by Robert_Frazer » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:28 pm
The Glossary has expanded significantly, so there doesn't immediately appear to be a great deal that needs to be added, but for anyone who may be in a more vituperative mood, I thought that I'd furnish the new page with a few short entries on Drow cursing and profanity that have barbed and envenomed the odd line over the course of the comic.
-Arkanth - term of abuse, translating as 'vermin', 'scum' and similar denigrations of status.
-Drowhiir - a variant of "drowussu", in that it is a specifically abusive and derogatory way of referring to the light-skinned drow. To appreciate the difference in emphasis between 'drowhiir' and 'drowussu', consider what humans imply by 'nigger' and 'black' respectively.
-Gambhik - lit. "dirty beggar", this is a term of abuse oriented about decrying the object as being of miserable status, vulgar and contemptible - 'wretch' is an alternative translation.
-Lothranvith - term of abuse. A human equivalent would be 'whore', although as the concept of prostitution does not exist in drow society this comparison only conveys the general mood and context in which it is spoken rather than a precise meaning. A lothranvith would be seen as untrustworthy, a foul lout from the most rancid dregs of society who offers her loyalty to someone cheaply (or 'whores herself out') through no more than a bestial instinct for self-preservation.
-Ranvith - as 'lothranvith', except without the additional implication that the object is demeaned by low class and condition.
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Also, I'd suggest an addtion to the entry on Tainted, in light of Snadhya'runes' own meditation on the word in The Longest Wait: "...Many of the Tainted, though, defiantly wear the term as a badge of honour, revelling in the word's additional implication that they daringly and boldly cross constraining boundaries."
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For the sake of completeness, I'll round off the post here with the individual components of the insults that The Longest Wait's footnotes explained:
-Ar'shola - n., spider.
-Bhik - n., beggar.
-Gam - adj., dirty.
-Kanth - n., insect.
-Loth - n., city (for example, see "Chel'el'sussoloth").
-Ran - v., to sell.
-Vith - n. (archaic), woman.
Last edited by
Robert_Frazer on Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.