made-up languages; Sunday Drabbleventures, NOW WITH HARDCORE DRABBLEOSITY!

[aesc]

Probably this is insight2's fault, but while I was brushing my teeth last night it occurred to me that it would be interesting (one word for it) to develop an angelic language, now that Skanr has been my practice run for language construction. What I've been thinking of is a language that is Romance-like in the sense that angels use different forms of the copulative (to be) for the created world and the divine, to express the distinction they'd probably make between essence versus state. Or would they just see the entire world as a collection of things in a state of being or becoming or changing? And how would the near-infinite think about the bounded and contained, anyway? *ponders these things*

In similar SPN news, I wrote one more drabble, In terra aliena (In a Strange Land) for the deancastiel drabble challenge.

SUNDAY DRABBLEVENTURES
By executive order, I have decided that on a semiregular basis (maybe every other Sunday, or however often I feel like it), I will contribute to weekend sloth and work avoidance by writing drabbles on request. When requests are open, I will note which fandoms I'm writing in; all you need to do is name your fandom, character/pairing, and prompt, and I will write 100 words of something. This post will be the prompt and response post, for purposes of consolidation.

.drabble prompts: Leave me a fandom/character/pairing and a prompt (SGA, SPN, Bones, and I guess I will take Merlin*) and I will see what I can do.

4.26 DRABBLEVENTURES NOW OPEN

In unrelated news, Iron & Wine's The Shepherd's Dog is completely awesome and I have been listening to it obsessively.

* = I like Morgana a lot and wish something heavy would land on Uther. And I like how Arthur is kind of a jerk, but basically a decent guy. Also, I am deeply amused and, dare I say it, somewhat gratified, by the fact that the incantation languages involve Old English. A lot of this is because the Anglo-Saxons really did not like teh magics.

*le sigh* Sunday is over, alas! Drabbles closed for now.

Comments

[beadattitude.livejournal.com]

Also, I think the verb tenses would be a real bear for angelic language. And...why wouldn't they just communicate telepathically? Also, it calls into question what angels are...because who you are informs what you talk about, right?

Are angels God's beta-test? Did he form companions closer to his own essence than man? They know of good and evil and have eternal life...so they didn't get the garden test. ::scratches head:: Did he find them too perfect and longed for something with free will to choose to have a relationship with him?

Or did he create them as his staff and army and aides later, as humanity grew and needed looking after and Lucifer fell and things got really complicated?

And I was wondering what language(s) they were using for spells.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

And...why wouldn't they just communicate telepathically?

I think they'd still have language. The whole creative process is described in terms of speech, after all--fiat lux and the naming of things. And humans were created as creatures of articulate speech... I guess it comes down to how I prefer thinking that the only things separating angels from humans is the body, and the way the body narrows down an infinity, or a plurality of perspectives, to just one.

Or did he create them as his staff and army and aides later, as humanity grew and needed looking after and Lucifer fell and things got really complicated?

All the traditions I know, which is not a whole lot, say that angels came first; the fall of Satan almost always precedes the creation of humankind (if not the world; I think Augustine says that Satan and the other evil angels were created and fell on the same day). They're the first expression of the creative principle, not embodied as humans are--which is another problem for language, because angels wouldn't have a physical aspect to it (no lungs, no breathing!)--but rather beings of pure intellection. You could probably argue that they intuitively understand each other, and can take on language and its habits for interacting with mortals, but still :D

And I was wondering what language(s) they were using for spells.

Yeah, I'd been listening, and I realized after a while that whenever someone wants to set something on fire, they say tobærnan (to incinerate... I find it fun that they use the infinitive on occasion XD). And when Nimue raises Tristan from the dead, she says something like "awac ond aris" (I think, she definitely says "awac"), "awake and arise."

Come to think of it, there are charms in OE, for things like curing a cramp or toothache or preventing a loss of cattle, but most of it's been safely Christianized for post-pagan consumption.