extra material

On languages in the Death Dreamer world

To Dream of White & Gold and A Lie of Desert Red contain a short section entitled A Note on Languages. It goes something like this:

‘The star people brought many things with them when they landed on Eilin soil. They left behind their lands, but not their histories or their languages.

To Dream of White & Gold takes place in the year 2447 AL, and in the many years that have passed since the star people set foot in Eilan, the languages they brought with them have morphed with time and usage. While they may still bear some similarity to the original, the tongues spoken in modern Eilan, Brinnica, and Erbide should not be taken as faithful reproductions of the languages of the star people, in either their written or spoken forms.’

The languages present in the Seven Lands during Lyda’s time are as follow:

• Eilin, which is spoken in Eilan, Autere, and the Isle of the Gods;

• Brinnican, spoken in both Brinnica and Erbide;

• Erbidan, spoken only in Erbide and forbidden to outsiders;

• Setiian, spoken mainly in Seti, but also used in some Denan and Auteran ports; and

• Denan, spoken in Dena.

  There was an additional language - an Eilin dialect used on the Isle of the Gods - however, it fell out of use some hundreds of years before Lyda’s birth.

Many words of Brinnican or Erbidan may be familiar to readers. However, they are - for the most part - not a literal reproduction of words from present languages, and nor were they intended to be. They are a mangled echo of what currently exists, a suggestion of what might happen to our languages in thousands of years’ time, and a reminder that Lyda’s world has firm beginnings in our own.

A select glossary is provided for readers who crave a literal translation; however, please be assured that it is not necessary to refer to this as you read. All critical information is given in other means through the text - often as Lyda discovers it herself. If you’re craving more background on how languages from our own world came to be used in the Seven Lands, try reading How Kellen Met His Selkie.