> speaking only for myself (and I don't think I particularly
> flurried), its a confusion in formal address and description, not in
> intimate family setting. When an Esrolian says to another 'I have to
> do this thing for my Grandmother', it remains ambiguous.
Remember, Esrolians don't speak English.:) Probably Grandmother (the title) is something like Hara-Grandmother or Hantra-Grandmother, or some other one syllable differentiation.
> And I was certainly struck by the way in which an English
> word that already has the exact meaning needed (Matriarch) was
> consciously avoided in favour of an ambiguous term. Just struck me
as
> odd. Bu no means the first time its happened in Glorantha, but this
> time seemed peculiarly forced to me.
Here's my problem with the word. I want the Esrolians to have a title for their clan leaders (Grandmothers) that comes out of ordinary Orlanthi usage. A foreigner travelling amongst the Esrolians really isn't going to be able to tell the difference between an Esrolian and a Heortling, other than the Heortlings tend to be led by male chiefs, and the Esrolian clans are ruled by old women that everyone defers to. Grandmother does the trick - and it isn't a Latinate word (which I try to avoid for Orlanthi titles and terms).
Additionally, the term "matriarch", as normally defined, selfconsciously implies "patriarch" as the norm. It also for me has all sorts of irritating connotions to bad Women's Studies seminars back at The Evergree State College, along with crappy readings like "The Chalice and the Blade". For all of the above, I tend to think that the Esrolians wouldn't call their sacred (or beloved) Grandmothers "matriarchs".
Jeff
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