Talk:Dambrathan language

Dambrathan is a mess
There are contradictions between almost every source I can find on this language, so I tried to combine the lore in the way that made the most sense to me.

The 'official' or 'high' language of Dambrath nobles, ie the Crinti, in second edition Shining South was drowic, and in third edition, somewhere I thought I had seen that the official court or legal language was Undercommon - although I can't find the reference.LadySilverhair (talk) 00:58, October 14, 2014 (UTC)


 * Okay, I don't understand what the problem is. The sources all seem to agree. Shining South (1993) says the common folk of Dambrathan speak Akalan, while the nobles speak Drow, and the priestesses use Maiden's Tongue.
 * The "Speaking With Tongues" article in Dragon Annual 4 again gives them Akalan, with two sub-dialects, Swag creole and Proper Akalan. Akalan is a dialect of Akalaic, spoken by the wider Arkaiun peoples. Again, nobles speak Drow, and the priestesses Maiden's Tongue.
 * Third edition changed the old languages system, with names based more on countries than ancient cultures. They don't well match the old "Speaking With Tongues" arrangement, but it's easy to think of them as groups of mutually intelligible dialects instead. It's clear from Player's Guide to Faerûn and Shining South (sourcebook) that the common folk speak Dambrathan while the nobles speak (Drow) Elven. Thus Dambrathan has to be a common name for Akalan. Akalan = Dambrathan.
 * Shining South slightly changes things by making Akalan a mixture of Old Illusk and ancient Nar, which splits the Akalaic language group off from the others. Shining South also writes it in Dethek, while the FRCS 3e used Espruar, but I can see the Crinti preferring Espruar writing, so both are probably in use.
 * I haven't seen Undercommon mentioned. So, what was the issue?
 * By the way, if you're still tinkering with an article, it helps to copy it to a Word document or the like on your computer, polish it up there, then publish it later. That saves a lot of small edits and struck-through lines like we have here, which look very untidy. — BadCatMan (talk) 06:50, October 14, 2014 (UTC)


 * Ah, and then History of the Crinti (or here) messes things up again, with Dambrathan, Common, and Akalan all spoken, and makes Undercommon the court language (presumably that of nobles), rather than Elven/Drow. Okay, so Dambrathan and Akalan are different languages, which makes things all clear now, undoing the retcon before it happened. — BadCatMan (talk) 07:00, October 14, 2014 (UTC)


 * I don't have a copy of either Shining South book. Can someone confirm that p. 28 of the first book actually claims that "Akalan" is another name for Dambrathan, as this articles states? I'm doubtful. ~ Lhynard (talk) 14:34, February 9, 2015 (UTC)


 * Not quite. It is as I said above, but this time I'll quote: "Most of the people in Dambrath speak Akalan, the original tongue of the Akaiuns." (Shining South 2e, page 28). Later, on page 58, it mentions "Akalan (the language of Dambrath)".
 * The 3e book, page 7, says "Arkaiuns who live in Dambrath speak Common and Dambrathan. This latter tongue is a combination of Old Illusk and ancient Nar, neither of which are spoken today. It employs the Dethek alphabet."
 * Nothing specifically says they're the same. I argued above they might be, then realised they weren't as The History of the Crinti article makes them distinctly different languages. — BadCatMan (talk) 01:36, February 10, 2015 (UTC)