Switch Theme:

Low Gothic/High Gothic = Latin?  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

What language is most similar to mainstream speak in 40k?

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in de
Wrathful Warlord Titan Commander






germany,bavaria

A confusing mix of our actual tongues?

But Latin could be part of it.

Example:

Imperator Gloriam.

Wouldnt make sense in the 40k universe without some understanding of Latin.


Target locked,ready to fire



In dedicatio imperatum ultra articulo mortis.

H.B.M.C :
We were wrong. It's not the 40k End Times. It's the Trademarkening.
 
   
Made in au
Courageous Questing Knight






Australia

Fluffspeak =

Latin
Craparella
English
Grimdark

DR:90S+++G++MB+I+Pw40k096D++A+/areWD360R+++T(P)DM+
3000 pt space marine 72% painted!
W/L/D 24/6/22
2500 pt Bretons 10% painted
W/L/D 1/0/0
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/337109.page lekkar diorama, aye? 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Gothic and 'Tech' (old Gothic) are actually likely unlike Latin, but take more from a mix of English, Chinese and others.

The reason why Tech is presented as Latin is that is the sort of evocative feeling the language evokes in the people; the language of an older time, of past greatness and much pomp.

One thing missing from modern 40k which was prevalent in Rogue Trader was some places Chinese Character style and Katakana style writing, you can see some (though it's only the style, no actual writing) on the Logan's World section in the Rogue Trader rulebook.

tl;dr version: Gothic is actually Chinese.

hello 
   
Made in au
Lethal Lhamean






In RT there were no primarchs.. I dont see any chinese nowadays. The chinese thing is played out anyways just reminds me of serenity.

I think latin makes a good fit.

I always just assumed it was English with the higher language being the big words lol.
   
Made in us
Preacher of the Emperor





Yeah... this would predate Firefly.

Latin makes little sense. It's already a dead language.


mattyrm wrote: I will bro fist a toilet cleaner.
I will chainfist a pretentious English literature student who wears a beret.
 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Tyyr wrote:Yeah... this would predate Firefly.

Latin makes little sense. It's already a dead language.

Exactly, even by the time that there was 'Tech' (used in technical manuals), even English would be archaic.

What you see as 'Latin' would be in the future a different language, but is treated by the people then as we look at Latin now.


hello 
   
Made in au
Sinewy Scourge






Western Australia

I'm fairly sure that High Gothic is rendered in horribly mutilated latin-esk sounding phrases to give the impression of a more formal, glorious tongue, the same way some very formal masses are delivered in church latin today. (Most of what is written in high gothic isn't 'proper' latin, it just gives that vibe. It'd be a lot harder to figure out what it meant otherwise.)

Low gothic is rendered in english because it is the common tongue (and because we're all playing the0k. game in english). Neither languages would actually be the slightest bit recognisable to anyone today, should they exist. I mean, Shakespeare can be a touch difficult to understand, the original Canterbury Tales is almost incomprehensible to a modern reader without having studied such old forms of english, and technically they're both in our own tongue and under a millennium old. The closest we can come to a language over a 40 000 year timescale would be the oldest forms of hieroglyphs or cuneiform, both of which are understood by only a handful of people in the world and then only partially. And that's covering about half the timescale, I think.

So none of us would be able to recognise either of the gothic tongues from 40k.

Kabal of Venomed Dreams
Mourning Angel
UsdiThunder wrote:This is why I am a devout Xenos Scum. We at least do not worship Toasters.

 
   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Tyyr wrote:Yeah... this would predate Firefly.

Latin makes little sense. It's already a dead language.


But we use it as a base line language in the west. Science makes wide use of latin, because it provides mutual names for the entire western world to work with. Also remember that two of the most spoken languages in the world descend directly from Latin (Spanish and French). The Western Alphabet is based on latin as well.

It is not far fetched to assume a latin-like language could arise at some point in history only to be adopted by the Emperor or the humans he led.

Also keep in mind the Imperium itself is very similar to the dying Roman Empire... and it's very grimdark that way, lets face it

   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Latin is a great technical language because it's so dull and straightforward. English, French, and all the other 'Romance' language could be considered 'low Latin', although that would actually be the Church Latin of the Middle Ages when it was debased from a language of everyday life to a language of religion and government.

I suppose you could say:

Latin:English::High Gothic:Low Gothic.
   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Nurglitch wrote:Latin:Spanish/French/Protugese/Italian::High Gothic:Low Gothic.


Fixed.

English is descended from German, not Latin. Yes I am a smarty pants. I apologize for nothing

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/12/29 15:33:58


   
Made in dk
Stormin' Stompa





And heavily influenced by French.

-------------------------------------------------------
"He died because he had no honor. He had no honor and the Emperor was watching."

18.000 3.500 8.200 3.300 2.400 3.100 5.500 2.500 3.200 3.000


 
   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Steelmage99 wrote:And heavily influenced by French.


True. English is the catch all language. We got stuff in ours from five or six I think. Long time ago Great Britain was the melting pot of Europe.

   
Made in us
Preacher of the Emperor





LordofHats wrote:But we use it as a base line language in the west. Science makes wide use of latin, because it provides mutual names for the entire western world to work with. Also remember that two of the most spoken languages in the world descend directly from Latin (Spanish and French). The Western Alphabet is based on latin as well.

It is not far fetched to assume a latin-like language could arise at some point in history only to be adopted by the Emperor or the humans he led.

