Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Taleran Language Lesson

When Wraith of Talera is published, sometime this year, I hope, it will contain a fairly extensive glossary of Taleran places, races, mythology, and terms. I've spent many fun hours over the years developing this material. I use it as my guide in writing the stories, but I also just enjoy working on it even if some of it may never see light in the tales themselves. I thought I might post a little preview of the glossary here, focusing on some Taleran vocabulary. Below we have the Taleran words on the left side, with their equivalent meanings in English on the right. This is only a sample of some of the more common terms.

Ahy – Greeting. Basically “hello.”
Dihn – A small coin of little importance.
Dhu – Hundred.
Efrinore – Druid-witch-shaman. A magic woman of the forest. Herbalist.
Gleene – Blade.
Hyr – Half.
Jaikil Raptor.
Jhesan – Lord (or sometimes Prince).
Jhesana – Lady (or sometimes Princess).
Khi – This is an important concept on Talera. It means, among other things, soul, spirit, psychic energy, charisma.
Khiang – Warrior, in the Nyshphalian tongue.
Khisan – Warlord, one who rules by the Khi.
Kyr – King.
Lehr – Outlaw.
Mercredi – A mercenary who serves as infantry.
Mordai – The name for the 1st hour of the Taleran day, the hour after midnight when the veil between the living and the dead worlds is said to be thinnest.
Munt – Monkey.
Phoros – Healer or Physician.
Phrer – Priest or monk.
Rhanvin – Fighting slave, gladiator.
Saar – Polite title, like Sir.
Saaress – Polite title for a woman. Madam.
Saysa – Term of endearment, equivalent in English to “baby” or “honey.”
Verdredi – Mounted mercenary.

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21 comments:

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Very original, Charles. "Efrinore" and "Khi" are particularly nice.

the walking man said...

MY Khi needs to know the cuss words!

Charles Gramlich said...

Prashant, thanks. It's a lot of fun.

Mark, there are indeed curse words in Taleran. That will be another post. :)

Brian Miller said...

lol WM---the cuss words are most of what i remember of my french and spanish...

i wonder---when you are writing a story are you intentional in how you introduce a vast new language like this? or how do you build that in without losing the reader?

Tom Doolan said...

Very cool! I did something similar for my orcish language. Including cuss words. :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I thought about a glossary for mine, but there just weren't enough words to justify one.

Ron Scheer said...

A colleague at work created the language spoken in AVATAR. As its world authority, he traveled widely and took early retirement. Hope it works out that way for you.

Charles Gramlich said...

Brian, I introduce it very gradually and any new word gets hammered home pretty regularly until I feel the reader is comfortable with it. A particular problem comes in with a series though. If you read the fourth book and i use words established in the first book, you may not be able to follow it. That'a struggle all writers of series face.

Tom, yeah, that's probably the first words I came up with for Taleran languages too.

Alex, in my glossary I included descriptions of the various races, bits about the mythology of the planet, some historical stuff, etc.

Ron, that would indeed be nice!

nephite blood spartan heart said...

I always enjoyed your language in this series, it helped make it real to me, a place I would like to see and taste.

Charles Gramlich said...

David J., thanks man. Glad it worked.

Riot Kitty said...

You know, that does look like fun. You need to fill us in on the swear words, though. Then I can have some fun with unsuspecting strangers.

Charles Gramlich said...

Riot kitty, will do!

Brian Miller said...

nice...thanks for answering charles...its interesting...i wonder at the feel for someone joining in late....

ivan said...

I'd say, even belatedly, that like old writer Anthony Burgess, you have invented a new vocabulary, though in part.
Nice going, Droog. :)

BTW:

Winter storm on the way to your neck of the woods. Tin Roof blues?

Charles Gramlich said...

Brian, well we always hope the new reader will go back to the early books but I'm sure that doesn't always happen.

Ivan, so far just a little cold rain and wind.

Brian Miller said...

and i usually do go back if i can, if the earlier books can be found. i guess this is where online or ebooks come in handy as they are a little more readily available....

pattinase (abbott) said...

And I can barely manage the one language! So cool.

jodi said...

Charles-Holy cats, u created a language? How awesome and creative!

Charles Gramlich said...

Brian, yes, and don't go out of print.

Patti, lol.

Jodi, there is quite a lot more to it than this.

BernardL said...

Very cool, and a must for writing tools.

Charles Gramlich said...

Bernard, thanks, man.