Anyone know of how people come up with terms like necromancy or if there is a encyclopedia or wikitionary on the (etymology) of magic root naming? For example it doesn't have to be just mancy meanings it could also be like restoration/conjuration but I'd rather not accidentally use a copyrighted term to a game or video game. Unless if anyone knows anything about said terms being public domain and not copyrightable?
Edit: Also I am getting around to actually putting my magic spell list together. How do you decide to separate spells. Like say you have a spell that can damage the dead and lean towards holy but is a fire magic. It has the potential to be in two schools or colleges. Or how about a potential spell that would fit both necromancy or shadow magic? I'm just looking for a way to divide my magic before dividing it into class and racial systems.
Are we allowed to bump threads? I've been sitting since June 3rd I'm trying to be patient.
I don’t really know anything on this subject. The only advice I’d have is to maybe find a website the combines words, and use it to combine words or phrases in Latin, French, German, Greek, etc…. really any language will do, as long as they are all fundamentally similar. I found it useful to just look up, for example, ‘ensnare’ in Latin, and then modify the word slightly (using my own mind and not any other language) to fit y needs or become easier to pronounce. Hope this helped a little!
in reference to copyright if you take a look at the most basic "schools" of magic the terms are so widespread that you shouldn't have any issues and if your concerned then you can look up terms you come up with to ensure that there not copyrighted in terms of naming convention its really up to you.
in reference to copyright if you take a look at the most basic "schools" of magic the terms are so widespread that you shouldn't have any issues and if your concerned then you can look up terms you come up with to ensure that there not copyrighted in terms of naming convention its really up to you.
Do you know how to look these up because if I use the search engine to check I don't get anything on the topic or I get unrelated topics or things but still relating to copyright. Like for instance I went and looked up to find out if I can use the term immolation and find out if its copyrighted or trademarked and what comes up is blogs on D and D or visit our website to check a trademark or patent. These are usually pay sites. Is there a certain way to go about it?
from my understanding of how trademarks and copyrights work you shouldn't run into any trouble for just using a word to describe a type of magic as trademarks and copyrights are used to protect your specific brand or original work for example if I had a character say "just do it!" in a line of dialogue there wouldn't be any trademark infringement as the trademark protects from other people using the slogan for there product or business not use in dialogue the problem would occur if you where using another person's complete work and passing it off as your own or using some one elses trademark to market your product
Note: this is only my understanding of the rules I would suggest that you do your own research and perhaps talk to a legal expert in trademarks and copyright as I am not a professional
Basically, if a word already exists in the English language, someone can't copyright that word for it's exact meaning. I can't use 'hopped' in my story to refer to the way that my alien creatures scoot around on their heads and then sue you for using it when you talk about your characters hopping down the street on one leg. 'Necromancy' and 'immolation' are dictionary words - no one writer can steal them for their own.
If you want to create words for different branches of magic, I would suggest using etymonline.com to find the Greek/Latin roots for the concepts you're using. "Necro" = corpse/death, "mancy" = magic/divination –> Magic to do with dead things. Pyromancy = magic to do with fire. Phosphomancy = magic to do with light. Arachnomancy = magic to do with spiders. (I've never heard those last two before - just combined some Greek roots).
What you don't want to do is use someone's already altered terms. Rowling has Divination and History classes - both of those terms existed before Harry Potter, so theoretically you could use them. Apparition in the sense of teleporting from one location to another, however, did not, so you can't have your characters taking Apparition lessons. But you can have an apparition in the sense of "a ghost or ghostlike image of a person", since that is its meaning outside of Harry Potter works.
Here is a list of Greek/Latin roots that we already use in English:
https://www.learnthat.org/pages/view/roots.html
Feel free to send me a message if you want to know the Greek/Latin roots of any particular type of magic you want to have in your world. :)
Edit: Also I am getting around to actually putting my magic spell list together. How do you decide to separate spells. Like say you have a spell that can damage the dead and lean towards holy but is a fire magic. It has the potential to be in two schools or colleges. Or how about a potential spell that would fit both necromancy or shadow magic? I'm just looking for a way to divide my magic before dividing it into class and racial systems.
