Lexicon:Modern/aeslae

aeslae
Stage	Modern CLT
Pronunciation	/ˈaɪs.laɪ/
Part of speech	Noun; Interjection
Etymology	from Middle āslā, from Proto asla
Related words	Oethboend, Sigil, daes, Jor

aeslae — the formal asking of a stranger’s particulars: family, station, and city. Answered in that order.

Notes

Not a request for a name. A name is of little use on its own; what a person needs to know of a stranger is what they are bound to, and the three answers give it — the house that will answer for them, the work that places them, and the city whose law they hold. A name is generally offered alongside but is not what was asked. Spoken bare as a question to a traveler at a gate, a stranger at a table, or a claimant before a magistrate. The full form, Wy aeslae?, is more courteous and is what one uses with a person of standing. The reply is conventionally three phrases and nothing else; elaborating on it unasked is thought boastful. The Personal aspect of the Oathbond is not among the three, and this is deliberate: a person cannot declare their own honor. Others assess it, from the three answers and from what follows. A slave has no answer to aeslae. She has no family, no station, and no city, and to put the question to her is either an error by someone new to a city or a cruelty by someone who is not. The correct question of a slave is whose she is, which is a different question entirely and has its own form.