- Oct 16, 2017
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No, actually (afaik), Dame was both the honorific and rank when it was used. I have no idea how the actual female knights in history would have been referred to as. As for the slang connotations (again afaik) they originated from using dame to refer to an attractive, high class women and went from there.Also, Dame is the honorific/title, not the name of the position, right? Like you wouldn't say Patrick Stewart is "a Sir", you'd either say "Patrick Stewart is a knight" or refer to him as "Sir Patrick Stewart". I'd expect the same would be true for women - you'd either say "Judy Dench is a knight" or refer to her as "Dame Judy Dench", but not say "Judy Dench is a Dame" (especially since the word his picked up slang connotations having nothing to do with knighthood).
...how weird is it that the only famous knights at this point are those knighted to honor achievements in the arts? If all these actors and musicians are ever called upon to take up the sword and defend the realm, we'll know the UK is in deep shit.
And yeah, modern (British) knighthood is just to honor people who the PM and royal family wants to recognize, though that only applies to British citizens. If you're not a citizen you can only get an honorary knighthood, which doesn't allow use of Sir / Dame.