There's nothing wrong with a spell being in two (or more!) categories. Maybe a simple mending charm for a ripped shirt works equally for stitching up a deep wound, for example. So should we teach it Healing or Home Economics? I would say, teach it in both.
Alternatively, here are some ways you could sort them:
BY TYPE: spells that create (create fire, create food), spells that destroy (remove a zit, kill, i.e., destroy life), spells that alter (make something grow, make something shrink, make it turn purple), spells that restore (mending charms, healing charms).
BY FEASIBILITY: (A) magic used to do something a person could do if they were tall enough/strong enough (push a boulder away); (B) magic used to do something a person could do if they had the right tool (create fire, kill weeds); (C) magic used to do something a person could not by any other means do (revive the dead, read thoughts)
BY CREATOR
So what if that slicing charm is really good at severing your enemy's head from his neck? It belongs in Home Ec because Matilda Prunewhistle originally developed it for carving Halloween pumpkins.
In this scenario your potential spell that could fit necromancy or shadow magic (skiamancy/gnophomancy if we want to be Greek) could be classified under necromancy because the guy who came up with it was, you guessed it, a necromancer.
BY MOST USE
As the title says. In what field is it most used? Stick it there.
@Riorlyne Sorry I haven't been on for a while. i got your message. Thank you so much for all of you suggestions and help. I will definitely take another crack at working my system. I took a break from it to work on floor plans for important places where stuff goes down. XD Thank you for your offer too btw! Let me know if I can help you with anything as well. I will do my best.
Thank you so much for all of your suggestions and help. I will definitely take another crack at working my system. I took a break from it to work on floor plans for important places where stuff goes down. XD Thank you for your offer too btw! Let me know if I can help you with anything as well. I will do my best.
You're most welcome! I don't have anything at the moment but I will let you know if there's stuff I need feedback on. All the best with the planning!
@LadySeshiiria At the moment I'm seeking feedback on my main character, if you would like to take a look at him. :)
His page: https://www.notebook.ai/plan/characters/499014#
The feedback thread: https://www.notebook.ai/forum/characters-board/my-main-character-thoughts
I have a book that goes through any kind of correlation of words for occult, prophecy, omens and divination. I find it helpful for names or definitions of magic kinds that I am not familiar with. The wiccan's dictionary of prophecy and Omens by Gerina Dunwich. I just checked it out from the library and made notes of anything that I found interesting. There is a small section on Necromancy and talks about how the soul can not be called back to the body until nine days after the burial rites. The dog is a scared animal to the gods of the underworld respectively Hades and Hecate (were the oldest form of Necromancy has been recorded) when calling back a spirit and must be offered a fresh animal kill (rabbit, squirrel, ect) to the beasts.
I have a book that goes through any kind of correlation of words for occult, prophecy, omens and divination. I find it helpful for names or definitions of magic kinds that I am not familiar with. The wiccan's dictionary of prophecy and Omens by Gerina Dunwich. I just checked it out from the library and made notes of anything that I found interesting. There is a small section on Necromancy and talks about how the soul can not be called back to the body until nine days after the burial rites. The dog is a scared animal to the gods of the underworld respectively Hades and Hecate (were the oldest form of Necromancy has been recorded) when calling back a spirit and must be offered a fresh animal kill (rabbit, squirrel, ect) to the beasts.
Sorry for the confusing I'm talking more along the lines of schools and how they get their nomenclature. I used necromancy as an example so it was watered down. The "mancy" part or like conjuration etymologies are what I'm looking for. Like how to decide what sounds latin or scientific sounding. I don't want to run around calling my magic healing magic, well I could but why not just use a better term for it?
