Donaldson's Obscure Words - Official Thread

A place to discuss the books in the FC and SC. *Please Note* No LC spoilers allowed in this forum. Do so in the forum below.

Moderators: kevinswatch, Orlion

DrPaul
Giantfriend
Posts: 492
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:51 am
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by DrPaul »

We could speculate on whether Covenant's Unbelief was strengthened or mitigated by encountering all these people in the Land who spoke archaic English sprinkled with obscure words.
User avatar
shadowbinding shoe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1477
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:33 am

Post by shadowbinding shoe »

DrPaul wrote:We could speculate on whether Covenant's Unbelief was strengthened or mitigated by encountering all these people in the Land who spoke archaic English sprinkled with obscure words.
Covenant was a pulp fantasy writer. He'd expect the fancy words and made-up terms. We must assume from his insistence that it's all his imagination that he used the same thesaurus as Donaldson to write his 1.5 books.
User avatar
Gaius Octavius
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 3331
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:32 pm

Post by Gaius Octavius »

Some of Donaldson's vocabulary definitely seems like he was influenced by his father's work as a physician. Some of the terms (febrile, paroxysm, purulent, etc.) are commonly used in medicine.
User avatar
Skyweir
Lord of Light
Posts: 25192
Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2002 6:27 am
Location: Australia
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 18 times

Post by Skyweir »

shadowbinding shoe wrote:
DrPaul wrote:We could speculate on whether Covenant's Unbelief was strengthened or mitigated by encountering all these people in the Land who spoke archaic English sprinkled with obscure words.
Covenant was a pulp fantasy writer. He'd expect the fancy words and made-up terms. We must assume from his insistence that it's all his imagination that he used the same thesaurus as Donaldson to write his 1.5 books.
Actually I am surprised by this because he has often said that his experience with his father being a doctor definitely influenced his work.
ImageImageImageImage
keep smiling 😊 :D 😊

'Smoke me a kipper .. I'll be back for breakfast!'
Image

EZBoard SURVIVOR
User avatar
Vraith
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 10621
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
Location: everywhere, all the time

Post by Vraith »

Skyweir wrote: Actually I am surprised by this because he has often said that his experience with his father being a doctor definitely influenced his work.
That's surely part of it. As Nano noted a fair amount of his vocab has medicine-related usages.
But really, almost everything in his environment leads that way, unless I'm mismembering things.
Like---the school he attended while in India as a kid had Christian basis...and at that time, most of the Bibles and related religious lit. used older language---not so much was in everyday language versions then.
Medical and Biblical lit. both have more complicated structures, more necessary and obvious connections to the root languages and intermediate evolutions to modern vernacular.
Simply reading [heh...simply...right] isn't enough...as with Shakespeare and such, it ain't words and punctuation to really get it---it's half way to translation and history at the same time.
And then...maybe partly because of those things...the literature/authors he came to admire and study.
And the surrounding culture in his early years had deep and complicated thought/history/narrative structure, too---even limited exposure to that can have impacts at that age. [especially easily at that age, I should say].
The surprising thing, to me, is that that background ended up with him being able to write something like the Gap series. In many ways, the Gap is more creative, original, than any of his fantasy. Though I haven't seen the new yet---and won't until at least two are out and a third on its way.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
User avatar
Skyweir
Lord of Light
Posts: 25192
Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2002 6:27 am
Location: Australia
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 18 times

Post by Skyweir »

Yeah and his religious narrative that he introduces to the Chrons story is illuminating ... but yeah he has talked about that part of his upbringing.

The new fantasy work?
ImageImageImageImage
keep smiling 😊 :D 😊

'Smoke me a kipper .. I'll be back for breakfast!'
Image

EZBoard SURVIVOR
User avatar
Vraith
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 10621
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
Location: everywhere, all the time

Post by Vraith »

Skyweir wrote:
The new fantasy work?
Yea...it was out Oct. or Nov. But I'm not getting it or visiting the thread about it until the second is out, purchased, and read at least.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
User avatar
Skyweir
Lord of Light
Posts: 25192
Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2002 6:27 am
Location: Australia
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 18 times

Post by Skyweir »

Oh is that the Great Gods War? Yeah seen it and am avoiding it for the same reason ;) 😂
ImageImageImageImage
keep smiling 😊 :D 😊

'Smoke me a kipper .. I'll be back for breakfast!'
Image

EZBoard SURVIVOR
User avatar
darthbuzz
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 117
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:58 pm
Location: London, ENGLAND
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by darthbuzz »

A brilliant post and very much nesessary.

This to me is the 1st and 2nd chronicles is a few of SJD's favorite words...

"He was adamantine and alabaster, smelling of attar and brimstone and needed to succor so he let out a wail."

When you listen to the books as I am the last word always brings to mind large ocean mammals.

Most of these words mean nothing to me and have never ever used any of then in speech. :? :P :?: :roll: ;) 8O


____________
Sir Francis Bacon wrote:- "There is no utter beauty that has not some strangeness to it. So we are in good company"!
Post Reply

Return to “The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”