Acknowledgment List of Figures Abbreviations Introduction 1 Approaching the Problem 2 Historical Context 3 State of the Field 4 Theoretical Framing and Methodology 5 Primary Sources and Their Use 6 Structure of the Book1 The Nature of Medieval Language 1 What Again Is Language? 2 Language and Corporeality 3 Medieval Theorization of Language 4 Genera, Individuals, and the Problem of Universals 5 Discussion2 The Conflation of Titles and Proper Names 1 Titles and Names: a Dichotomy or a Continuum? 2 Politics in Patronymics and Cognomina 3 From Title to Forename 4 Eponymous Heroes and Kin(g)ship 5 Renaming Rulers 6 Embodied Titles 7 Discussion3 Designating Rulers and Conceptions of Titles 1 Gifting Social Designations 2 The hersir: between Local Ruler and Petty King 3 Analogizing Name and Space 4 The suffix -dómr: Melting Pozt of Legal, Ontological, and Territorial Dimensions 5 Tracing Proximity to Kingship: the Dissociation of Office from Person 6 Discussion4 Retainers' Titles and Political Ideologies 1 Triads and Demarcations 2 The Hot-Tempered Guests 3 Housecarls and Cottagers: Competing Derogatory Terms 4 Titles as Marks of Time and Space 5 The hirðmaðr: from Royal Bodyguard to Miles Christi 6 Discussion5 Borrowed Titles in Taxonomies of the Elites 1 The Lord and His Lords: a Relational Mark of Authority 2 The riddarar: from Cavalry to Courtly Knights 3 Titles in Diplomacy: the Role of Emissaries and Correspondence 4 Integrating and Subsuming Courtly and Rural Titles 5 Distinctions at the Top: jarl and hertogi 6 Discussion Conclusion Bibliography Index.