Now, out of curiosity, what languages do you think the core races of Dungeons and Dragons would speak?
In my personal opinion;
Dwarves- Russian or German
Elves- French or Italian
Humans-English or Esperanto (it's Common for a reason!)
I'm not sure about the others.
What do you guys think?
-Thor
Now, out of curiosity, what languages do you think the core races of Dungeons and Dragons would speak?
In my personal opinion;
Dwarves- Russian or German
Elves- French or Italian
Humans-English or Esperanto (it's Common for a reason!)
I'm not sure about the others.
What do you guys think?-Thor
Well, due to the runic influence, I always associate dwarves with Scandanavian languages, most likely Danish or Norwegian. I'd peg Halfling as Italian, Orcish as Russian (or Slavic) and Elven as Hawai'ian or one of the Polynesian/Pacific Islander dialects. Common is, well, common. These selections are partly based on preconceived notions about the peoples that speak the language in question, and partly on my ideas about what a fictional fantasy language should sound like. Of course, people have expanded on Tolkein's work (for better or for worse) so there's a fair amount of Elven and Dwarven lingo out there.
And Tolkien himself based much of elven language on Welsh, and Dwarven on Hebrew, mainly because he didn't want the two languages to show any common origins.
And Tolkien himself based much of elven language on Welsh, and Dwarven on Hebrew, mainly because he didn't want the two languages to show any common origins.
You'd expect nothing less from an Oxford professor of Medieval languages, right? :) I almost forgot about the Gaelic languages... I think Welsh is a much better proxy than Hawai'ian. Hmmmm-this is tougher than I thought.
The other elven language of Tolkien, Quenya, is based on Finnish. But anyway, I haven't really considered the connections with the real world and fantasy languages...it is somehow funny thought to imagine dwarves speaking Swedish or Norwegian...German might be acceptable or maybe some slavic language, Polish or Czech.
Elves speaking Arabic might be interesting idea too, especially for the calligraphic tradition in Arabic...
I think dwarves suit Arabic better, having all those "Kh" and "Z" words.
It has to be Irish for the elves. A great language, t' be sure.
Halfling should be Romany, seeing as they've been turned into a nomadic gypsy race in D&D.
Orc has got to be German. It's harsh and they never hit anything even when the heroes are 5' from them.
I'm trying to think of a race appropriate to an African language. Hmm...
What about Gnomes?
What about Gnomes?
Who listens to what gnomes have to say, anyway?
What about Gnomes?
Hmm, gnomes might speak Dutch (especially if dwarves speak German). Norwegian is a possibility too.
Somehow I imagine halflings to speak Spanish.
I think English is the best model for Common -- widely used, highly irregular (being the product of many cultures & languages). Find me a messier language and I might change my mind :)
Elvish must be Welsh (or perhaps Gaelic). Tolkien's elvish (Sindarin) is quite similar, and quite a few other authors out there have given elven languages that kind of character. Further, I'm pretty sure EGG's original inspiration for D&D elves was strongly Gaelic.
My two cents.
Jack
What about Gnomes?
What about 'em? ...
:P
Actually, Tolkien's Elvish was based on Finnish. Just an FYI.
Actually, Tolkien's Elvish was based on Finnish. Just an FYI.
Tolkien had two elven languages, Sindar and Quenya. Quenya was based on Finnish, Sindar on Welsh.
Oh, and Tolkien had decency to use only dead/mythical people and even change their names, when he borrowed those :)