Dragaera

Name similarities and pure speculation

Thu Jul 22 15:23:13 PDT 2004

At 12:26 PM 7/22/04, jeff G. wrote:
>On Thu, 22 Jul 2004, Mark A Mandel wrote:
>
> > In point of fact, after >200,000 years no name or word or language would
> > be recognizable.
>
>Given the correction factor of perhaps x30, and the continuous control of
>territory by one culture, I don't know if I agree.  For example, when
>someone refers to "breaking the stick" from the 6th cycle, is she
>translating?  Could someone important who lived the entire time (and was
>much at court) single-handedly stabilize the language?
>
><cough> sethra </cough> But could she? Remember the interlude in SL, it 
>shows how her tates and personality have changed over time, I would 
>imagine her command of the language would as well. Otherwise, she would 
>occasionally make a comment that would be out of place (time), and given 
>how rarely she speaks, it would have been noted. Still, the question of 
>the effect of Sethra Lavode on Dragearean history is a good one, although 
>the answer would require a bit of space. (Perhaps another 17 novels, if 
>Steven ever loses intrest in Vlad?)

Names once had meaning and there are many books on what names are supposed 
to mean, but no one really cares. Well... maybe the parents care at the 
time they name their child, but after that... <shrug> Names no longer have 
religious significance (except in some tribal cultures). There is very 
little to do with religion in the The Dragaera books, except that 
witchcraft is tied in closely with the Eastern concept of religion. (what 
that concept is we can barley deduce that someone, at some time in the past 
summoned Verra). So I buy that there are common names that the Dragaerans 
use form other races.

Expressions like "breaking the stick" are much like our "pig in a poke." 
They have a meaning long after the original intent is forgotten.

(Please correct me on the next two points if I'm wrong, Mr. Mandel)
         As far as the language goes, drift creates accents first, dialects 
second, and new languages third. Even with a common dictionary English 
speakers have managed to create three distinct dialectic groups: British, 
American, and International. None of which has achieved status as a 
separate language. This has taken about 500 years. This would be equivalent 
to about 15000 Dragaeran years.
         In Dragaeran, Brust's "translations" provide clues that there are 
certainly accents and, in the cases of the separate island nations, 
possibly enough linguistic drift to create dialectic changes. Vlad 
obviously understands the people in Greenaere. The jokes from Aibynn don't 
seem to go over his head, so there is still enough cultural similarity to 
keep abstracts consistent.

Let's look at the general population size. With 200,000 or 400,000 
(depending on who you believe, Verra or Vlad) on Greenaere on an island 
roughly 3300 square miles or roughly 90 people per square mile. It is 
considered a rural, agrarian nation.

(Now we hit the generalities. The numbers that follow are a bit arbitrary 
and probably fall quite short of the actual numbers.)
         Think about the size of the armies Morrolan and Fornia raise. Not 
all of the Dragons will be in on that fight because of  familial 
obligations that preclude siding with either of the leaders, so possibly 
one quarter of the House was involved. Each army was numbered in the tens 
of thousands so let's call it 50,000 each. That's 400,000 in the House. 
Times 17 Houses (yeah the Phoenix have a grand population of One, but it 
should average out) makes 6.8 million. And that's the extremely 
conservative estimate. This would indicate the Empire is the dominant 
culture, at least in the immediate vicinity of that continent.
          Documentation is the one good way to preserve language. Complete 
records in a standard writing system helps to influence how a language 
changes over time. Granted, even in American English there are words that 
are no longer used and are considered archaic, but that could be because of 
rampant undereducation and language misuse by the popular media (a debate 
for some other time). Now who controls the documentary evidence in the 
Empire? the Lyorns. Kragar gets almost all of his information from the 
records that they store. I'm sure that there must be some sort of research 
facility like a library, but I'm also sure that there must be a great deal 
that is meant to be disseminated only to members of the House the records 
pertain to (hence the buttering-up and bribery). So I think it would be 
that House that keeps the drift to a minimum.