Common (Language)

The language now known as Common, or Galendish is the primary language of western Galendor. It is descended from Old Suiel, the language of the now-dead Suielman Empire, which forced its adoption upon all the humans of the western lands.¹ While there has been evolution and variation in the language since the fall of the empire, the rapid communication made possible by magic and the widespread literacy of ordinary citizens has helped to keep Common from disintegrating into a dozen different languages, as happened to RL Latin after the fall of the Roman Empire.

In MK stories Common is represented by English, while Old Suiel is represented by Latin. Common has also been influenced by Old Tongue, or Lambemma, which is the ancient language of the Midlander and Northlander humans; and by Sathmoran, the language of the Sathmore Empire, but Old Suiel is still the dominant source for Common.

Nations that use Common as their primary language

Ainador (Yehuda)²
Giantdowns (western region)
Magdalain Island
Metamor
Northern Midlands
Outer Midlands³
Pyralian Confederation
Southern Midlands

Nations that use Common as a second language

Arabarb
Flatlands⁴
Sathmore Empire⁵
Whales

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Footnotes

1. To scholars and linguists of other lands, Common is still known as Suiel, but in everyday language the word is about as common as calling humans Homo sapiens in modern RL America.

2. The Yehudim speak their own language, but they have been a minority in the Holy Land since the Suielmans and the Ecclesia drove them into exile.

3. Historically the Outer Midlands spoke Lambemma and Elven, but these fell out of favor when the Elves abandoned the region.

4. Most Flatlanders speak an odd dialect of Common that is, for lack of a better term, pseudo-archaic. The Flatlanders have retained the use of the old Suielish 2nd-person informal singular pronoun, represented by "thou" in MK stories. Other Common-speakers have largely abandoned this pronoun, using "you" for both singular and plural forms and for both the formal and informal modes of address. The Flatlanders have done the opposite, abandoning "you" even when it is appropriate; even more strangely, they have applied the "thou" conjugation of many verbs to 1st-person and 3rd-person subjects, as well as to 2nd-person ones. The overall impression this creates is of a people who are trying to sound more learned than they are, sometimes with comical results. In truth, the odd errors in their Common usage probably stem from the fact that their native language has a very different system for assigning pronouns and conjugating verbs, and they have simply ported these rules into their use of Common without regard to the fine points of Suielish grammar.

5. Common has been slowly displacing Sathmoran as the primary language ever since the Emperor moved his capital from Pyralis to Elvquelin, but it has a long way to go. While Common is the language used at court and in the big cities, the commoners still primarily use Sathmoran in their day-to-day lives. This is particularly true in the central regions of the Empire and along the western coast.