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Re: It is for fiction, yes. Isaac Send a noteboard - 17/07/2013 01:17:19 AM

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View original postWell Pentecost is 50, I think literally, and Etoyc is year, so Pentecostetoyc maybe? Abbreivated as PE or PCE or PL, I think L was shorthand for year.


View original postI know that pentecost is used for 50 days, but Google was unclear on how it translates to other uses. I believe the original Greek would have been Pentekoste. But then I also found sources that suggested 50 was represented by the word peninta, with the i making a long-e sound. This is when I threw up my hands and came to the experts.

I've had that same wonderful experience a time or two as well, I don't do writing but I did used to do a lot of DMing and I always liked to really flush out my world's and frankly amuse myself building them in much the same way I used to build characters I'd never play back when I played more than I DM'd. I always like to build my geography and noble houses and such I'd I get kicks picking some vaguely appropriate language to feed a descriptive word or phrase into as the family or city or regional name.


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View original postWell if you're not welded to Greek the options expand a lot. Obviously you could use semi-centennial but that implies centennial is the preferred. If its for fiction I'd have fun with it, I know Warhammer 40K likes to date everything as M40.987 or M40.988 etc. Keeps it intuitively obvious to the reader but never bypasses the chance to remind them its the distant future.


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View original postFor Latin your option are better, because while millennium is 1000 years and century 100, you've also got Quinquagenary for a 50 year mark or options for things like a lustrum, plural lustra, for 5-year periods, which has nothing to do with the number 5, so you could get away, again if it was fiction, by having the word be related to the event rather than the number. Like if it was a comet that popped in every fifty years naming it that. Or if was some standardized time marking that got in place after 5 monarchs from a dynasty had reigned about fifty years each, the 'Quin Dynasty' say, having a 50 year period be a Quin, and its a funny little easter egg for the audience.


View original postThanks for the suggestions. The Greek source is fairly crucial. My setting is a secondary fantasy world with modern touches but ancient Greek influences, both mythological and linguistic (for reasons I won't relate). For example, the monetary system is built on the drachma (but in paper form), and there are Greek roots in a lot of the naming conventions (such as their system of connected clock bells, called chronophones). I could go on, but I'm trying to avoid putting too much information on the Internet before I have a chance to finish the third draft and attempt to trick someone into giving me money for it.

Now I'm going to need to google up chronophone, I know of if it as the widget they used to use in early films to synchronize the film to the audio, now I'm envisioning something akin to a Carillon.

Greeks a nice one cause you can bust out 'Archon', one of those titles that sounds properly bad ass and isn't as overused as Emperor or King. It sounds interesting, its alway more fun to read stuff by people you know. I'd offer myself as an alpha reader but my only two modes are usually 'I liked it' or the sorts of extreme nitpicking that don't help a story, I think last time I unloaded on someone for their insistence on having railroads, which typically weigh about a hundred tons a league, but having steel armor so incredibly expensive only nobles could afford it even though the odds of a reader giving a shit were minimal, and I'm about ten times worse with sci-fi.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein

King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
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A question related to ancient Greek words - 16/07/2013 09:58:53 PM 860 Views
Tom's your man for this one, I'd say, maybe Danny or Gabriel - 16/07/2013 10:50:49 PM 625 Views
It is for fiction, yes. - 16/07/2013 11:12:04 PM 594 Views
Re: It is for fiction, yes. - 17/07/2013 01:17:19 AM 681 Views
Re: It is for fiction, yes. - 17/07/2013 10:34:36 AM 545 Views
Re: It is for fiction, yes. - 17/07/2013 11:48:43 AM 656 Views
That would bug the hell out of me. - 17/07/2013 03:49:12 PM 635 Views
I'd bet few readers would notice or care though - 17/07/2013 05:26:12 PM 702 Views
Thanks. - 18/07/2013 04:34:23 PM 571 Views
Language is a great way to set a game up. - 18/07/2013 05:55:49 PM 632 Views
It adds some flavor and style - 18/07/2013 06:23:01 PM 509 Views
50 = pentêkonta. Year = etos. - 17/07/2013 12:00:09 AM 705 Views
Nice. - 17/07/2013 12:06:59 AM 567 Views
"Fifty years old" is πεντηκονταετης or πεντηκοντουτης - 18/07/2013 12:20:58 PM 504 Views
If I'm converting the letters correctly ... - 18/07/2013 04:20:49 PM 570 Views
The answer is Pentakron... - 18/07/2013 06:02:11 PM 648 Views
Re: The answer is Pentakron... *NM* - 18/07/2013 06:02:34 PM 264 Views

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