This issue has only come to light on the Far Coast. The world of the Tuatha De Danaan was inherently a high-tech one. Even those stories set in the distant historical past were from a Tuatha De viewpoint. So, it was alright to talk about a ‘ticking time bomb’ or about things ‘blowing up’.
But in a world where there is no clockwork (that we know of, yet) and no gunpowder, comparing someone’s state of mind to a ‘ticking time-bomb’ is out of place. Things don’t ‘explode with possibilities’. So many everyday phrases rely on references to things which have no existence in the Far Coast. I was even nervous about the pistol crossbow that crops up in book one. I mean that is what we call them now, but we have actual pistols for comparison. In fact, Google tells me the word ‘pistol’ derives from a Czech word for ‘whistle’ because of the supposed resemblance. So, the shape of the handle doesn’t figure. I decided to leave that one in for the sake of clarity, but it illustrates the slippery slope.
It is hard to miss the fact that I am obsessive about a bow being ‘loosed’ rather than ‘fired’. As an archer it is actually the correct term, but more importantly in a world where there was nothing to ‘fire’ the concept of firing a weapon could not exist. Firing is something you do to pottery. Putting your crossbow in a kiln overnight would not be seen as a good move. As an aside Microsoft Word cannot get its pointy little head round this and I am constantly on guard against people ‘losing’ their crossbows.
And then we get to the linguistic end of things which is a minefield (another inadmissible anachronism). Our language derives from earlier languages, like the aforementioned ‘pistol’ from the Old Czech. But of course, medieval Czech did not exist in the world of the Far Coast. Nor, more importantly, did Latin or Greek (or Norman French). To some extent this can be excused because in a different world they obviously speak some language we cannot know, and I am translating it into English (or close to) which includes those references. There seems little point in inventing new words, fun as it can be, when they will only cause problems for the reader. If the proper Old Kingdom words for ‘duke’ and ‘baron’ are something else entirely, the meaning is conveyed by using words that are easily understood by any reader. I could use the proper words in Kingdom Speech but that would only require an explanation and constant referral, italics, and confusion. No good purpose would be served in my mind.
The same applies to measurements. Some authors I really like go to great lengths to have eight day weeks or days split into some other measurement. And invent measures of distance that again need thinking about. My own approach in the Far Coast is a sort of medieval vague. Measures are Old English mainly and of the sort that can be managed without equipment. Time can be vague or it can be precise. The hourglass has been with us for thousands of years. Before that there were water clocks. In everyday life people would work by the sun or moon and close was good enough. For things like a change of the watch, a ‘watchglass’ would be used to ensure that things happened on time.
But precise translation is seldom helpful. At several points in the Tuatha De Danaan books a measure of time is delivered which has been translated into our units from an alien race on an alien world with a different rotational period. While any of the characters, aided by their nanosuite, would know that the period described was actually one hour sixteen minutes and 24 seconds it serves little purpose to get that precise in a narrative where ‘just over an hour’ is perfectly adequate. Unless it becomes a plot point of course.
Clive
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