• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

Dictionary/Thesaurus

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
That might be a long list depending on what type of fantasy you are writing.
I like looking through lists of archaic or obsolete words.
One of my current favourites is Sweven [a vision seen in a dream].
 
I personally like this one:
A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms by Samuel Fallows (1898)

Edit: But, if you want some real outdated words to sprinkle into the dialogue, try this:
A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by Mayhew and Skeat
But it's way short. Anyone got a longer one?

This thread reminds me of a video, Jordan Peterson | ContraPoints, which imitates the 17th-century tongue with a few typical-17th expressions. I think it's a bit like dialect, where you add just enough for the reader to get the tone.
 
Last edited:
There are SO many resources out there! Since I rarely write in Earth-based, historical periods, I don't mind mixing up eras and archaic words sprinkled in with made up ones as well. No reason to think a medieval-like world that is not Earth based would develop the exact same language usage for the time period, but that's a personal choice.

Here's a few links for you to check out.

I like to refer to these two for archaic occupations (Victorian era here, but a wealth of ideas can come from these titles):

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~familiesacrosstime/family/occupations-a.htm

http://www.census1891.com/occupations.php

This one for ideas of archaic disease names:

Old Names of Diseases

And finally, one on old-world plant names. Quite a nice list for all the herbalists/apothecaries in your burgeoning world. ;)

Old-World Names for Herbs and Plants
 
Top