Jonathan Palfrey
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
More about names in the World of the Five Gods: I live in Catalonia, and it seems to me that various names in Chalion have a kind of pseudo-Catalan feel to them, without actually being Catalan. But Foix is a Catalan place name, pronounced Fosh, and also a southern-French name, pronounced Fwa. You're not J. R. R. Tolkien, so you probably haven't created complete languages to fill up your world. Is there any rationale?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Sort of. A quick-and-dirty method for making up a bunch of names that sound as if they come from the same place/language is to take a real-world map or other name-source, chop the place names into syllables, and reassemble them in whatever ways seem pleasing. It is well to have some slight awareness that such names may themselves be the product of several languages layered in over time. (As in the Iberian peninsula.) I often, when booting up ideas for a tale, generate a page or two of possible names to do quick picks from so that I don't get stalled for hours/days every time a new person or place arrives on stage. I occasionally swap names around, if I find I've made a non-optimum assignment, and want the better, more fitting name to go with something that appears more often.
I (and Foix) pronounce his name to rhyme with toy.
Other places on the map helped generate names in other regions of the world of the five gods, some perhaps less obvious than others. For the Weald, I tried to get as many names as possible in standard English, to subliminally indicate that these people have been on their ground for a long time, with less "Torpenhowe Hill" effect. (Which, if you don't know it, is a place in England that back-translates "Hillhillhill Hill".)
The problems of coming up with short, pronounceable names, each different enough visually from every other one used to be readily distinguishable, that aren't accidentally an unfortunate word in another language (or, indeed, one's own) are non-trivial.
Ta, L.
Sort of. A quick-and-dirty method for making up a bunch of names that sound as if they come from the same place/language is to take a real-world map or other name-source, chop the place names into syllables, and reassemble them in whatever ways seem pleasing. It is well to have some slight awareness that such names may themselves be the product of several languages layered in over time. (As in the Iberian peninsula.) I often, when booting up ideas for a tale, generate a page or two of possible names to do quick picks from so that I don't get stalled for hours/days every time a new person or place arrives on stage. I occasionally swap names around, if I find I've made a non-optimum assignment, and want the better, more fitting name to go with something that appears more often.
I (and Foix) pronounce his name to rhyme with toy.
Other places on the map helped generate names in other regions of the world of the five gods, some perhaps less obvious than others. For the Weald, I tried to get as many names as possible in standard English, to subliminally indicate that these people have been on their ground for a long time, with less "Torpenhowe Hill" effect. (Which, if you don't know it, is a place in England that back-translates "Hillhillhill Hill".)
The problems of coming up with short, pronounceable names, each different enough visually from every other one used to be readily distinguishable, that aren't accidentally an unfortunate word in another language (or, indeed, one's own) are non-trivial.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Hugh Patrick
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Lois, like many fans, I am hoping that you will continue to write books in the Vorkosigan series. I enjoyed Captain Vorpatril's Alliance immensely and I've wondered: might other Barrayaran characters have an adventure and book of their own as well - such as Byerly Vorrutyer ?
Vince
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Heard a podcast from the Progress Educational Trust in the UK, wherein five academics present on the legacy of JBS Haldane's 1923 lecture/text, Daedalus. Haldane pioneered the idea of in vitro fertilization and exo-gestation. Your exploration of these themes in the Vorkosiverse sprang to mind. Thought you might enjoy it and PET's content generally. Are you aware of them? Podcast TinyURL: https://tinyurl.com/yc7bxhru
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