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Post by Marchwriter on May 19, 2012 23:09:02 GMT -6
I find this article to be so interesting. Thanks for the heads-up; I have it bookmarked now too. One of my friends from my X-Files days was given a book of archaic words that are no longer in use, and she has been posting some of them. Ex: aquabob: An icicle; [from] Latin aqua, water. Kent I love to think about the question of vocabulary and syntax choices. Sloppy as I may seem to some, I actually do think about vocabulary a lot! Especially, in dialogue. And most of my choices are conscious and deliberate. I still remember my soul-searching and trepidation before the first time I dropped an f-bomb into a Silmarillion story. Ah, yes. Nothing like going to good ole etymonline.com to check the historical origins of the f- word. That one's pretty much Older Than Dirt.
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Post by erulisse on May 20, 2012 18:10:02 GMT -6
Great link, Oshun. I've been fighting with the correct tone for a young man of the 1860's on the western frontier of the US and this helped.
- Erulisse (one L)
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Post by Urloth on May 28, 2012 5:57:26 GMT -6
Hmm I've been having some trouble with archaic language myself. I want to write an Elf of Cuivienen origins who has learnt the barest minimum quenya/sinda to communicate and sticks to primitive elvish most of the time talking to Celegorm. I got desperate enough to crack open my Mallory and Chaucer in the hopes of finding reasonable antiquated language that didn't sound stupid but no cigar. I love that article, its a nice new way to think about it all.
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Post by oshun on May 28, 2012 10:25:54 GMT -6
Hmm I've been having some trouble with archaic language myself. I want to write an Elf of Cuivienen origins who has learnt the barest minimum quenya/sinda to communicate and sticks to primitive elvish most of the time talking to Celegorm. I got desperate enough to crack open my Mallory and Chaucer in the hopes of finding reasonable antiquated language that didn't sound stupid but no cigar. I love that article, its a nice new way to think about it all. Ignoble Bard is really good at doing something along those lines. Read this story for inspiration (it's not that long); I call it the "Prehistoric Elves Story." www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/archive/home/viewstory.php?sid=263&chapter=1 It worked for me. The language is perfectly ordinary, but a with subtle cadence that makes it feel remote from the modern world and he also uses descriptive nouns instead of more familiar ones that might give it an inappropriately contemporary or identifiably historical tone. Check it out.
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