of the German empire in
sists upon the title of kaiser. Kaiser
is only the Germanized form of Gaze
claims to be the direct successor of
Rome's imperial rulers. Oddly
enough, the rulers of Austria claim
the same title upon similar grounds.
Even more strange is the fact that
Russia's monarchs have for centuries
wished the world to term item Caesar,
Gear, or tar, as the word should be
spelled, is the Russian equivalent for
Caesar.
Sultan is an Arabic word implying
power" and khedive indicates that
its bearer has a rank superior to any
prince of viceroy and inferior only to
that of the sultan. Caliph means a
successor, and vizier one who carries
a burdens AS for pasha. he is ''one
who rules a province"