User:WoWWiki-Iro

Hello! I hope you're enjoying WoWWiki as much as I am - it's nice having a place looser than Wikipedia but still highly functional at which to work.

My specialties are mythology and language (I am currently studying Classics [emphasis on Greek], English, and Philosophy), so I hope to put forth a lot of analysis on the material we've been given by Blizzard.

The Elven languages (Darnassian, Thalassian, Nazja, and the unnamed fourth) are far too closely related to be entirely separate languages.

 * Darnassian and Thalassian: From what we know of Darnassian and Thalassian, which is probably more than we know of any other Azerothian language (blame Tolkien for everyone's obsession with Elvish), there are few key linguistic distinctions. In Thalassian, there are several loan words from Darnassian - many of the words for which we have found adequate translations, actually - that have not been altered over the 7,000 years that Thalassian has effectively been in existence. Further, from what has been seen, there are few (if any) morphemic or phonemic changes in Thalassian from Darnassian, a key feature of language derivation. It has been demonstrated that Darnassian words (and even phrases) can be used in Thalassian (and vice versa) with no difficulty of understanding by the listener. The only demonstrable difference between the two is the issue of cultural bias (the easiest ones being the Darnassian emphasis on Elune and the Thalassian emphasis on Belore [sun]), which understandably can inspire ire. I would say that the differences between Darnassian and Thalassian are on par with those between British English and American English.
 * Nazja: Unlike Thalassian, Nazja demonstrates clear morphemic and phonemic change, most noticeably in the addition of the -zj sound (most often -zja). Nazja works much like a separate language, being that it is somewhat unintelligible to a non-speaker who knows a related language. However, to quote the speculation section of the Nazja article...


 * "However, some fans who have tried to reconcile it in their own way, they theorize that for naga to communicate underwater, the naga vocal apparatus would have to be structured differently from that of an elf; as a result, saying a word, such as "quel'dorei," or "belore," would sound completely different, warped both by the new vocal apparatus and the water around the speaker. If this is the case, then Nazja might not be another language at all, just Darnassian spoken underwater, with a different vocal organ. This it would account for the accent the naga have when speaking to surface dwellers, and why they could communicate with elves without difficulty.":

This would make perfect sense, given the fact that the Naga are Highborne Night Elves that have been mutated. Since each side has to learn different pronunciation, it is up in the air whether or not Nazja counts as a separate language or just a dialect.
 * The Unnamed Fourth Dialect cannot be addressed, since we do not know what it is. I suspect, however, that it ties into my other observations.

The Derivation of Languages in Azeroth are Mysteriously Convoluted
It has long been established that the Dwarves are creations of the Titans and that their language is derived from Titanic. However, there are similarities between Titanic and several other languages: Darnassian, for example, sports the key words of Kalimdor and Kaldorei, the latter derived from the former and the former a Titanic word. There is no record in WoW of the Night Elves coming into contact with the Titans (but see below). The fact remains that the Night Elves are derived from mutated Troll or Azotha stock after discovering the Well of Eternity - note the discover part - and so would be expected to have a language resembling either Zandali or Common, but in fact the language doesn't resemble either of these at all. Further, the writing system used by the Sin'dorei on the Shrine of Dath'Remar is a runic script that looks vaguely like Eredun.

The similarity to Eredun is intriguing, in fact, given some similarities between Draenei and Darnassian/Thalassian. In both languages the -ei ending (which is strangely pronounced as the [ai] diphthong) is used in plural constructions (Draenei means "Exiled Ones, Kal'dorei means "Children of the Stars," etc.), there are similar morphemes for "born of/child of" (dor/tar) that are very easy to arrive at through linguistic divergence, and lots of other word fragments besides (-naar as seen in Dolanaar and, -i adjective/genitive modifier found in zin-Azshari, Illidari, Sha'tari, etc.). There are so many similarities between the two languages that it boggles the mind.

