Persistence of Language?

From How Firm a Foundation (HFaF pg 273) between Emperor Caleb & King Gorjah of Tarot;

“If I’d ever doubted Clyntahn was mad, his purges and executions and his autos-da-fé have proven he is. ...

Hmm, where oh where did that term of "autos-da-fé" creep in? Given that it comes from Portugal; "Portuguese auto da fé, literally, act of the faith", it really doesn't match the expected Safehold vocabulary unless it is included (somewhere) in the Holy Writ.

I always assume that any spoken language from characters is operating under the translation convention http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... Convention

In this case I would assume he Gorjah used a suitable safeholdian equivalent phrase that RFC translates for us.

Charybdis wrote:From How Firm a Foundation (HFaF pg 273) between Emperor Caleb & King Gorjah of Tarot;

“If I’d ever doubted Clyntahn was mad, his purges and executions and his autos-da-fé have proven he is. ...

Hmm, where oh where did that term of "autos-da-fé" creep in? Given that it comes from Portugal; "Portuguese auto da fé, literally, act of the faith", it really doesn't match the expected Safehold vocabulary unless it is included (somewhere) in the Holy Writ.

Well considering how many words creep into english, I am not surprised. In every day conversations, I use words that are German French Italian Spanish and Russian in origin.

I assume the term comes straight out of the Book of Schueler, since that's the Book that describes what the Punishments are. And Merlin did note that the Book of Schueler reads like a compilation of all of history's horrors.

Good point.

Especially the term for "Holy War", ie Jihad.

evilauthor wrote:I assume the term comes straight out of the Book of Schueler, since that's the Book that describes what the Punishments are. And Merlin did note that the Book of Schueler reads like a compilation of all of history's horrors.

saber964 wrote:

Charybdis wrote: Hmm, where oh where did that term of "autos-da-fé" creep in? Given that it comes from Portugal; "Portuguese auto da fé, literally, act of the faith", it really doesn't match the expected Safehold vocabulary unless it is included (somewhere) in the Holy Writ.

Well considering how many words creep into english, I am not surprised. In every day conversations, I use words that are German French Italian Spanish and Russian in origin.

I agree. Look at jihad, which is in the writ and has been added to English from Arabic. Or tsunami or hurricane for other examples.

Since there is only one language on Safehold, are there any linguists? I would expect not, but I wonder if any scholars have wondered about all the different roots in Safehold's English?

BTW, This reminds me of a quote that I have always liked.

James D. Nicoll wrote:The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

Kizarvexis wrote:Since there is only one language on Safehold, are there any linguists? I would expect not, but I wonder if any scholars have wondered about all the different roots in Safehold's English?

The root words all come from God and the Archangels. Don't question it.

Or rather, there's no point in questioning it. You might as well question why things fall when you drop them and why the sun shines.

evilauthor wrote:

Kizarvexis wrote:Since there is only one language on Safehold, are there any linguists? I would expect not, but I wonder if any scholars have wondered about all the different roots in Safehold's English?

The root words all come from God and the Archangels. Don't question it.

Or rather, there's no point in questioning it. You might as well question why things fall when you drop them and why the sun shines.

I'm sure that works for 99.99% of people, but there are always those curious ones...

evilauthor wrote:

Kizarvexis wrote:Since there is only one language on Safehold, are there any linguists? I would expect not, but I wonder if any scholars have wondered about all the different roots in Safehold's English?

The root words all come from God and the Archangels. Don't question it.

Or rather, there's no point in questioning it. You might as well question why things fall when you drop them and why the sun shines.

People do question why the sun shines or why things fall when you drop them. I know I have.

Don

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I'm not sure linguistics as a discipline could even develop with only one language. It seems that to say interesting things about a language, you need other languages to compare it with.

saber964 wrote:Well considering how many words creep into english, I am not surprised. In every day conversations, I use words that are German French Italian Spanish and Russian in origin.

Russian? Which words did we steal from Russian?

James D. Nicoll wrote:The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

Japan, in constrast, just wanders into the Discount Vocabulary store and gets new words wholesale.