I have found myself in a sort of peculiar situation, and I was wondering if other writerfags have encountered this dilemma.
The problem is this: I am writing a story based in a world which is not Earth. So, there was never a Rome, nor France, nor any other place from which we draw our culture.
So: because France or Rome never existed, I find it odd to use French or Latin words.
So I began by avoiding Latin phrases, no et cetera, no pro bono, and that was easy enough. But the problem compounds. If I can't use et cetera, can I use the word forum? What about agenda?
And so it goes. Can I use rendezvous? What about depot or debris?
I suppose I could elaborate and create etymology to justify it, but that seems arduous.
Do I just use words and ignore my bubbling autism? halp
I'll confound you even more. Are you aware that the words Kaiser and Czar are just variations on Caesar? There are tons of words with origins like that.
I'd just avoid proper nouns, and you'll be fine.
>>8054636
It's written for people on earth, use earth language
>>8054636
Look at Tolkien
>>8054636
so there were no romans but there were germanics? otherwise you can't use english either.
>>8054636
That's why any and all genre fiction/ fantastic non existent world literature is garbage.
Just write fiction set on earth and if you must change earth in some ways to become fit as your setting
>Latin is once or twice employed to indicate that inscriptions and the like are in a language Severian appears to consider obsolete. What the actual language may have been, I cannot say.
(c) gene wolfe
>>8054636
>So: because France or Rome never existed, I find it odd to use French or Latin words.
Why doesn't this apply to English words?
>>8054636
>fantasy writer is autistic
Big surprise
>>8054636
>no earth
>uses english
kek
this is why no one respects genrefags
>>8054636
Are you creating a book that's "taken out of" your universe or are you writing a book for us humans which is set in a different universe? Because if it is the latter (as it normally is), there's no reason to avoid Latin or French.
But even if it is the former, can your universe explain how English even came to be? Because there's plenty of French (and thus indirectly Latin) behind it, and assuming there are no Germanic tribes in your universe's history as well, English makes just as little sense.
>>8054636
>peculiar
>situation
>encounter
>dilemma
>problem
>story
>based on
>place
>culture
>existed
>use
>avoid
>phrases
>suppose
>elaborate
>create
>etymology
>justify
>arduous
>just
>ignore
>autism
Literally all of these words have etymological roots in Latin or French and wouldn't exist in the English language had France or Rome never existed.
You are an idiot.
Opie here.
I didn't say it had a simple solution. I am aware of certain ironies in trying to eliminate words because of their root language. I was talking a bit more about directly taken words like espionage, and especially phrases. But yes, of course the English language too is simply a diversification of a dozen other tongues.
I would like to discuss how to approach the situation. Of course it seems odd to have characters popping off "quid pro quo"s, but again, trying to avoid word with Latin roots is unspeakably silly.
Do I charge forward? And let the reader assume the words came of their own etymology organically "in-universe"?
>>8056146
Why wouldn't you just set it somewhere where they had Rome and France e.g. Planet Earth?
>>8055691
Exactly. Just avoid blatantly obvious terms that would ruin the immersion and quit being an autist.
