word suggestions needed - rec.arts.sf.composition

Message from discussion word suggestions needed

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

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More options Oct 30 2009, 4:30 pm

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.composition

From: "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com>

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:30:38 -0400

Local: Fri, Oct 30 2009 4:30 pm

Subject: Re: word suggestions needed

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Jonathan L Cunningham wrote:
> I need a (probably made up) word akin to "theophany".

> A theophany (from the dictionary) is "An appearance of a god to a human;
> a divine manifestation."

Okay...

> I want (at least) two other words, which are different: one meaning the
> appearance of a titan (in ancient Greek mythology, the titans were,
> loosely speaking, the cousins and uncles/aunts of the gods).

They were gods. The EARLIER gods. If a Titan like Prometheus appeared
to you, that's theophany. You could, I suppose, call it Titanophany.

> Since I also want to mix in nordic (and other mythologies) this word, or
> a different one, should be good for giants in nordic mythology. Again,
> loosely speaking, they are the equivalent of greek titans. (Both gods
> and giants are more human-scale in nordic mythology than gods and titans
> in greek. Or perhaps nordic heroes were more god-scale <g>.)

And again, the greatest ones ARE gods, just not gods in charge of
everything; if you're big enough and badass enough so that the
prophecies say you'll kill the gods, you're a god. See "Gozer" for more
on this topic. If you insist on a separate word, you could REALLY mangle
things and make it a Jotunophany.

> The other word, or words, I want would relate more to christian/moslem
> mythoi. I want the corresponding word for a devil, or demon. And
> possibly a djinni or a fairy.

diabophany? Faeophany?

I think I'd just say "appearance" or "manifestation" and leave it at
that. Why do you NEED these words? Is there a profession in your story
that conducts classification studies on supernatural manifestations and
wants to sort them out?

--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com

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