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Languages?


Knight Kat

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I am not certain if this belongs in RP discussion or FFXIV discussion.

 

I was wondering if anyone with linguistic knowledge knew of a real language that is similar to Miqo'te naming conventions?

I would love for my character to be able to occasionally spout off words in a traditional language.

 

It is easier with some of the other races. For example, based on naming conventions, the Elzen seem like their language would be similar to French (correct me if I'm wrong), the Hyur have many European linguistic roots (mostly Northern it seems), I have no clue about the Roegadyns but the Sea Wolves seem to have a language that might be based on a real one and the Lalafell language is based on Dr. Seuss...

 

It seems like the peoples of Eorzea have a common language for ease of dialogue in the game, but it also seems there are linguistic differences in the traditional languages of the races. I am not even close to being a language expert, so if I am wrong about anything please correct me.

 

Also, in case anyone didn't get it, the last comment I made about the Lalafell language is a joke :P

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You are correct in that there is a "common" language we all speak. It's generally implied that the old racial languages aren't used much anymore, if they're not completely dead altogether, kind of how Latin is in the real world.

 

Unfortunately I don't know that the Miqo'te language has ever been addressed. They have dev teams actually working on the Roegadyn language (German-based) and the Elezen language (French-based), the latter of which is shared by Midlander Hyur, I think. But as far as I know nobody's working on Miqo'te, Lalafell, or Highlander languages. I think the selective development of the languages depends largely on how much it's needed from a lore perspective. Roegadyn, for example, still use their old language heavily in their culture and embrace it in their names, so I'm guessing the writers decided they needed an actual dictionary.

 

I'm hesitant to say you're completely out of luck, because I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as the other people here and might have missed something. Maybe they'll develop something for Miqo'te sometime in the future?

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There doesn't seem to be any kind of language barrier in Eorzea's societies, I'm afraid. The naming conventions only reflect certain styles of pronunciation and etcetera because that's basically how each race spoke long, long ago. While it's probable that some scholar or knowledge-hoarder would know how to speak ancient Miqo'te (or whatever), it would be like latin in our world: it's not used anywhere. There's only "Eorzean", as far as we know. And Ancient Roegadyn, but that's only used for naming.

 

I was wondering if anyone with linguistic knowledge knew of a real language that is similar to Miqo'te naming conventions?

 

I would say they seem to be based on African words. However, the conventions theirselves seem pretty classic.

Romans traditionally had three names: the name given by the parents, the family name, and a nickname (used to differentiate them from other people with the same two names). Miqo'te females are only missing the nickname. Sunseeker males have only the name and the nickname denoting their social status, dropping the family suffix for no apparent reason more than Author Bias. Interestingly, Moonkeeper males have a nickname in the form of the suffix that can be translated to "the first", "the second", etcetera. So they are the most 'classic' of them all.

 

So yeah, Ancient Rome as far as conventions go. The tribe prefix on Sunseekers could be considered the "Name from City", which people used when they left their homes.

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When I looked up Keeper NPC's names, I found that a few of them followed Egyptian conventions, modified a little for the extra "hissing H" sound (I may be remembering a little wrong, but I also think I also saw Turkish surnames). I used an Egyptian surname for my own character.

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Eorzea is such a melting pot, so while all the races are implied to have had their own languages at one time, they don't seem to survive any longer outside being used in naming conventions.

 

When I looked up Keeper NPC's names, I found that a few of them followed Egyptian conventions, modified a little for the extra "hissing H" sound (I may be remembering a little wrong, but I also think I also saw Turkish surnames). I used an Egyptian surname for my own character.

 

 That'd be pretty cool if you noticed some Turkish names. *cough*

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Ah well, it was worth asking I suppose.

 

You'd think that the traditional Miqo'te tribes and clans wouldn't be so quick to assimilate a common Eorzean language as their primary language. Also, Miqo'te names are so different from the common language's words that you'd think they would have to know at least a bit of the old language so that they can continue to give their children traditional names.

 

Most of Eorzea's people have indeed taken to the city-states, but there are people still isolated. Some Highlanders in Little Ala Mhigo, Duskwights in their hidden underground cities, Miqo'te in their tribes and clans. Unless I'm missing something, it makes sense for these more isolated peoples to have their traditional languages intact.

 

But its no use for me to argue with something that I can't change. I just wanted my character to seem more traditional by throwing some "foreign" words into RP on occasion. I guess that won't be doable for now.

 

Ildur and Jana, thanks for the linguistics lessons. Its interesting to know that the Miqo'te naming conventions might be influenced by ancient Roman, Egyptian and maybe Turkish. However, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think I can assume any of those languages would be identical to Miqo'te language? So I can't use them.

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I've always figured that Miqo'te languages were semitic (like Arabic), given the glottal (apostrophe) and the hard Q (both of which are pretty prevalent in semitic languages). Arabic's pretty distinctive and recognizable, but there are a whole basket full of ancient semitic languages that you can draw from. I like Jana's bit about seeing Egyptian influences in the words. It's pretty easy to find books with bits of the ancient Egyptian language and sprinkle some of those in.