It isn't terribly surprising that there are fewer similarities between Darnassian and Dwarven, given the separation of the two by time, geography, culture, stasis, and other factors. Still, it is remarkable that there are more similarities between two languages not born from the same planet than there are between two that pretty much have to be derived from the same source.

Observations/Hypotheses on Origins and Mythos
The similarities in several of the languages as well as certain statements about a lovely moon deity have led me to believe that the Titanic language either influenced Argus long ago (meaning that the Titans came to Argus more than 25,000 years ago) or that the language is not simply Titanic, but Netherese (the language of the Twisting Nether/Astral Plane). The latter is just as likely as the former, especially when it comes to Night Elf origins. The Night Elves used to say that Elune slept in the Well of Eternity, which we know to be the font of mystical energy that nourished Azeroth by connecting it to the spiritual realm that is the Twisting Nether, home of the demons. This could, in theory, make Elune a demon, but this doesn't hold up under examination of lore. According to the WarCraft encyclopedia, "demons are evil immortals who feed upon magic and life," which in the WarCraft universe are essentially the same thing (as demonstrated by the Well of Eternity). The article goes on to say that "in order to become a demon, a creature must be infused with fel energy." Fel energy, from what this wiki says, is the energy of consumed worlds found in the blood of demons, whereas arcane energy is "the energy from beyond the world." It is my suspicion that all of these energies as well as those of Azeroth are intricately related. The Well of Eternity brought in energy from the Twisting Nether (the Otherworld, Astral Plane, etc. of the WarCraft Universe) to nourish the planet of Azeroth; if we are going by the definitions and lore given, this would mean that the planet has been nourished on arcane energy. Since the Titans had been ordering other planets (according to lore), it would follow that they'd have attempted similar steps on other worlds as they had on Azeroth, meaning there might be other Wells of Eternity. Thus, the energy of other worlds inside of the demons is arcane energy, but concentrated into an unnatural and corrupting force. It would make sense, then, that fel energies are addictive because they would bring a rush of deep, primal joie de vivre. Elune, on the other hand, does not seem to have a corrupting influence (seem being used intentionally here, as Metzen could always be playing us and it could turn out that Elune is a horrible demon, though this is of course unlikely). This observation is strengthened by the fact that the Night Elves and Tauren are connected to natural energies and are able to detect the corruption inherent in Blood Elves and are repulsed by it. If anyone would be repulsed by a demon, it would be these two races. Since the Night Elves are not rejected by the Tauren for their association with Elune given their senses of natural order, it is highly unlikely that Elune is a demon. Elune has been suggested to be a "celestial," somehow connected to the Naaru (and, hence, the Light), and since the Light is simply an Oversoul idea, this would make some sense.

Where do the energies come into play, though? Fel has been demonstrated to be a highly corrupting and addictive concentrated form of energy, while all that has been said of Arcane is that it is otherworldly. My suspicion is that, given the fact that even druids use arcane energy in some spells (Moonfire, anyone?), there are varying degrees of concentration in arcane energy. From lowest to highest, this includes natural energy (the ambient energy given off by living things as the Light), then that of the Druid's Moonfire and that of the Mage, and finally Fel. There are further questions related to all of this, though: if Night Elves and Tauren can detect the taint present in High Elves and Blood Elves, why would they use Moonfire (which is raw arcane energy)? Is moderation in arcane energy fine, but enough over time as addictive as Fel?

The energies are interesting, as they give rise to the religions, all of which have different takes on how one uses energy. The Light I find to be interesting, as it is very watered-down Buddhism, Mysticism, and the like. I'm surprised that it isn't a much more complex religion, giving rise to all sorts of detail in the paladinic orders. I mean, given what the druids say about the Light (that it is a good concept, but it looks only at the big picture and doesn't realize that that is simply the network of the smaller points - that the whole is generated by the parts), I'm surprised that the paladins are not as detailed as the Jedi. After all, the Light's natural extension is to the Light Side of the Force, etc. etc. Hell, the Draenei look something like Twi'leks (the guys with the brain tails in Star Wars), maybe Metzen's playing us long enough to turn Azeroth into a similar setting.