Also keep in mind the Imperium itself is very similar to the dying Roman Empire... and it's very grimdark that way, lets face it

Yes, much of modern language is derived from Latin. That doesn't make it any less dead as a language. As far as I'm aware of there is no group on Earth that still uses Latin as their native tongue. None. It's dead. It's derivatives live on but as a living evolving language... it's not.

As Morgrim said, the odds are heavily stacked against either form of Gothic being the least bit recognizable to modern humans. Look how language has evolved in the last 5,000 years. There's eight times as much time between now and Gothic. To think that anything recognizable will survive that long is.... stupid.


mattyrm wrote: I will bro fist a toilet cleaner.
I will chainfist a pretentious English literature student who wears a beret.
 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





That's the point: dead languages don't change or evolve. It's the perfect solution to dealing with the fragmentation of languages.
   
Made in es
Stalwart Tribune





La Coruna, Spain

I don't know what is imperial language based on, but it sounds quite good.
   
Made in us
Preacher of the Emperor





Nurglitch wrote:That's the point: dead languages don't change or evolve. It's the perfect solution to dealing with the fragmentation of languages.

Except the moment that people start to use it again it begins to change and evolve.


mattyrm wrote: I will bro fist a toilet cleaner.
I will chainfist a pretentious English literature student who wears a beret.
 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Except that it doesn't. That's the point of calling it a dead language. Natural languages only change and evolve when people have the opportunity to misuse them or innovate within them.

I'd certainly imagine that Imperial colony worlds probably start with some form of Low Gothic as the lingua franca and then fragment, but any correspondance or communication with other Imperial organizations will be done through a language that's as dead and codified as High Gothic.

Think about it, the fact that the Imperium contains somewhere around a million worlds, access to which is only possible via a medium involving considerable time-warpage (Astrotelepathy and Warp-Travel), means that the necessity of a 'undead' language like Latin or High Gothic is dire. It's like the STC - desirable because of its universality.

In a universe where you can teach people to produce computers via the indoctrination of brute ritual, I think preserving an 'undead' language would be fairly straightforward. Besides, what do you think all those Lexmechanics do?
   
Made in au
Sinewy Scourge






Western Australia

I laugh at the scientific use of latin being raised.

The scientific use is a bastardised child of latin and greek, certain words taken and used completely out of context, no thought of sentence structure or anything of tying it together, and shocking grammar. Not exactly a stable and useful representation of a dead language. Simplistic 2 or 3 sentence words rarely are.

Kabal of Venomed Dreams
Mourning Angel
UsdiThunder wrote:This is why I am a devout Xenos Scum. We at least do not worship Toasters.

 
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

You have to remember, High/Low Gothic are the universal languages throughout the Imperium. Most planets have thier own language and dialect, but Gothic is relatively standard throughout the Imperium.

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in us
Automated Rubric Marine of Tzeentch






VA Beach

I'm pretty sure one planet speaks by a series of chanting and frequent arm waving.


Let the galaxy burn.

 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Italian?
   
Made in us
Arch Magos w/ 4 Meg of RAM






Mira Mesa

Nurglitch wrote:Italian?
I lol'd.

Coordinator for San Diego At Ease Games' Crusade League. Full 9 week mission packets and league rules available: Lon'dan System Campaign.
Jihallah Sanctjud Loricatus Aurora Shep Gwar! labmouse42 DogOfWar Lycaeus Wrex GoDz BuZzSaW Ailaros LunaHound s1gns alarmingrick Black Blow Fly Dashofpepper Wrexasaur willydstyle 
   
Made in us
Stinky Spore





It's Canadian...

Viva Espana!

Here's forty shillings on the drum for those who volunteer to come
To 'list and fight the foe today - Over the hills and far away
O'er the hills and o'er the main, Through Flanders Portugal and Spain
King George commands and we obey - Over the hills and far away" - Sharpe

“Farewell and adieu to you, / Fair Spanish Ladies, / Farewell and adieu to you, Ladies of Spain.”



 
   
Made in ca
Excellent Exalted Champion of Chaos






Grim Forgotten Nihilist Forest.

Ya eh?

I've sold so many armies. :(
Aeldari 3kpts
Slaves to Darkness.3k
Word Bearers 2500k
Daemons of Chaos

 
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

Well, what about translators? Would the Imperium have something akin to that?

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in de
Wrathful Warlord Titan Commander






germany,bavaria

Emperors Faithful wrote:Well, what about translators? Would the Imperium have something akin to that?

Sister dialogus
There are more ordos of sisters than SoB.

Target locked,ready to fire



In dedicatio imperatum ultra articulo mortis.

H.B.M.C :
We were wrong. It's not the 40k End Times. It's the Trademarkening.
 
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

What about device/machine wise?

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in au
Sinewy Scourge






Western Australia

Fluent translation requires understanding. That would be heretech technology. A servitor may work, though.

Kabal of Venomed Dreams
Mourning Angel
UsdiThunder wrote:This is why I am a devout Xenos Scum. We at least do not worship Toasters.

 
   
Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut







Or if you ever gave an Ork a reason to care about that. (Orks - Innovation in the Grimdark since 14M)

"There's a difference between bein' a smartboy and bein' a smart git, Gimzod." - Rogue Skwadron, the Big Push

My Current army lineup 
   
 
Forum Index » 40K General Discussion
Go to: