meeting and greeting

From: bethexton_at_...
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 14:27:12 -0000

> Roland wrote:
>
> > "When my brother was outlawed he traveled all the way to
> > Pralorela, a year of walking and hunting, and everyone he
> > met greeted him properly."
> > ...
> > I want the players to be able to use the Greeting every time
> > they meet other Orlanthi, but I don't necessarily want them
> > to always be able to communicate easily.
>
> Do we know that it's the *verbal* part of the greeting that people
> are getting right, all the way from here to Pralorela? Isn't it
> possible that the *custom* is the same (offering visitors the meat
> gift, blanket gift, etc., appropriate to their status), but that
the
> words and even the language used could vary?

I was just thinking for a bit about how languages evolve (not that I'm a linguist or language historian or any such expert). Also pondering on how some uniquely Gloranthan aspects would effect language drift.

For starters, very basic concepts tend to change but slowly. German and english split off some 1500-ish
years ago, but I remember shivering on a chair lift in France, seated next to a couple of strangers, and when one commented to the other what sounded to my ear like (phonetic transcription here) "Mine gott ist kelt." I knew exactly what he meant, and I'm sure if I'd responded "ya" he would have understood that message.
However there probably wouldn't have been many other things that we could have easily discussed. I would
think that most of the items covered in "The Greeting" are pretty basic, so are less apt to change quickly.

Secondly, ceremony freezes words. Almost any native english speaker with a Christian background will
recognize "Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." and know the meaning and significance,
despite the fact that none of them would use that sort of phrasing in normal conversation, and that not one in a hundred would ever use "hallowed" in any other context. The Greeting is obviously ceremonial in nature. It is very probable that the "formal" wording that one is apt to use with complete strangers sounds rather
old-fahioned to most peoples ear, but at least it is widely understood. Of course, with Aslain the trader from the next clan the whole thing may be done much more casually.

Finally storm speach, although spoken by few in the mortal realm, is apt to have something of a unifying
effect. Chants and ceremonies in mortal languages may not be identical to those in storm speech, but surely there is a drive to give them something of the form and cadence what you speak when in Orlanth's House. This might make significant changes to ceremonies even less common in Glorantha than in our
world.

So I think it possible that while you might find it almost impossible to talk about cow breeding or patterns in weaving with another Orlanthi from not so far away, you could not only give and recieve the greeting with little trouble, but you could probably share other ceremonies with little difficulty.

All just IMO, of course.