 

The big caveat, if you want to do that, is that ancient Egyptian didn't write hard vowels, so there's a convention of using the letter E where you'd think a vowel might go. A good way to keep the flavor would be to substitute a different vowel: "Ai wenemen" ("let's eat!") could become "Ai wenoman", for instance.

 

By the way, where did the Roegadyn/German thing come from? Looking at the names and words, it looks far more gaelic to me.

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I've always figured that Miqo'te languages were semitic (like Arabic), given the glottal (apostrophe) and the hard Q (both of which are pretty prevalent in semitic languages). Arabic's pretty distinctive and recognizable, but there are a whole basket full of ancient semitic languages that you can draw from. I like Jana's bit about seeing Egyptian influences in the words. It's pretty easy to find books with bits of the ancient Egyptian language and sprinkle some of those in.

 

The big caveat, if you want to do that, is that ancient Egyptian didn't write hard vowels, so there's a convention of using the letter E where you'd think a vowel might go. A good way to keep the flavor would be to substitute a different vowel: "Ai wenemen" ("let's eat!") could become "Ai wenoman", for instance.

 

By the way, where did the Roegadyn/German thing come from? Looking at the names and words, it looks far more gaelic to me.

 

It reminded me of the Bantu languages but my lingustics isn't that great. as for the Roe thing the Developers specifically said that.

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Does seem kind of difficult for miqo'tes. Though I think most are thoroughly homogenized there are exceptions like poachers and what tribes still exist and haven't split up.

 

It's easier for Roegadyn. There's a whole roegadyn dictionary of words for use.

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I've always figured that Miqo'te languages were semitic (like Arabic), given the glottal (apostrophe) and the hard Q (both of which are pretty prevalent in semitic languages). Arabic's pretty distinctive and recognizable, but there are a whole basket full of ancient semitic languages that you can draw from. I like Jana's bit about seeing Egyptian influences in the words. It's pretty easy to find books with bits of the ancient Egyptian language and sprinkle some of those in.

 

The big caveat, if you want to do that, is that ancient Egyptian didn't write hard vowels, so there's a convention of using the letter E where you'd think a vowel might go. A good way to keep the flavor would be to substitute a different vowel: "Ai wenemen" ("let's eat!") could become "Ai wenoman", for instance.

 

By the way, where did the Roegadyn/German thing come from? Looking at the names and words, it looks far more gaelic to me.

 

YAY! Thank you C'kayah! I have something to go on now. I guess I'm doing some research. Its ok, I like research! I like ancient Egyptian mythology too, so I'm sure this will be fun.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses.

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I've always figured that Miqo'te languages were semitic (like Arabic), given the glottal (apostrophe) and the hard Q (both of which are pretty prevalent in semitic languages). Arabic's pretty distinctive and recognizable, but there are a whole basket full of ancient semitic languages that you can draw from. I like Jana's bit about seeing Egyptian influences in the words. It's pretty easy to find books with bits of the ancient Egyptian language and sprinkle some of those in.

 

The big caveat, if you want to do that, is that ancient Egyptian didn't write hard vowels, so there's a convention of using the letter E where you'd think a vowel might go. A good way to keep the flavor would be to substitute a different vowel: "Ai wenemen" ("let's eat!") could become "Ai wenoman", for instance.

 

By the way, where did the Roegadyn/German thing come from? Looking at the names and words, it looks far more gaelic to me.

Nice input! Someone else as well was telling me, when I created my Keeper, that to take inspiration from arabian names, though at the time I didn't realise it applied also for Seekers. But I think of Sheqa, eh, the sound is there. Or my Sihel Nelhan, I slightly modified it from generator and everytime reminds of the Temple of Abu Simbel.

 

As for Roe, I think it's in naming coventions, or anyway should be something devs themselves said But honestly doesn't look gaelic at all too me, too much consonantic and strong, gaelic is really a soft language.

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I am bagging on ancient Highlanders to have a Gaelic-esque language just for the shear connection of "Highlander" to the Scottish Highlands. I have no proof of this just shear speculation.

 

What I AM sure of is that Highlander forenames have "Germanic or Normandic roots", so one could argue Danish/Norwegian languages to compliment the naming convention.

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Ah well, it was worth asking I suppose.

 

You'd think that the traditional Miqo'te tribes and clans wouldn't be so quick to assimilate a common Eorzean language as their primary language. Also, Miqo'te names are so different from the common language's words that you'd think they would have to know at least a bit of the old language so that they can continue to give their children traditional names. 

 

It's not been quick. Miqo'te have been in Eorzea for quite a long time. They migrated during the 5th Umbral era, between 1500 and 4000 years ago. They're not as primitive as most people like to assume.

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Ah well, it was worth asking I suppose.

 

You'd think that the traditional Miqo'te tribes and clans wouldn't be so quick to assimilate a common Eorzean language as their primary language. Also, Miqo'te names are so different from the common language's words that you'd think they would have to know at least a bit of the old language so that they can continue to give their children traditional names. 

