Foreign Equivalents for "Mr."

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 298, 18 December 1886, Page 5

Foreign Equivalents for "Mr."

Durino tho past twelvemonth a slight chance has b°en introduced in a detail of mu.-ical criticism. Tho various foreign equivalents of tho prefix "Mr" have long porplexcd critic, printers nnd readers. Wo have been expected to write about Mr Mackenzie, M. Uounpd, Signer Verdi, Herr Wagner, Senor Sura.st?, Pun Dvorak, Por Nordblmn and Gospcdin I'achmrinn. On tho Continent thcee distinctions nro entirely unknown. In Germany tlioy would ruf-jr to Herr Mnckenzio, in Italy to Siynor Pachmann, iv France to M. Wagner, etc. Twelve months ajo tho "Figaro " besr.in. to wiito of every main, of whatever nationality, as " Mr." About the fini'i psriod, or thortly afterward (as the rofotra was avowedly borrowed fiom abroad there is no nei.d to quarrel on tha V>i:it of time), (hes cuitoir, was adopted by tho "Daily Telegraph' ' ami the " St. James Gaz-stfce," but I tfolievo no other paper has yet maie tho plunge. The thinjr jarred m little at first, but wo to^m coon to have got USQ'I to it. In a half-hearted *ort of way some of us havo also adopt-jd tha profix "Miss" fjr uumarried lady ati^t-. B'.;t hero wo huro uil stooped. Nobody, so far 'm I know, has yet had sufficient courage to ivjfer to Mrs i'atti, Mrs Nila»on, or Mrs Schumann. It would be perfectly logicil to do so, for more logical, indeed, than to use the .■<e:is-e!os's "prefix "Madam" when writing cbour an Italian or a German lady. Abroid, and particularly in Franca, th«y carry the matter still turthor, and translate the titles of works into the lan gungo of tbo country. Thus " U Trovatore"and " Die MoHforsinger" figure as " Les Maitres Chanteura ile Nuremberg " Wo ourselve3 in England do Kmitithir.g of tho s..rt, and, in 're-'Hrrinj; to Schumann's work1, we almost Invariably translate thoir German titles into English Possibly it may be deemed hopeless yet to secure somo sort of uniformity in these things. The Herr, tho Monsieur and the Signor will probably flourish for somo time to come, although writers wil! hesitate to commit tho absurdity of trying to popularise tho prefixes " P.in," " Par " und "Go'podin." And the general uso of tho word "Mr ' is at any rate the thin end of the wedgo.