The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Peace Talks snippet on Entertainment Weekly
Bad Alias:
--- Quote from: Arjan on January 25, 2020, 07:28:03 PM ---old welsh was actually the language of everyone on the kingdom(s) where Merlin operated.
But why would he use latin for his personal diaries?
--- End quote ---
The places Merlin is said to have operated in the books are Rome, Alexandria, under Edinburgh, and the middle of Lake Michigan.
The reason he would use Latin (or Greek) in his journals is because they (1) had written language (2) that would be widely used in the magical communities.
--- Quote from: g33k on January 25, 2020, 09:03:07 PM ---In the Mediterranean, sure!
...
Folklorically, Merlin came from the people FIGHTING the Romans (and the Christian church!))
If we want to get pedantic: Old Welsh is probably too recent to be Merlin's mother tongue! ;) ...
--- End quote ---
He operated around the Mediterranean, which was the center of the White Council, which he established. Harry says something, I don't remember specifically what or when, about Merlin setting up or helping set up the Catholic Church. When did written language become a thing in Wales? I truly have no idea.
Bad Alias:
I couldn't really find anything about writings in between Roman times and into the second millennium.
--- Quote ---The newly discovered documents written in Latin – which date from between AD 43 and AD 80.
--- End quote ---
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2091213-britains-oldest-writing-found-buried-near-london-tube-station/#ixzz6C5aJv7nM
--- Quote ---Whether the Celts who lived in Britain at the time of the Roman conquest were literate isn’t known. No evidence of them writing has been found so far.
However, we do know that merchants operated in Britain before the conquest, and probably communicated with the Roman empire. “So it is still technically possible that somewhere in Britain we might get a collection of earlier material,” says Birley. “But I have to say that’s extremely unlikely.”
--- End quote ---
Id.
Apparently there isn't a clear answer on whether or not Merlin's people had writing, but mainland European Celts definitely did. https://www.academia.edu/2567392/Evidence_for_written_Celtic_from_Roman_Britain_a_linguistic_analysis_of_Tabellae_Sulis_14_and_18. A Merlin who did half the things the Dresden Files Merlin did would have almost certainly known Latin and Greek.
morriswalters:
I have no idea what language Merlin spoke. But if there is something Harry needs from the book, he'll get it. For all we know Alfred could translate it.
g33k:
--- Quote from: morriswalters on January 25, 2020, 10:28:32 PM --- Read Chapter Fourteen of Turn coat. If Merlin Founded the Council ...
--- End quote ---
Will do; and thank you for the pointer!
--- Quote from: morriswalters on January 25, 2020, 10:28:32 PM --- ... at least according to Jim.
--- End quote ---
Well.... That'd be "according to Harry" (not Jim) and we know Harry to be an "unreliable narrator."
Arjan:
Old welsh is indeed too much a simplification because according to scholars that only started around 800AD, he spoke the precursor language but if I say British all sorts of people think I mean English.
The original merlin from Jim’s story as told by Harry might have picked up some language skills but these are not his mother tongue. Alfabet scan be adapted to write another language people probably did. Contemporary Irish and Germanic peoples had their own alfabet, runic and ogham, as well.
The mere fact that we do not have books in Brythonic does not mean that people did not write.
The journals are a really personal thing so he probably wrote in the language that came easiest to him. that was certainly not Greek.
Of course Jim might base his story on Malory in which case he wrote medieval French.
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