Talk:Dame

One issue is whether Dame can be used as a form of Madame, the French alternate title for Lady. The list of alternates from the College of Heralds ([1]) only includes Madam, but the list of alternates here on Cunnan includes Dame as an allowable form. Presumably, someone knows something that the heralds haven't written down, or is completely wrong. - Cian Gillebhrath 23:17, 5 November 2009 (EST)

• I suspect that it's simply a case of a slight misreading of the Corporate documents along with a dollop of SCA weirdness. Linguistically the idea that Dame is restricted to the Peerage while Madame is suitable for AoAs is a bit odd, but that is the way the Laurel rules read ... while fixing the link, another thought occurred to me. This could be a local practice of some scope that no one has yet frowned upon, because "Dame" is used very infrequently in my experience. AlexandreDavigne 23:43, 5 November 2009 (EST)

• See some discussions in Northshield, particularly [2] and [3]. These discussions are not clear on what rank exactly a French Dame was.

Another confusing French usage of Dame is in Cathédrale Notre-Dame, which translates in English as the Cathedral of Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. I am note quite sure exactly what Dame actually means there, nor when exactly it was named (though the official website for the cathedral seems to indicate around 1160 to 1196 [4]). - Cian Gillebhrath 22:16, 6 November 2009 (EST)

• Trying to figure out 'why' some things have been done in the SCA is the road to madness ... the Laurel ruling is pretty clear, I think. Whether it makes sense is a whole different question. Notre-Dame de Paris was constructed in about the time frame you mention, with significant rebuilding over the years, and was consecrated as Notre-Dame with no reconsecration. There are Notre-Dames all over the place which doesn't really help:-) AlexandreDavigne 00:00, 7 November 2009 (EST)