Voicing the elements

[thecoldembrace]

So, a long time ago I wrote a poem on the elements, basically giving them voice. Though I can't find that piece of work, I have wanted to recreate something like it again. What I am curious about is how all you wonderful people would put to word the voice of an element, to where a word could describe the sound of its voice while still looking and sounding like the element itself.

Fire and Earth might be the easiest, but the wind and water are a little harder to put to words. Sure there are some out there but at the same time I don't like the word gurgle or splash for water and the like. I'm curious as to how you all would put together the sound of the elements as though they are talking to you.

If anything it should be fun to compare and contrast everyone's different takes on how they'd go about it.

-Cold

 

[Julian S Bartz]

It may be somewhat cliche but I would imagine the voice of water to glide off a tongue, smooth and almost slithering.

The wind would be anything from powerful and forceful if your are talking about a storm, to hushed and hard to understand for a breeze.

 

[Svrtnsse]

When I'm describing the sound of wind I often use words like whispered and hummed. Sometimes the wind also sighs or sings. If it's a stronger wind it would probably howl, scream and roar.
This is from my wip:

Underneath it all the morning breeze, sometimes near and sometimes far, sang its own song; slow and quiet, with words that no one knew.

For water, particularly little streams, I like the word giggle. A stream can also sing and dance - just like the wind. I haven't really spend much time thinking about larger bodies of water, but I imagine that waves come crashing down. Like the wind, and probably fire and earth too, water can roar - but I can't think of an instance in which water would howl.
Also from my wip:

As the ground started sloping downward the stream became livelier. It sped up and started to sing, bumping into trees and jumping over stones.

Sure, it's quite purple, but it's how I enjoy writing it.


Fire, I guess, can roar as well, like the wind and the water. But, fire can also crackle and pop; it can snap and puff.

Earth groans, grinds, mumbles and rumbles. Earth can probably rattle as well.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I don't think I would describe the voice of the element at all. This seems like something that would work best as a monologue from the POV of the element itself.

If I had to come up with a voice for a water elemental, I'd call it it flowing, or maybe compare it to water over rocks. Wind would be hissing or swirling, like what you hear when a rush of air gets trapped in a gulch.

 

[thecoldembrace]

Thank you everyone for your posts. I'm still struggling with the water though, I don't know if it's just me but most words just don't feel right. Giving it a voice that hasn't been done before has got me definitely scratching my head.

 

[buyjupiter]

For me, I see water as one of the more "playful" elements. If I were going to give it a voice I might choose something similar in energy to a small child, before the sugar crash/tantrum.

What about words like "bubbled", "babbled", "whisked", etc. for the playful aspects, and "torrent", "whirling", etc. for the more violent tendencies of water (tsunamis and the like).