Names and Language

[ToffMyster]

Hey Forum! Ok, so I'm currently in the process of writing my own fantasy (dare I say it) novel. It's based quite heavily on Greek mythology, but it's my own variant, in other words, with the Gods for example, I'm not using Zeus or Athene etc. Basically I have my own Gods with their own names, the way I went about doing this was by either using ancient Greek names that didn't really apply to well known mythological characters, or by simply using ancient Greek words as names, like Artamos, which means butcher. I've used this technique on pretty much every character.

Would you say this is a good method? It's just I've always been quite baffled as to how people seem to come up with their names for their worlds, take Tolkien for example, so many names that all fit the culture perfectly (I know he's an extreme example but still).

 

[CupofJoe]

and it did take him about 40 years
Personally I don't get too fixed on the names as I'm starting. I get a name that I'm happy to start off with but as I go along, sooner or later a "better" name comes to me.
I tend to go for the sound of words and have similar sounds from a culture [if you have Greek culture/names it is unlikely to have the "ll" sound from welsh etc...]
[BTW Hello ToffMyster]

 

[ToffMyster]

Cheers CupofJoe, that was some sound advice, and thanks for the welcome

 

[Barstar]

Tolkien was a professor of ancient Norse and Celtic language, he wrote his own languages and made names out of those. Mot writers just take words or words form other languages and use those.

One method I have been toying with is taking a word from another language and applying it to an algorithm that shifts every consonant and vowel over one on their respective scales and seeing what happens. Don't just use foreign words or words you don't understand, it will frustrate those of us that do know those words.

 

[Jessquoi]

Yes, I've studied several Latin based languages and I can see where Tolkien possibly got some of his names from. Mordor, for example, has the word Mord in it, which in German means 'murder'. Mord is also close to mort which is French for 'death'. A lot of books have this kind of thing in them. J.K Rowling used Latin in nearly all of her spell names, a basic example being Lumos which means 'light'.

I'm doing the same thing, basing names of towns, people and objects off derivations of words we use today. Sometimes you could get a derivation for a word and then not necessarily use that derivation entirely but alter it. You could do the same with Greek, you could even look up the derivations of Greek words, you never know what you might find!

 

[The Unseemly]

This sort of language thing? My recommendation is to either follow the points above, and simply know a bit about other, less-popular, languages and apply them to your writing, or don't bother with it at all. It'll turn out to be awfully fake or simply not believable, detracting from surely good pieces of writing.

Remember, you can always use little substitutes, or get around it with writing strategies, e.g.

1."Shaogh oaegh bvnao wb baowbg" said the priestess, turning away to face her escort.

OR

2.The priestess turned around, and, officiously, said something to her escort in the <InsertNameHere> Language.

 

[CupofJoe]

I've been watch reruns of Stargate [the Series] and I like the way they have three or four Go'auld [sp?] words and use them so often that you learn that "Sho-af" is not a nice thing to be called and that "Kree" is a very proactive word and still not know exactly what they mean...

 

[wordwalker]

I've been watch reruns of Stargate [the Series] and I like the way they have three or four Go'auld [sp?] words and use them so often that you learn that "Sho-af" is not a nice thing to be called and that "Kree" is a very proactive word and still not know exactly what they mean...

Stargate has been great at that. "Kree" especially gets used a lot, and one point the Everyman Colonel asks what it means and is told it's an all-purpose order that might mean "Form up!" or "Go!" or "Attend me!" depending on circumstances. O'Neil says "Or 'Yoo-hoo'?"

That's the sheer world-building fun of a language: if you set it up right you can let the reader learn a word or two and be proud of knowing them. And choosing and setting up the words parallels how world-building finds the coolest parts of the world.

 

[Filk]

I've stolen the idea from Robin Hobb, but you can also name characters for their prominent attributes in English i.e. Fitz, Verity, Regal, Blade, etc. It is tough to have it work well - not all of my characters are named like this and many are indeed named from Greek, Latin, and Arabic derivatives. One resource I use to help with the latter bit is Online Etymology Dictionary

A lot of my pronouns are chosen for sounding cool and foreign alone and make no reference to anything. If I ever come across a cool name or randomly think of one I have a place to write it down and when I'm having trouble naming something I scour that list.

 

[ToffMyster]

Thanks for the info everyone! It has been really helpful.