Regicide anyone

[pbray]

Today's question: Can regicide be applied to someone who murders an emperor? The dictionaries seem pretty firm on the term applying to someone who kills a king, but a few google searches turn it up in articles about assassinating an emperor.

If it only applies to kings, what is the imperial equivalent?

P.S. Why am I obsessing about this when I should be writing?

Writing: 1,015 words on Saturday. Stay tuned for today's report.

Reading: Finished DISAPPEARING NIGHTLY by Laura Resnick. Overall the book was a fun romp, with an intriguing cast of characters. My one nitpick is that the mystery element was barely there--it took far too long for heroine and her helpers to identify the obvious suspects. If you want a mystery look elsewhere. If you're looking for a screwball comedy with a hint of romance, then this is an excellent choice.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

With the Chinese and Japanese cases, I think we meet a problem in translation. Japan, at least, didn't have kings, and I don't think the Chinese did.

Did the Roman and Byzantine Empires have the sub-rank? My Latin courses are ancient, but I only remember rex and regis and regina applied to outside groups. Rome went directly from Republic to Empire, without being a kingdom.

Not nitpicking -- pedantry can be a sport...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

There's always a use for pedantry.

Since this is an invented culture, I make the rules, but it's heavily Roman empire based so we're talking about an Emperor who doesn't have subranks. Those in direct line of succession have the courtesy title of Prince, but the only kings mentioned so far have been foreign barbarians.

Regicide is a cool sounding word, but it doesn't work. Though, you think the Romans would have invented a specific word for "the man (or men) who offed our emperor" seeing as it was a common occurence.