What’s with the weird words?
If you’ve engaged with the Zyrkthraan Chronicles, you may have noticed that there are so many non-English words present in it that the novels require pronunciation guides and glossaries in the final pages. So, what’s going on with that? Why did we choose to have so many non-English words in a series written in English for English-speaking readers? Well, I’m glad you’re curious.
You might assume that the terms are a result of elaborate conlangs specially designed for this universe. Although, you may have noticed that things are a bit too consistent and perhaps familiar for that, no? Well, that’s because most of the languages that each group speaks are real languages from here on Earth! That’s right, we didn’t just make up a bunch of nonsense, slap it in our media, and call it a day. We reference real languages, using native words where we can and constructing new words from native etymology to represent concepts that simply don’t exist on Earth.
But why? Wouldn’t it have been easier to “translate” everything into English? Absolutely not. These are real words, with real etymology, sourced from real languages. By doing this, we are bringing awareness not to some fictional culture in a book, but to real cultures whose languages are perhaps not as common or well known. We researched things and decided on these languages based on how familiar with them the average English speaker might be, so many if not all of them may be entirely foreign to you, the readers. That’s fine! It’s healthy to be in contact with other languages, with other cultures, with people who have entirely different worldviews from you. This is why we strongly believe that “why couldn’t you just translate it for me?” is a ridiculous question when it comes to fantasy media. Including the native terms for things English doesn’t have (and occasionally for things English does have, simply because slang is more fun sometimes!) is far more immersive, in our opinion, than “translating” everything. There’s a major difference between requiring a glossary because the “foreign” language in a fantasy novel is a constructed language, and requiring a glossary because asking readers to utilize a translator just to read the story is asinine.
The only language spoken in the series that is not connected to any real-world languages is Duuemarj, the language of the Duuema. It started as a small project and became directly responsible for the Zyrkthraan Chronicles’ evolution into the expansive story it is today. It takes inspiration from Akkadian, where the written form leaves out many vowels that are pronounced in the spoken form, and contains unique phonology similar to German (although it includes certain sounds that German does not use). Given that this is a constructed language that no readers would be familiar with, all terms introduced in the stories are quickly defined in the text and also included in the glossary and pronunciation guides.
So, what are these languages and why did we pick them? We’ve compiled a list of the languages, which in-universe culture speaks them, and a description of why we included them.
| Language | Culture | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ainu | Asheke | A critically endangered language isolate used by a culture that was only recognized as indigenous in 2019 |
| Albanian (Shqip) | Krahënorë | The sole surviving representative of its Indo-European branch |
| Basque (Euskara) | Keluvekarrak | A minority language isolate that was previously repressed but is now protected |
| Estonian (Eesti) | Common Tongue | Possesses rare phonology, such as vowel variety (specifically u, ü, ö, and õ), three-way length contrast (short, long, overlong), and vowel harmony |
| Finnish (Suomi) | Aurinkolaiset | Incredible amount of cases, agglutinative, consonant gradation, and no grammatical gender. Can also form extremely long words, such as lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas |
| Ge’ez (ግእዝ) | Selahari | Extinct as a vernacular, but used in Ethiopia as church language, abugida-based script that preceded Amharic/Tigrinya scripts, one of Africa’s great classical languages (Latin-like prestige) |
| Georgian (ქართული) | Kvalari/Mor’aga | Consonant clusters common and uses the Mkhedruli script, which is unrelated to any other script |
| Hindi (हिन्दी) | Ruhjani | Very common and very familiar, used as a sort of “anchor point” amongst the lesser-known languages |
| Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) | Renálū | Typically confused for Malay, chosen in the 20th century as the unifying language for a multilingual nation, and uses minimal inflection and productive reduplication |
| Inuktitut | Nuvaniq | Vulnerable polysynthetic language protected by strong policies in Nunavut/Nunavik |
| Nobiin (Nile Nubian) | Mor’aga | A tonal Nubian language threatened due to displacement from Lake Nasser and Arabic dominance |
| Tagalog | Kalangitán | High Filipino diaspora in North America, serves as a grounding language that many might be familiar with |
| Tibetan | Lomkha | Pressured language used as the liturgical language of Tibetan Buddhism |
| Xavante (A’uwẽ) | Kamayé | Threatened Brazilian language whose speakers are famous for initiation rituals and careful ecological knowledge of the Cerrado |
| Chinese (Mandarin) + Icelandic (Íslenska) | Eiðfēng | Tonal language considered one of the most difficult in the world to learn and one of the oldest languages in the world + Culturally prestigious language that remains purist and archaic, keeps medieval grammar and conservative phonology |
Fun fact: During one of my shifts at the library, I received a print request from someone whose name was in the email signature. I identified it as Georgian, and when the man came in to have it printed, I directly asked him if it was a Georgian name. Absolutely made his day that some random library worker in an English-speaking country had even heard of Georgia, let alone could recognize a Georgian name. He was very excited to pronounce his name for me, which was such a treat! He told me that he was from Georgia and had immigrated here. Very nice man and a lovely interaction that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t been researching the Georgian language for this series. It’s always nice to connect with someone, even if you’re from oceans apart. A simple interest in another culture, another language, another country, could result in quite a few positive interactions… and perhaps even some new friends!
As always, stay forever curious!