Lingua Clara (ˈliŋɡwa ˈklɑːʁa)
"Lingua Clara is the native tongue of power."
Lingua Clara is the language spoken by the Clarati sorcerers, and was the language of scholarship in the Northeastern Region for a thousand years. It is inspired by a combination of Church Latin and Medieval French.
Dialects
Each of the Clarati sorcerers who participated in The Conquest of Ynys had their own habits of speech, including idioms and vocabulary choices. They taught those to the people they conquered, as the sorcerers preferred conversing only in their own tongue. Over the thousand years that they ruled the people of the Ynys Archipelago, they each spawned a dialect of Lingua Clara that echoed those preferences. Even today, nearly seven hundred years after the last of Ynys's conqueror's died, it is possible to tell where someone learned Lingua Clara based on these characteristics.
Interesting Features
Because of its long association with the ideas of Magic, Lingua Clara has acquired metaphysical weight in the Folk Magic systems of the Great Ring, especially in the Northeastern Region. Both spoken and written forms of Lingua Clara are invested with magical power, and are featured in the Folk Magic spells and rituals. Lingua Clara has even made its way into the practices of True Magic and Alchemy, as a way for the practitioner to reach the requisite frame of thought for manipulating spiritual energies and associations. While this association is strongest in the Northeastern Region, it has been spread by both sailors and Maskers , and Clarati words have at least some power everywhere in the islands.
Related Languages
Lingua Clara originated from a world outside the Great Ring, and there are no native languages in the islands that are related to it. However, the language Princière, spoken in the half-real Dolphin Islands, was born from the experiments of Celestina, and does have linguistic roots in Lingua Clara.
Naming Traditions
The Clarati held that a person's True Name is a personal secret that is shared with only their closest intimates. For everyone else, they would adopt a nomen publicum, a name that could be shared with all who may need to know. They could, and sometimes did, change the public name when they felt it was warranted. These public names often evoked concepts of light, which is a synonym for 'good' in Lingua Clara.
Writing System
Lingua Clara is written in Scriptura Clara. It is a alphabet with 22 letters, where each letter represents a particular sound. Documents written in Scriptura Clara were often illuminated, with different colors and images used to give context and flavor to the text.
Geographical Distribution
- Ave – Hello
- Vale – Goodbye
- Gratias tibi ago – Thank you
- Fiat voluntas tua – You're welcome (lit. Let your will be done)
- Adiuva me – Help me
- Quaeso – Please
- Quomodo vales? – How are you?
- Bene valeo – I am well
- Ignosce mihi – Sorry / Excuse me
- Etiam / Minime – Yes / No
- Luminara
- Seraphina
- Celestina
- Illuminata
- Altiora
- Aurora
- Solistra
- Lucida
- Gloriana
- Celestia
- Clarion
- Lucius
- Aurelian
- Fulmen
- Altior
- Solaris
- Lucianus
- Lumenor
- Illustrius
- Notens
- Luxor
- Elysian
- Vespera
- Aetheris
- Ignis
- Auriel
- Fulmen
- Celestine
- Serenus
- Nitor
This article was originally written for Spooktober 2024. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
This article was originally written for Spooktober 2023. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
That's very interesting. I really liked the idea of a "true name" and a "public name" What would be a reason for someone changing the public name, though?
Come visit my world of Kena'an for tales of fantasy and magic!
Or, if you want something darker, Crux Umbra awaits.
Mostly if they felt it no longer represented them. The Clarati had used magic to make themselves ageless, and had lived for countless centuries before they died - in that time, you might decide that the name you selected when you were just starting out no longer really represented you. In many ways, the nomen publicum is like a username online - the one you pick in your teens might not fit so well in your thirties.