APRIL FOOLS: Introducing the Girlking: Why I'm no longer using the term 'queens'

Language is important

Queen Emma, illustration for Ælfgif-who? by Pollie Scott

As a historian, my biggest priority is using the correct terminology to convey the right impression about the past. For a long time, I have been reconsidering my use of the phrases ‘queen’ and ‘queenship’, and I have decided it’s time to retire these outdated sexist terms.

The English word ‘queen’ comes from Old English, ‘cwen’. The origin of this word is difficult to attest, but it hypothetically originates from an earlier Proto-Germanic word ‘kwani’, meaning woman/wife.

That the roles of woman and wife are interchangeable in this hypothetical protolanguage is pretty unfeminist of them. What is most egregious is that when we call someone a ‘queen’, we are actually reducing her status down to being a mere wife. This turn of phrase does not accurately reflect the power of the woman in question. So-called ‘queens’ did not break through the glass ceiling and rise to the top of a medieval patriarchal society merely to have the same status as a common wife who cooks and cleans.

This is why from now on I will be using a new term that I have coined: ‘girlking’. Girlking more accurately reflects the girl power inherent in being a powerful, badass woman in the middle ages. It conveys that royal women were doing everything kings could do, but doing it in heels. This term is more accurate because girlkings are essentially the girl version of kings. Today, on the 1st of April 2022, I ask you to join me in pledging to never use the word ‘queen’ again.