ancient language?

[writeshiek33]

one of my ideas that still in note form ancient language for spells the dilema is there are so much choices to use as base of the language sigh

 

[Trick]

Is your story in the real world? If not, you can make a simple language based off of many fun ancient languages (since you only need it for spells, complication is unnecessary). If it is in the real world, I would advise finding a language that you like the sound of when you pronounce it phonetically - is your first language Arabic? Perhaps start by looking into the roots of that language and you may find something you love.

 

[FarmerBrown]

The beautiful things about languages are: they are constantly evolving, they mix and separate all the time, and (as you say) there are so many of them. Latin is a great choice for inspiration, but it's also probably one of the more common bases for modern magical languages.

Is there a 'feel' or sound you want to go for? Organic or scholarly? Familiar or completely alien? I used a mix of Latin/Spanish/Portuguese for one language in my book, and based another on Norse. I agree with Trick: try to find sounds you like to say that represent the magic in your story, and go from there. You'll more than likely find a source language to help you out!

 

[writeshiek33]

organic but says rolls off the tongue don't want common otherwise would have used latin as my choice i want something that might sound familiar even though it not but at same time i want to too much cliché that everyone used before i know i am over thinking this but it dark magic and light magic i am looking at and the one the protagonists an anti hero type comes from same social circles as one of the villains or he used to be

 

[CupofJoe]

I'm sure David Eddings wrote that when he was thinking up his magic system, he deliberately avoided using a real language or any language, just in case someone, thought they really could turn themselves into a bird and fly - Just like Garion did in the book - by uttering the magical phrase as they leapt off a cliff...
I like JKR's fake/cod Latin in HP, just the right about of strange and occult but still usually recognisable as to it's meaning... "Oculus Reparo"

 

[writeshiek33]

actually most of david eddings work was his wife who contibuted a lot not sure how much not till the late books did he gave her credit

 

[CupofJoe]

actually most of david eddings work was his wife who contibuted a lot not sure how much not till the late books did he gave her credit

Yes, I usually write D&L Eddings but if I remember correctly [from 20 years or more back - yikes closer to 30 - as it was for the start of The Malloreon set of books] this was in an article about DE. So it seemed most accurate to cite him.

 

[writeshiek33]

fair enough

 

[BronzeOracle]

One thing to consider is what cultural base your fantasy world has - if its European style world then latin/greek has its roots there. But if you have a world set in other cultures - eg India or China - then you could also draw on the ancient languages of those cultures for inspiration.

 

[studentofrhythm]

Why not Sumerian or Akkadian?

 

[MineOwnKing]

Try playing the White Album backwards on your turntable.

oops, just gave away my age. #9 #9 #9 #9