One for the linguists

Xavier · Post by **Xavier** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:20 pm

If someone from Allaria is Allarian, and someone form Aqualaria is Aqualarian, etc, What do you call someone from Hespan?

In my most recent episode I described Imelda as "Hespanian" but that dosen't sound quite right. But I'm not sure what to change it to. "Hespian?" "Hespanic?" Any thoughts on this?

JH · Post by JH » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:31 pm

Given that in at least some threads Hespan seems to have some similarities to our own world's Spain, "Hespanic" might be a good choice, by analogy with Hispanic. In the past I have sometimes used "Hespaniard", but that perhaps sounds a little too contrived.

Y. · Post by Y. » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:29 pm

I have used the simple phrase a Hespan, as in "Imelda is a Hespan." I know it is an odd way of putting it, but I don't much care for the terms Hespanic or Hespanish. By doing this I have limited the sentence structures available to me when referring to anyone from Hespan, but I can live with that. You can also avoid the whole problem by using the phrase from Hespan, as in "Imelda, the Lady from Hespan."

Anableps · Post by **Anableps** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:36 pm

"Hespanian" sounds fine. My personal choice in the stories that I have contributed to "Hespaniard" over "Hespanic".

WolfRun · Post by **WolfRun** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:28 am

Like Y, I've always used the term Hespan to describe people from Hespan without ever adding any kind of suffix to the word. Although unlike him, I don't put an 'a' in front of it when describing an individual.

Ex.
The Hespan knight was the bravest in the land.
The Hespan are invading!
We Hespan have always been masters of the sea.
She was Hespan, and the mountain people would never forgive her for it.

Xavier · Post by **Xavier** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:55 pm

Thanks to all for the advice. I ended up modifying it from "Hespanian" to just simply "Hespan". If I ever encounter this in a different thread, I will try to keep it consistent with what the previous author wrote.

KnightRandom · Post by **KnightRandom** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:33 pm

I've usually tended to use "Hespaniard," because it sounds more archaic. By the way, I've been enjoying this particular thread a lot, and will contribute to it when I have more time.

JH · Post by JH » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:45 pm

And I'll be replying to your most recent episode when my stupefaction at it's length wears off.

(Seriously, it's a fine episode, but there's too much to absorb for a quick response to be possible.)

KnightRandom · Post by **KnightRandom** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:14 am

Well, now that activity has died down a bit, and I've got a bit more time I've posted an episode in this thread. I hope it wasn't too long. Here's a question, by the way--is the Califiean Princess Sophia, Sofia, or Sophie? I've seen it spelled all three ways in this thread.

JH · Post by JH » Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:12 am

You could go either with the way it's spelt the first time in the thread or with the way it's spelt most frequently. (With any luck, those will turn out to be the same.)

KnightRandom · Post by **KnightRandom** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 4:27 am

Well, now I finally wrote an episode for this thread that isn't crap. Well, one of the options involves zombies, anyway. You can never go wrong with zombies, right? It is a little annoying that I can never think of very much for Sophia to do, though. She's been kind of overshadowed by the others. (It turns out that Sophia is the way it was originally spelled. Although I guess the constantly changing spelling is realistic for a medieval milieau.)