Vulgar Western

From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_uri.edu>
Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 14:20:54 -0400

At 07:01 AM 10/9/2003 -0400, Trotsky wrote:
>My present
>opinion is that written Western is not strictly the same as the spoken
>language, but is either Brithini or a close derivative thereof. Much as
>early medieval writers only wrote in Latin, regardless of what they
>spoke, or the way that written Arabic is that of the Koran, and not
>necessarily the same as the various spoken forms of the language used in
>various different Arabic nations.

         Which might mean that the "common languages" of the West do not have any scripts at all -- the educated use "Classical Western" (whether it's Brithini, or Jrusteli, or Abiding Booki, or Kachasti, etc.) and the appropriate script, and the non-educated don't write. Is there a Dante of the West, boldly writing in vernacular? Would Wycliffe and Luther have a purpose in Glorantha? Translating the Abiding Book would make its philosophy and stories more accessible, but might not transmit its magic.

Peter Larsen

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