Come to think of it, I would be INSULTED if people called me 'princess' (or prince, for that matter). In Spain, the daughters of the King of Spain -- well in their 40s and 50s -- are called, still, 'infants', which LITERALLY (i.e. sans implicature) means 'without speech', from 'in-', negative affix, and '-fant', 'speaking'.
How did this implicature spring? Surely by some flout (or affrent) to the Gricean maxims:
------ "He is a cute baby. He cannot talk!"
---------- "Let's call him 'infant'.
---"You are SO clever: 'in-', unable to, '-fant', speak.
THE SPANISH COURT.
----- Nanny (to Queen): The infant has talked!
-------- Queen: So?
----- Nanny: I was wondering, your Majesty, if
---------------- you would like NOT to call her 'infant' anymore.
------ The Queen Isabella da Castilla: Stuff and nonsense. Once an infant, allways an infant (to me).
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Yes, infant, or La Infanta was for the royals, only later taking on the Merican meaning of child. So any children of nobility were infantes, at least until marriage complicated matters.
ReplyDeleteAnd "infante defunte" probably does not equal dead princess, but like....princess of old, or ancient, etc. "Difunto" as in defunct, bygone, in short, long-gone. But at times you'll see in mod. spanish something like "los difuntos", usually meaning...corpses. But I don't think Ravel intended that....pavane for the princess corpse? Non!
Well, 'in-fant' means NON-speaking. I would think the Romans first used it to mean something that doesn't speak -- e.g. a wall. (Although some say -- my mother -- that walls speak -- or at least hear).
ReplyDeleteThe defunct is again with the negative affix 'de-' in this case and 'function'. As when we say the telephone is defunct -- i.e. out of order. Oddly, this relates to Grice. As per separate post.