Gnash

May 30, 2015October 21, 2015 lfsaldenbirch 10K, high, onomatopoeia, word

I think we have danger and adventure. There’s something biblical and epic-proportioned about “gnash”.

04.033 and all his soldiers gnashed their teeth, clashed their shields,
04.034 “Slash them! Beat them! Bite them! Gnash them!
06.082 and gnashed their teeth;

“gnash, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

“† gnast, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

Frizzle

May 30, 2015October 21, 2015 lfsaldenbirch 100K, 10K, gem, low, onomatopoeia, word

“Frizzle” in meaning one has to do with curling hair in tiny curls. In meaning two, it has to do with cooking with an accompanying sputtering noise. Bilbo’s hair after meeting Smaug? Both!

12.081 it had all been singed and frizzled

“frizzle, v.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

“frizzle, v.2.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

Bleat

May 30, 2015September 2, 2015 lfsaldenbirch 10K, low, onomatopoeia, word

the cry of a sheep, goat, or calf – or dwarf when lashed by a goblin. It’s a funny farm word, ameliorating the fright of being captured by such alien and altogether scary enemies. Low or high? tough call. Because it is tempering the danger with farm noises, I’m calling it “low”.

04.021 Batter and beat! Yammer and bleat!
04.022 and bleating like anything,

“bleat, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

Clap

May 30, 2015October 4, 2015 lfsaldenbirch 10K, onomatopoeia, word

Both a type of hit and the sound associated with it.

01.095 As soon as I clapped eyes on the little fellow
04.019 Clap! Snap! the black crack!
04.022 The walls echoed to the clap, snap!
04.023 and clapped their hands,
06.005 He could have clapped
07.092 Beorn clapped his hands,
16.043 clapping Bilbo on the back.
18.023 and broke like a clap of thunder through the ring.

Words held aside

May 29, 2015June 3, 2015 lfsaldenbirch method

As I began to make entries for individual words, I strove to find words that not just anyone would use, eliminating the Ten Thousand most common, and unique author-created names (although the specific words will change by author, authors have the privilege of creating names for their worlds), and fantasy-genre names, guessing that within the genre, those words would be like the Ten Thousand, and anyone could use them.

But what makes a fantasy word?

Lively dinner-table conversation ensued. Did Tolkien used a word because it’s a fantasy word or is it a fantasy word because Tolkien used it? I have a mattock in the shed, so that’s a humble word, but I classed arrows as fantasy – yet my daughter learns archery at summer camp. The classification removed perhaps 80 words from a field of over 900. Just a drop in the bucket.

I am no longer holding out words – like “elf” or “arrow” – which are uncommon but seem common to fantasy novel fans.

Note on June 3, 2015: If you read the blog chronologically, I have already mentioned that I held fantasy words aside, then abandoned the practice. This post dated May 29th is the day on which I made the decision. As of today June 3d, I edited for retroactive continuity so that new Word Fans would not be confused by changing methods.