forum Language Inventing

Started March 30, 2018 by @AJ

tune

For a story I'm writing, I need to invent at least part of a magical language, which I'm calling Salome (which I'm loosely basing off Irish Gaelic). Salome is the language of the Wielders (magic-users) and the basis of all spellwork. Runes are derived directly from Salome, and are a hieroglyph-like writing system that was designed specifically to be very efficient at writing down magic- The incantation, pronunciation, body movements and effect of a spell can all be coded into a single Runic sentence.

Salome is very fast-paced yet very precise language (if you mispronounce a word while casting a spell, the consequence could be disastrous; contrast this with the Wielder's efficiency-centered culture, which makes them speak more rapidly and with much less flowery language- they like to get to the point).

Some things I already have figured out:

• Ardúani (ar-doo-uh-nye): “Rise” (verb, imperative- Basis word of Levitation spells)
• Coraeni (kor-uh-nye): “Move” (verb, imperative- Basis word of telekinetic spells)
• Chruthúni (krew-thyoo-nye): “Create” (verb, imperative- Basis word of Creation spells)

Imperative verbs (command words) end with the suffix -ni, pronounced nye.

What I need to figure out:

• More incantations/ words for various spells
• More Prefixes and Suffixes
• Terms for greeting
• Grammar and Conventions
• Possibly some slang

I'm not going to go into excessive detail about the language in-plot, I just need to have the more important bits figured out so that I can keep it consistent.

For different prefixes and suffixes, you could research some Latin ones, because Gaelic has Latin origins (like English does).

I don't know if you would want to use the actual Latin suffixes and prefixes, but you could maybe use them as reference to make your own based on those.

I am creating a language as well. I have a lot of words like pronouns, prepositions, and transition words like: also, firstly, secondly, previously, etc. All blank script. There are also some complicated words that have no relevance to anything like Twendi (Twilight), Orind (Original), and Imbelimpt (Important). I also have been coming up with spells here is one I've been coming up with:
Multiplication Spell (AKA Cloning): Mekiet, Orpresson, Undelimondes.
Transparency Spell (See through people/objects): Imless, Balorum, Soqueru.
Teleportation Spell: Thentix, Alimore, Koresemith.

That's all I have now, if you have any suggestions of improval, feel free to comment.

I like googling, for example, the French origins of certain words, and combining what I get with, for example, the Grecian origins of other words so that they loose;y form whatever word I’m trying to create.

*loosely