The Tale of a "Real Man": How Prince Charles Became King Karl

Two days have passed since the death of Queen Elizabeth II of England, and disputes over the strange transformation of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles of Wales into King Karl III, do not stop on the Russian-language Internet. In fact, this old tradition is unlikely to be interrupted in the foreseeable future, and most likely will never be interrupted, as long as the Russian language is alive. Here's what the experts think about it.

"Real Man" Carl

Anthropologist and folklorist Alexandra Arkhipova delved even further into the history of the origin of the name "Karl":

Why did Prince Charles become King Karl III? I was just tormented by this question. The answer is history and historical phonetics (a great science, in fact).

It's about the Germanic tribes. they had a word with the stem *karl-, which meant "man, man, free man." A person named REAL PEOPLE (that is, not a slave, which is important), is logical.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire and the oppression by the Huns, the Germanic tribes rapidly settled in Europe.

In the territory of the future France, a large population speaking Latin (which is mixed with alien tribes) remains, so Carl becomes, for example, Carolus. It's difficult, they try, but they don't succeed, but Charles gradually turns out.

By the way, on behalf of the Frankish king Charlemagne - Charlemagne (Charles le Magne), the word "king" gradually came about.

But the matter does not stop there. In the 11th century, the irrepressible already-almost-French, that is, the Normans, sail to England and conquer it. (An event from which the British have not yet recovered). French becomes the language of polite society.

So, the English peasants also have some old version of the name + Carl (we remember that this is a Germanic name), but they have to put up with the Charles. They almost resign themselves and Charles appears.

And Russian chroniclers and travelers somewhere since the 16th century did not care about all these differences, because they firmly learned that all this is Latin Carolus. so we have Karl 1, 2 and now 3 everywhere.”

Karl is still flowers, Wilhelm has already appeared on the horizon

For her part, philologist Ksenia Markova explained the origin of this strange tradition in Russia:

“One of the burning questions on the Internet is paramount - the name of the new king.

And how did Prince Charles become King Karl?

In general, I was even a little confused by the almost arrogant aggression of some English-speaking and some residents of foggy Albion with devastating epithets “only you have a king - Charles” with the promise of some ignorance, in particular mine).

Quite right, the prince was Charles, but the king became Karl.

Naturally, nothing has changed in the English transcription prince and king = one face = one name. Charles.

But still, let's be kinder, right?))

And the rules for naming crowned persons do exist, and it was then that what happened happened.

The bottom line is that historically the names of monarchs are translated from Latin, and not from French / English / Spanish, and the endings are cut off.

Georgius - George, Iacobus - Yakovov (this, respectively, James), and Henricus - Heinrich. Therefore, the French kings of Charly are all like one Charles.

And Louis is Louis, although they are originally Ludovicuses.

That is, today we have Prince William, but when (if ...) His Highness becomes king, then in our case, for those who write and speak Russian, if again, the rules do not change ... the king will be Wilhelm ."

Convert Ludovics to Luevs!

Writer and publicist Marina Shapovalova believes that this problem will not be solved in the near future:

“It is noteworthy that the Russian tradition of naming foreign monarchs “in their own way” outraged and made Ukrainians laugh now. Calling the Russian tsars Oleksandrs and Mykols. And who recorded all Nikit and Filippov in Ukrainian passports as Mykyts and Pylyps.

Yes, there is such a long tradition. Transcription taken from Latin. Through Latin, more precisely - without endings. It concerned not only monarchs, mere mortals also suffered from it. In the documents issued to Balzac to move around the empire, it was written that Mr. de Balzac was called Honorius. Despite the fact that none of those who read his novels in Russia ever said such a thing - after all, everyone read in French.

What to do with this tradition is not very clear. When issuing Ukrainian passports, for example, it would only be easier to change the tradition rather than change people's names. In order not to prove later that the initials "G.O." and "A.A." the same person is identified in Ukrainian and Soviet documents. But what about the second Charles in thousands of volumes of encyclopedias and historical documents, if the third is Charles? How now, calling George the Fifth George, refer to documents and texts where he is George? Is it worth it to remake all Ludovics into Luevs? ..

Maybe some witty solution will suddenly be found. Not excluded. Or maybe it is not necessary: everyone already knows that Karl III is the same former Charles. And Germany is actually Deutschland, although the French think that it is Alman.