• Game of Thrones & George R. R. Martin: Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Ballroom D. Panelists: Kay Pannell, David Peterson, Ryn Serenity.
• World Building Basics: Sunday 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Ballroom E-F-G. Panelists: Paula Butler, Eytan Kollin, Pat MacEwan, David Peterson, Brandon Sanderson, Juliette Wade

Speaking of today’s episode, it was awful quiet around the internet today. Or was that just me watching the episode late on account of Mother’s Day? Anyway, I thought this episode was outstanding—perhaps the best of the series. There were some changes, but I liked all the changes that were made. A controversial highlight for me was Jaime killing Alton. What a scene! First we get all this backstory and rapport, and then he busts out on Alton like a trained serial killer. I liked this, because, quite frankly, Jaime was too likable. We’re supposed to dislike him up to this point (at least a bit). Even pushing Brann out the window the dude was likable! This was a good twist.

Oh, but a note on realism: How’s he going to surprise somebody in a cage that’s visible from the outside?! How are we supposed to believe he hid from that guard who came in in plain sight? Did he forget he was there? Those Northmen…

Since we’ve got nothing else going on today, I thought I’d go over how names work in Dothraki. There’s not much to it, as I wanted to remain maximally faithful to the books. We’ve got a handful of male Dothraki names and, unless I’m missing one, two female names (Irri and Jhiqui) that come directly from the books. Of those names, the male names end in -o and the female names end in -i. I took these as male and female name suffixes, respectively, with names becoming animate nouns. But what do they suffix to?

This is where I got to have some fun. The name suffixes are kind of like the agentive -k suffix, only with a bit of a broader interpretation. Using the male suffix as an example, -o will mean something like “He who is x“, “He who does x“, “He who is characterized by x” or “He who is similar in some way to x“, where x is a root.

One thing I picked up directly from the book, though, is the preference for names stressed on the second syllable. By naturally reading the names, most that are three syllables long are stressed on the second syllable, and one way this is achieved is by doubling the last consonant (part of what inspired the stress system of Dothraki), as in “Cohollo”. As a result, even though a doubled consonant ordinarily makes a difference in meaning, in names a doubled consonant is often used purely to get the stress on the second syllable of a name with more than two syllables. The practice is so common, though, that doubled consonants are used even in disyllabic names just because, at this point, it makes the name sound like a good name.

So let’s look at some names we know and how they’re formed:

• Drogo < drogat “to drive” (i.e. “he who drives”, or “driver of beasts”)
• Irri < irra “trout” (i.e. “she who is like a trout”)
• Kovarro < kovarat “to stand” (i.e. “he who stands”)
• Drogo < drogat “to drive” (i.e. “he who drives”, or “driver of beasts”)
• Qotho < qothat “to be loyal” (i.e. “he who is loyal”)
• Jommo < joma “salmon” (i.e. “he who is like a salmon”)
• Zollo < zolat “to be exceptionally small” (i.e. “he who is exceptionally small”)

That’s about the long and short of it. Dothraki don’t shy away from names that refer to one’s physical appearance or temperament, and also take names from animals or objects whose characteristics a parent desires their child to emulate. Here are some potential Dothraki names:

• Hliziffo < hlizif “bear” (i.e. “he who is like a bear”)
• Halahhi < halah “flower” (i.e. “she who is like a flower”)
• Qanno < qana “black stork” (i.e. “he who is like a black stork”)
• Tehinni < tehin “breed of horse” (i.e. “she who has reddish/brown hair like a tehin“)
• Vrelo < vrelat “to leap” (i.e. “he who leaps well”)
• Zali < zalat “to hope” (i.e. “she who hopes”)
• Chako < chakat “to be silent” (i.e. “he who is silent”)
• Emi < emat “to smile” (i.e. “she who smiles”)

Those with doubled consonants above can be made into singletons, and those that are singletons can be doubled. Anyway, that’s about the run of it. You can use the strategies above to create your own Dothraki name, if you wish, or (even better) Dothraki names for your cats, accompanied by pictures of them looking ferocious! To get some more roots, take a look at the vocabulary list over at Dothraki.org.

Next week, Episode 8! Boy, this season’s going to be over in the blink of an eye…

Top of Show Greeting: Treyll

Links and Resources:

• Palm Leaves as a writing medium
• Brāhmī script
• Learn how to do cuneiform with a chopstick
• Curse tablets
• Jane Austen’s ink recipe
• Typical Chinese calligraphy brush grip (video)
• Arabic calligraphy with Chinese characteristics (that is, written with a brush)
• Tsolyani script (which seems impossible to William)
• Some possibly better conscripts, with artifacts

Featured Conlang: Qakwan

The reason for this post (in addition to simply getting back on a regular posting schedule) is to acknowledge and begin to thank Fredrik Ekman’s wonderful in-depth replies to my previous posts. Fredrik has great insights into the language of the Red Planet, has written extensively elsewhere on them, and interviewed Paul Frommer about his version of Barsoomian. The fact that he took the time to respond to my musings is very humbling.

His comments were posted on Conlang-L which is why you don’t see them here for now. I posted a message on that listserv that I had written up some ideas and provided the links to my Barsoomian “theories”. Fredrik then responded, and I have not had the opportunity to respond yet. Yes, I know it’s been months. Yes, I’m a little embarrassed by that time lag. So, now I begin to attempt to make amends.

What I plan to do is post links to the comments here as a start. I may not be delving deeper into Barsoomian right away, but for those who are interested, Fredrik’s comments provide an excellent alternative viewpoint:

• Ay, Ra, Co… Counting in Barsoomian! – Fredrik Ekman’s Comments provide excellent points to consider.
• Barsoomian Familial Relationships – Fredrik Ekman’s Comments. My reply to his reply
• Ekman reply to my reply to his reply
• Hek, Shahek, Ron, Phai: All in the Barsoomian Family – Ekman’s reply
• Dejah Thoris Phai-Dara! More Barsoomian Vocabulary – Ekman’s insights
• Adventures in Barsoomian Continued… – Ekman’s reply

I believe that’s all of them. Of course, these aren’t the only postings at Conlang-L that have to do with Barsoomian and ERB. Feel free to check out their Archives, too. Hope you enjoy the links to the discussion above. I know I did!

When I read in the comments to Episode 47 that there was going to be a scripts-related episode soon, I decided to ask whether they’d be OK with having me as a guest. Script-related things like writing systems and typography are a topic I’m interested in and fascinated by (you guess where my perfectionist obsession with my con-scripts stems from), so I was curious to join the discussion. Who would have thought it was up for recording the very Sunday (late) night of that week! However, it’s not actually about writing systems themselves, but mainly about prerequisites and tools for writing and literacy. Very interesting!

NB: I haven’t heard the edited episode yet myself, so I’m just as curious for it.

[You can listen to Conlangery 50, "The Technology of Literacy," now. — CB, 2012-05-14]