Language for Germanic Unitnames

**Big_John** · 12-31-2004, 21:47

from my admittedly limited understanding, the gothic choice would be the closest in terms of time frame, right? what's the cocern then, just use that one...

**eadingas** · 01-01-2005, 14:14

I vote for Gothic, but we would have to do some research on pre-gothic sound shifts and ortography changes, to keep it more in period... I could ask my linguistic buddies for help on that, if you don't have info.
As for cavalry, it's 'Marah' or 'Marh'... knowledge of pre-Rohan and Rhovanion linguistics comes in handy when dealing with gothic :)
Check out this page: http://www.wulfila.be/ - it will come in handy, I'm sure, it has entire Wulfila Bible in electronic form, for example.

**alman7272** · 01-01-2005, 21:29

How about a Gothic/English mix? Not everyone can remember those names, so it might be best to use some english.

**eadingas** · 01-02-2005, 01:15

We are using briton names for Briton units, I'm sure it can't get any harder than that :) so I see no reason to dumb down the Germans too by using english. Not everyone's first language is english.

**Big_John** · 01-02-2005, 01:26

just curious: are there any cultures in your mod for which you don't have any good info on their language(s) at the time of the game? if so, what are you doing to represent them?

**Guardian** · 01-02-2005, 18:21

What I have heard (and read), the gothic language is closer related to the northern germanic language (spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Germany and Poland?) than the western germanic langauge. Does anyone have more info about this?

**Stefan the Berserker** · 01-02-2005, 23:31

What I have heard (and read), the gothic language is closer related to the northern germanic language (spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Germany and Poland?) than the western germanic langauge. Does anyone have more info about this?

In those Times the Germanics settled more than just modern Germany, but they were unlike Greece never politically United. The tribes are roughly dived into northern, western and eastern Germanics due to their languages.

Modern Germans (which Includes Swiss, Austrian and Luxembourg), English and Dutch are decendants of the Western Germanics. Teutonic-German and Old English are very similar, dialect spoken in middleages Doucy of Saxony and Old English are in fact narrow identical.

-> This is the reason why the Saxons in Germany and Britain keept close trade and oftenly nobles were relative in Bloodline. But with after the Viking Inavsions and then finally William the Conqueror thus connexion of England with the Continent was transferred first to Denmark and afterwards to France.

The Northern Germanics lived in Scandinavia and are the Ancestors of the Vikings, through they remained untouched by the romans they developed culturally and linguistically into another direction as their southern Relatives. Modern Scandinavian Languages are closer to original Germanic as any other modern Language, because of its long isolation Islandic is the closest.

The Goths have originally been Scandinavians, untill they searched a new home in the east of Europe. Those Eastern Germanics were immigrants of the two other Groups. However, only the North and Western Germanics survived into modern times the eastern ones traveled west and were absorbed into the Spanish and Italian Population. Lesser Numbers were absorbed by the Huns and used as Infantry.