Chaoszero
First Post
I have my own home-brew setting and I take a lot of cues from Tolkien and I am a bit of a language-lover myself. In that vein, I have a lot of racial specific terminology that I put in the wiki for my game.
However, a friend of mine says this terminology renders the articles unreadable for all the "gibberish" (as he puts it) that is featured. Now I always put in definitions in with the terms, but after that I stick with the term. I can see how it would be difficult, especially with the Elven and Sylvan languages which is based off of Welsh and Irish-Gaelic respectively.
I prefer the racial terms. It creates the idea that the races aren't all the same. It is how we do things in the real world. We don't call samurai "knights", we call them samurai.
HERES THE QUESTION: Is it better to have english words describing racial specific culture concepts for simplicity sake or is it better to have these terms in a language that evokes the mood and feeling of a different culture and world?
For those who would like some examples of terms I use:
Eladrin
Ard Ordu: The Eladrin ruling council
Gol Uirthi: Eladrin earrings that denote caste
Péarla Foirfe: The term for the whole of Eladrin Society
Scáth Amharc Ar: The Eladrin secret police
Elves
Angau Helfa: The elven death hunt
Rhythid: Elven concept of freedom and destiny
Therwyth: Elven druid
Dwarves
Atmenschreiben: Ritualistic rune reading
Kunstmadchen: Dwarven entertainer-girls
Todessuchen: Dwarven rite of passage of wandering the land
Halfling
Cacike: Halfling family leader
Guani: Extended family or clan
Bija: A red dye halfling warriors paint themselves in
However, a friend of mine says this terminology renders the articles unreadable for all the "gibberish" (as he puts it) that is featured. Now I always put in definitions in with the terms, but after that I stick with the term. I can see how it would be difficult, especially with the Elven and Sylvan languages which is based off of Welsh and Irish-Gaelic respectively.
I prefer the racial terms. It creates the idea that the races aren't all the same. It is how we do things in the real world. We don't call samurai "knights", we call them samurai.
HERES THE QUESTION: Is it better to have english words describing racial specific culture concepts for simplicity sake or is it better to have these terms in a language that evokes the mood and feeling of a different culture and world?
For those who would like some examples of terms I use:
Eladrin
Ard Ordu: The Eladrin ruling council
Gol Uirthi: Eladrin earrings that denote caste
Péarla Foirfe: The term for the whole of Eladrin Society
Scáth Amharc Ar: The Eladrin secret police
Elves
Angau Helfa: The elven death hunt
Rhythid: Elven concept of freedom and destiny
Therwyth: Elven druid
Dwarves
Atmenschreiben: Ritualistic rune reading
Kunstmadchen: Dwarven entertainer-girls
Todessuchen: Dwarven rite of passage of wandering the land
Halfling
Cacike: Halfling family leader
Guani: Extended family or clan
Bija: A red dye halfling warriors paint themselves in