Words from Nowhere...

[Butterfly]

Today I wrote a sentence that included the phrase - a ring of mantic runes - Now, I have never before come across the word mantic, have no idea what it means, it just popped up as if from nowhere. So I wrote the sentence, and checked my dictionary - (adj) relating to divination or prophecy - and it fit. It meant and it said exactly what I wanted to say... and I have no idea where it came from.

This has happened on other occasions, just seemingly random words that I don't have a mental definition for, and when checked, they fit perfectly.

It's rather bizarre when it happens, and is always an OMG moment.

My theory is that it comes from somewhere deep inside my subconscious, or maybe from somewhere else.

Question is... does or has this ever happened to anyone else?

 

[srcroft]

You're a writer, your mind, or at least mine collects and absorbs words. When I was young (Im 33 now) they used to teach Latin, most writers can instinctively know word definitions by break down. Point is we take in lots of info, see lots of words and sometimes instinct can pull one out. Not downplaying it--but it can be something you picked up in a novel, or heard from another room on tv, or even heard years and years ago.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

The "mantic" probably comes from the -mancy suffix meaning "magic" (e.g. necromantic, pyromantic, etc.). So I think you probably just inadvertently snipped off that suffix and used it. But it's actually a pretty cool word to use on its own.

 

[grimreaper]

Certainly . Many times I have come up with original names for locations or objects in my stories.......seemingly from nowhere.

 

[Guru Coyote]

"Carl Charonson" is one thing that came out of nowhere for me. And now I am struggling to integrate this rather nordic sounding name into a story about the son of Charon....

 

[Ireth]

"Carl Charonson" is one thing that came out of nowhere for me. And now I am struggling to integrate this rather nordic sounding name into a story about the son of Charon....

Maybe Charon married (or just had sex with) a mortal woman of Nordic descent?

 

[Guru Coyote]

Maybe Charon married (or just had sex with) a mortal woman of Nordic descent?

Yeah, and she left the wee lil Carl to live with his grizzled ol daddy... That fits with the "Why'd yer parants call ya 'Carl' anyways? What kinda greek is that s'posed to be?" reaction of his friends I can see coming...

 

[Caged Maiden]

I've had lots of weird things happen like that. Cool story, thanks

 

[srcroft]

You are correct sir, got lost in my conversation on latin and didn't throw that out there so thanks

 

[The Dark One]

I invent words all the time (it's just part of my style). They always have at least an affective connotation but sometimes also I jag a real (or close enough to be interesting) meaning. An example is hortative - I had an elderly pompous woman throw her head back in hortative glee and was delighted to consult the dictionary and find it meant something useful.

I was probably tending more towards haughty than any latin root, but there you go.

 

[The Dark One]

I also invent bits of language sometimes for that ring of authenticity. In my last published book, a mysterious girl uses all sorts of strange words to describe strange things - eg, she speaks disparagingly of the golaeptor...the obsessed...while an even more mysterious co-narrator uses all sorts of similar words such as narcana to describe the lifepatterns we all make without being aware of them and comes out with an increasingly sophisticated cosmology which helps explain the story as it unfolds...with more invented words and concepts.

Great fun.

 

[JCFarnham]

I don't think I've ever used a word I was completely in the dark about. I have however used words in what I believe is the right context because it made the sentence read well. "To wit" comes to mind.

Usually I won't know the by the book definition but be aware that I'm using it correctly anyway. I'm very mindful of context. Maybe that's what happened with mantic?

 

[Butterfly]

That is possible. Though it's not the only time I've found it happening... other words, in other stories, can't think of an e.g off the top my head though... which sort of developed my theory on the subconsciousness word bank thingy.

 

[srcroft]

Your name is a pseudonym one of my antagonists uses. One of five that people refer to him as. But I just noticed it.

 

[Butterfly]

...Who? Me? :angel::angel::angel:

 

[Zero Angel]

I do this all the time. I can't be bothered to expand my vocabulary manually, so I just assume I always know what I am talking about.

...turns out, I usually do

But seriously, it's how most people learn language--naturally instead of forcing it. I mean, how many people know the definition of "no"? But it's usually one of the first words we learn and use.