 

It's not been quick. Miqo'te have been in Eorzea for quite a long time. They migrated during the 5th Umbral era, between 1500 and 4000 years ago. They're not as primitive as most people like to assume.

 

While I've never done the math to see when the fifth Umbral Era took place, and didn't know it was 1,500 to 4,000 years ago, I did know that the fifth Ubral Era is when they migrated. I didn't mean that they should be primitive, and never said they were. I don't equate traditional with primitive. Also, not all Miqo'te are traditional. I am talking about only traditional Miqo'te.

 

Look at the U (Drake) tribe in the Sagolii. Sure they speak the common language, but they also don't like outsiders and prefer to try and maintain their traditions. There is no reason to think they are the only Sun Seeker tribe that is like that or even more isolationist and traditional.

 

In recent history many of the Moon Keepers were infamous poachers in the Twelveswood. It does say most have made peace with Gridania and some even call it their home now, but it didn't say ALL.

 

My point is, if someone wants to RP a Miqo'te who is a citizen of a city-state, speaks common Eorzean as a primary or only language, does not cling to traditions and is fully assimilated to urban society then fine; the lore supports that.

 

But if someone wants to RP a Miqo'te who grew up in a clan/tribe that clung to their traditions and lived a more isolated cultural lifestyle then the lore supports that too.

 

The lore seems to suggest that traditional Miqo'te societies are not doing well, but they still are out there. If a people are still living a more traditional lifestyle, I don't think its a stretch to say that these more traditional Miqo'te can have knowledge of a more traditional language. I hope I don't have to type the word "traditional" any more...:frustrated:

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Ah well, it was worth asking I suppose.

 

You'd think that the traditional Miqo'te tribes and clans wouldn't be so quick to assimilate a common Eorzean language as their primary language. Also, Miqo'te names are so different from the common language's words that you'd think they would have to know at least a bit of the old language so that they can continue to give their children traditional names. 

 

It's not been quick. Miqo'te have been in Eorzea for quite a long time. They migrated during the 5th Umbral era, between 1500 and 4000 years ago. They're not as primitive as most people like to assume.

But if someone wants to RP a Miqo'te who grew up in a clan/tribe that clung to their traditions and lived a more isolated cultural lifestyle then the lore supports that too.

 

The lore seems to suggest that traditional Miqo'te societies are not doing well, but they still are out there. If a people are still living a more traditional lifestyle, I don't think its a stretch to say that these more traditional Miqo'te can have knowledge of a more traditional language. I hope I don't have to type the word "traditional" any more...:frustrated:

Yea, the lore supports it both ways. There are a few Seekers out there that still actually live in a tribe (see U tribe). However, there is no evidence what so ever that the lore supports them still having things like their own language after being in Eorzea for so long. I guess if they were some isolated tribe in the ass end of Eorzea that we can't even access..? xD

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True enough that the lore does not say that they have their own language, but so far, I haven't seen anything that denies the existence of it either.

 

Regardless of how long the Miqo'te have been in Eorzea, some could still have their own language. It doesn't matter how long its been if they maintained their own societies separate from the others.

 

Want a real world example? Do the Italians still speak an Italian language? Yes. How close are they to Greece, or France or Germany or Spain? Every country I mentioned still has their own language. How long have the people of Europe been on the same continent? And Europe is not a big continent. They are really close to each other. They all share histories of empires that conquered the whole continent at certain points, and yet, they still have soooo many languages. Yes, the languages have changed over last few thousand years, but they are still intact and different.

 

Eorzea is a single continent, not a single country. However, I will concede that it is not the real world. Its up to the devs on whether or not they wish to make an official language for the Miqo'te. I can't change it, but I can try to find a loop-hole if I want, and the devs have left a lot of loop-holes in the lore.

 

I Just want to clarify to whom it may concern, I am not looking for something to force other players to concede to. I am looking for a way to make my cat-girl different in a world of cat-girls. Not better, just a little bit unique maybe. I am exploring options, and I am frustrated by the often vague lore. Anyone is free to disagree with me ofcourse, but I am not looking to turn this into a debate. Debate threads go on and on and on and on with no end until one side gets tired and gives up because they don't want to argue anymore. As a result, I welcome any further input, but I will probably make this my last post on this thread for now.

 

C'kayah has already given me an option to explore, and I will do so until I or someone else, finds solid evidence in the lore that clearly says that all current Miqo'te in Eorzea speak one and only one language with nothing left of their traditional languages.

 

I hope I have not offended anyone, I honestly appreciate all replies to this thread and the input of everyone.

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I just prefer to get my lore directly from the game instead of making too many assumptions or finding loopholes. That's just my personal preference, though. I don't care much what other people do, as long as it's not forced on me too. If your character started talking about Miqo'te languages, Aysun'd just look at her like she's nutso and we'd move on. :P

 

Personally, I think the best way to make your Miqo'te unique among the rest of them is to have the best personality ever, rather than pushing lore or backstory or some such. :) But everyone is free to do whatever they want that makes it fun for them.

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