Sir (salutation)
Sir (debate søːɐ̯ , zøːɐ̯ or sə ) than nobility of the suffix a British Knight and Bart . The predicate is always placed in front of the baptismal name; When addressing you can omit the family name, but never the first name. The female equivalent is lady or lady .
Sir alone, without adding the first name, is used in the English-speaking world as a generally polite form of address , especially to persons of respect such as the elderly, superiors, police officers or teachers. The female equivalent is miss or ma'am .
Etymologically , the term is derived from the high medieval French honorary title Sire , which, like the French Seigneur or Sieur and the Spanish Señor (as a term for a feudal lord ), goes back to the vulgar Latin senior ( comparative of the adjective senex : old, aged).
literature
- Sir . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 18, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1909, p. 498 .
