Here’s another Happy Life term change update.
Against my better conscience in c28, I translated the words ゼライス伯爵子息 into earl’s son, Zerais. Literally it is correct. Figuratively, it’s wrong.
Doing a search on forms of addresses in systems of nobility led me to two Wikipedia article: Courtesy Titles in United Kingdom and Forms of Address in the United Kingdom
Quoting an entire phrase from the first link:
Choosing a courtesy peer’s title
The actual courtesy title which is used is a matter of family tradition. For instance, the eldest son of The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry is styled “Earl of Dalkeith”, even though the duke is also the Marquess of Dumfriesshire, a title which outranks the earldom. Similarly, the eldest son of The Marquess of Londonderry is styled “Viscount Castlereagh”, even though the marquess is also the Earl Vane.
Titles with the same name as a peer’s main title are also not used as courtesy titles. For instance, The Duke of Westminster is also The Marquess of Westminster and The Earl Grosvenor(amongst other titles). The duke’s eldest son is not styled “Marquess of Westminster” (which would cause confusion between the son and the father), and so is styled “Earl Grosvenor” instead. The title used does not have to be exactly equivalent to the actual peerage: the eldest son of the current Duke of Wellington is styled Marquess of Douro, although the actual peerage possessed by his father is Marquess Douro (not of Douro).[citation needed]
If a peer of the rank of earl or above does not have any subsidiary titles of a name different from his main title, his eldest son usually uses an invented courtesy title of “Lord [Surname]”. For instance, the eldest son of The Earl of Devon is styled “Lord Courtenay”, even though the Earl has no barony of that name, and similarly the eldest son of The Earl of Guilford is styled “Lord North”. The eldest son of The Earl of Huntingdon, who has no subsidiary titles, is styled “Viscount Hastings” to avoid confusion with the substantive peer The Lord Hastings. The Earl Castle Stewart’s heir uses the style Viscount Stewart in order to avoid confusion with Lord Stewart, the eldest son of Viscount Castlereagh (the eldest son of The Marquess of Londonderry).
As there isn’t any description in the text to the position Zerais holds (whether he’s the eldest or youngest son) nor if his father holds any additional titles, the term Lord Zerais fits here appropriately.
If you click on the second link, you’ll also notice various different titles and addresses to the different nobility ranks.
This should explain a bit more about Liz and how people address her. For example; the King addresses her as Lizbeth-jou which in English, would be Lady Lizbeth. In the Japanese text, it doesn’t sound as amiss as in English so I’m sorely tempted to rectify this mistake as well.
However, that really depends on my readers and if you’re comfortable with me remaining with Lizbeth-jou or ojou-sama in my texts. Please note that this would also affect Gilles’s speech for when he calls Liz by ojou-sama, the appropriate English term would be My Lady.
Please write in the comments below and tell me what you think about the term changes. Would this work for this novel? And how do you address your monarchy, if any.
P.S. (Speaking of terms, I’m going to change servant to valet in some texts. For Gilles is no ordinary attendant. He’s Liz’s PERSONAL valet. So keeping up with certain parts of the texts, I’ll switch it when necessary) 😀
Ojou or ojousama is fine with me and being called a vellet is certainly more better than a servant I guess