I enjoy creating the language of word magic and the Cantingen Islands in my Wishing Blade Universe. So much so that I have a handy Excel sheet with a handful of pages and a semi-clear structure that I’ve realized I really need to get organized (because it’s rather… fun… trying to remember sentence structure when I’m in the middle of revising my current project, The Dark Forest of Aneth, and need to construct a sentence in Cantingen and don’t remember if I’ve decided how that particular grammar is supposed to look.)
One exercise I’ve especially enjoyed, however, is the creation of poetry and songs using the conlang (constructed language). Whether or not I’m actually good at poetry is an entirely different matter, but it’s still fun.
Wind and Words, the second book in the Stone and String series, features two different poems/songs (well, one is intended to be a chant), and one of those songs is called “Dornoram” (“Lonely Child”) and features Madia when she was still a young goddess, before she created mortal-kind.
Though I don’t include the entire song in the story itself (I did include both the Cantingen version and the rough English translation in the back of the book), here’s a look at part of the song:
Dornoram, dornoram
Lonely child, lonely childillselvimorin sut wuget so vinllada’ralencos.
wandering in the fog of her father’s new world.Dornoram, dornoram
Lonely child, lonely childfallamin kidame nevésil vego cochome si kecirme.
She has no toys to play with but feathers and strings.*
Viskar vrethin si walin
So she sits and she weavesdrogos osain vieram jévidasil.
while she yearns for a playmate that she understands.Vego éda ralencos dratethia shadi si fashuvasia.
But this new world is magic and does not comprehend.*
Dor so shadi si niitéra
Child of magic and creation,morladiin vieram.
she dreams of a playmate,Morladiin vieram néollased.
dreams of a playmate to keep company.Viskar novanin vincede loch lalli esil, esildo.
So she weaves her hair into the form of a doll, little doll.Morladiin kryl vinvieram llullamia.
Dreams of the story her playmate might have.Vego esil dratethia goréso,
But the doll is a puppet,fallamia kareme,
has no thoughts of its own,si luuh vinmorladsme ketondruv nékryl.
and only her dreams give it life.
Essentially, the Cantingen Islanders believe they are Madia’s esilme, her dolls, who return to her from the mortal realm after they die. The rest of the song continues that story, and the idea plays an important role in the Stone and String series.
Do you enjoy seeing fictional languages in stories?
If so, what’s your favorite one? (I’m personally a fan of Tolkien’s Sindarin Elvish, though I never learned more than a few words).
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A spell to infuriate the goddess of the dead…
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Happy reading and writing!
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 