March 4th, 2013

Of course, we non-fantasy humans would NEVER change the names of indigenous races and creatures to words we already know

Never

The vote incentive is a silly doodle that ponders why Sev didn't know this yet.



Vote Incentive for This Comic.

Comment by wandering-dreamer

Man, recently I learned the names of some of the Native American tribes that were where the English colonists landed and I'm still confused how the English got the names so wrong (or how Nihon became Japan in English, how the heck does that even happen?!?).

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posted at 12:11am on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Amaryllis

Well, another way to pronounce it is Nippon, and according to Wikidictionary, the word "Japan" was borrowed from the Portuguese, who got it from the Malay word Jepang, who got it from Min Nan Ji̍t-pún. So it's passed through a lot of languages before it got to English.

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posted at 2:20pm on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Glew

Oh come on. Nippon-Japan? Tell me how "Magyarország" became "Hungary" or "Ungarn" or "Hongrie" etc. in literally every language? When I was little I was always confused why the code of our country is "H" when there's not even a letter "h" in the name of the country.
Now I'm just settled with the answer that you guys just can't say it properly and went with something simpler. :D [Actually it's probably because they associated us with the Huns - wrongly.]

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posted at 3:36pm on March 10th, 2013

Reply by SotiCoto

Be glad yours isn't one of the countries that is basically just "foreign barbarians" in some language or other.

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posted at 9:39am on March 9th, 2016

Comment by Zammadria

I never even considered the possibility of Jonan learning sign language. Seems so obvious now!
Also I really love this comic and It's been a huge part in inspiring me to write my own. Just wanted to thank you for it :)

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posted at 12:42am on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

All we have to do is get Jonan on board with this plan, and it'll be perfect!

But ahhhh gosh, that's awesome! :"D Thanks so much, and good luck with yours!

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posted at 10:00pm on March 6th, 2013

Comment by Tehbeefer

Or how English got 'Germany' from 'Deutschland'. España could conceivably yield 'Spain', I think, but some of those out there make you scratch your head and wonder what led to that. just another job for
Etymology-man, I guess.

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posted at 12:44am on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Tehbeefer

I should note that this page led me to learn that, according to wikipedia, Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa. Who knew?

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posted at 12:47am on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

I KNOW with all the comments about "names English-speakers changed from the original" I've been reading up on wikipedia about where they came from, and it's super interesting! ETYMOLOGY IS COOL.

My favourite is still the one I learned about in middle school, the "Pennsylvania Dutch," where people from Germany set up colonies in Pennsylvania, but since they said they were from "Deutschland" the other American colonists were basically like "OH YOU MEAN YOU'RE DUTCH? OKAY COOL, THERE'S A DUTCH COLONY IN PENNSYLVANIA."
Good job guys.
< / TANGENT >

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posted at 10:06pm on March 6th, 2013

Reply by Riverfox237

Wait....REALLY? That is HILARIOUS. Those poor Germans...er, Deutschlanders. XD; I claim this as my 'fun new thing I learned' for the day.

Fun fact: Jennifer is descended from Guinivere (which I may have just spelled wrong).

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posted at 2:31pm on March 9th, 2013

Comment by Kwaj

Jonan is writing, "I do not need your silly peasant language! Why bother? I will be fine by tomorrow night ænd never have to see you again."

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posted at 9:33am on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

I thought this was a wonderful response, but then I noticed you even included the ash and now I'm EVEN MORE PLEASED.

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posted at 10:08pm on March 6th, 2013

Comment by Riverfox237

"Loa's Forest. LOA'S. WE ARE GOING TO SEE LOA."

".....You like to point a lot."

I wonder if Jonan will be receptive to the idea or too arrogant to take instruction from a young girl? I could see it going either way, really, depending on his mood. He's been slightly more mellow since he agreed to this 'trade' of services.

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posted at 1:19pm on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Asterai

I think that he isn't going to see any point to it. To him, his muteness is a very temporary condition.

...However, this does lead me to ponder whether a previously fully-functional runewriter can re-learn to cast without a "spoken" word, so long as they speak that word in sign language.

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posted at 1:37pm on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

That summary of the incentive is basically perfect.

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posted at 10:21pm on March 6th, 2013

Comment by Asterai

Half-muulorn and half what? That is a seriously fascinating name.

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posted at 1:38pm on March 4th, 2013

Comment by Why?!?!

Oh my gosh THE ZOMBIE-PONY IS PIKACHU!

I'm going to be quoting that all week and sending everyone who asks me what I'm talking about to this site.

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posted at 6:08pm on March 4th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

Fortunately for us all, the pony does not have electrical powers.

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posted at 10:20pm on March 6th, 2013

Comment by Twentydragon

Tareth uses Bonding!

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posted at 9:03pm on March 4th, 2013

Reply by wr4ith0

It has no effect ...

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posted at 8:25pm on March 5th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

AHHH WRAITH BEAT ME TO IT xD

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posted at 10:09pm on March 6th, 2013

Comment by Obligatonym

How does one pronounce muulorn? Also how does one get down to the delicate business of procreating with them? Please tell me there's a non-squicky answer. My head is presently filled with images that I could really do without. Really, REALLY do without.

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posted at 7:16pm on March 6th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

MAN if you're already imagining the nitty gritty details then I dunno if I can help you! xD I HONESTLY WOULD AVOID THINKING THAT HARD ABOUT IT.

But as for the name, it's not as weird as it looks -- it's basically just "moo" like the sound that cows supposedly make, and then the "lorn" is like in "forlorn!"

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posted at 10:19pm on March 6th, 2013

Reply by Glew

So it's basically múlorn. Oh you, English, and your limited 26-letter alphabet to transcribe sounds with :D :P

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posted at 3:29pm on March 10th, 2013

Reply by Shazzbaa

"Muulorn" is definitely not an English word. xD

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posted at 11:55am on March 12th, 2013

Comment by SotiCoto

Damnit deafy, quit trying to drag him into your obscene sign-language shenanigans. Perhaps YOU should stick to writing on paper too. Far better than all that... flagellating.

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posted at 9:41am on March 9th, 2016




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