[Kalimac]

Legalos and littlemanpoet, wow! So much etymology, I'm a little dizzy...

Two points. First of all, the term "prince" doesn't necessarily mean the son of a king in all times or languages; in fact, sometimes it means everything but. Second, many people that we *would* consider princes in the English-speaking sense - son or daughter of a king or queen - were never referred to as such. Consider the pre-Revolution Russians; plenty of princes and princesses there, but for them the title was more like Duke or Count; there was no implication that being called a prince meant you were even within shouting distance of the throne. To add to the confusion, the actual daughters of the Tsar were called the Grand Duchesses, in the same way that the Habsburg sons and daughters of the Empress Maria Teresa were Dukes and Duchesses, not Princes and Princesses.

Even in the English-speaking world, the children of kings were not always called Prince or Princess. Most often, in addition to being a prince or princess they were also duke or duchess of somewhere else, and were referred to as such (e.g. Queen Victoria's father, known as the Duke of Kent although he was a king's son). In medieval times they would have most often been addressed as "my lord" or "your grace" but probably not as "Prince [name]" except possibly in very formal situations or in writing; certainly not during a conversation.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on so long. Just wanted to say that with Tolkien's predilections and all, it's easier to picture the Elves doing it early-medieval style (or possibly even more sparingly than that - after all, the thrill of a title would wear off after a few thousands of years). Legolas also does not seem to stand too much upon ceremony, especially since in the Fellowship it's probably the worst thing he could do. Possibly at Thranduil's court he'd be "my lord Legolas" but even then only at special times. And while you can picture Frodo writing everything in the Red Book afterwards and referring to Legolas as "Prince Legolas Greenleaf of Mirkwood" calling him that to his face would be out of place considering their situation.

Please excuse the ramble, it's a bit late [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. Hope that made sense.