Greg :
> The original Abiding Book used both methods in its text, often mixed (as was the custom in those early Second Age cultures.)
> Thus sometimes a normal script would be used, and then use the sacred rune system to substitute for certain words or concepts.
Thanks. That's what I thought, and I'm glad for the confirmation.
> >I'm thinking about a Green Age ur-language, before
> >the original destruction
> >of the original mixed world.
>
> Interesting thought, but the idea of a single ur-language in the Green Age is held only by a small sect of believers in Glorantha.
Oh, sure ! :-)
> Most people know that human beings had multiple origins, hence their languages had multiple origins.
>
> The idea that there was only one Grandfathr Mortal, the Primal Rune as it were, is a GL concept. You can see that the separate mythologies have ancestral figures, but they call him and/or her by their local names.
Definitely, but there's another side to this ur-language idea.
The myth of the ur-language, 'cos it's a myth both in RW and Glorantha, can be linked to the fact that all humans have similar morphological features, which means that all human languages will have a common base and many common features. The ur-language would be Speech itself, then, and mythically Grandfather Mortal's various children would have learnt the various Elemental Languages et cetera via the prism of the original "ur-language", which either actually existed ; or "merely" represents the common features of all human Speech.
Whichever way, it's still a Myth (as always). :-)
Julian Lord
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