Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 September 27

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September 27

Meaning

What is the meaning of Forthcoming? Chandelia16 (talk) 08:48, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Google is your friend.--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 08:52, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Also Wiktionary --catslash (talk) 16:38, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Or http://www.onelook.com. --174.88.134.156 (talk) 17:32, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Knightly address

Do other European languages have an equivalent to the convention of "Sir [name]" referring to knights? I'm curious, because it seems like in many cases the equivalents of "sir" and "mister" would be identical, for example Spanish señor. --Lazar Taxon (talk) 19:38, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

The Spanish Don/Doña is somewhat like Sir/Dame, for instance in requiring to be followed by the forename. Historically it was applied to members of the nobility. --rossb (talk) 22:25, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

I believe "Chevalier" might be used as a term of address in Francophone contexts relating to that qualification; similarly "Ritter" in Dutch and "Ridder" in German ones. See details within our article Knight. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 14:00, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

I think you mixed up German Ritter and Dutch/Flemish Ridder there. But as for forms of address, I'd say German "de:Herr" is the equivalent to "Sir". It has lost a bit more of its associations with knighthood, but then even in English I would usually address an unknown man as "Sir" as a form of courtesy. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:01, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

• I tried looking at all the various different language articles linked to Sir Galahad and none of them called him monsieur or señor or Herr or gospodin Galahad. They all just called him Galahad (in the local variant) or simply Sir Galahad. I don't think giving the modern translation of the term of address sir in English actually addresses the OP's specific question. μηδείς (talk) 01:07, 29 September 2015 (UTC)