Appendix B:
Spells - Methodology and Resources
For The Prophecy, I either used spells from canon directly (courtesy of the Merlin Wiki page) or I created my own, piecemeal, using Old English translation and linguistics resources. I want to give credit where credit is due, while also explaining the methodology I used. Since this doesn't fit neatly into any one chapter A/N, it gets its own Appendix here!
My goal has been to add authentic flavor to the fic without being limited to the canon spells. I've done the best I can with the help of a couple of really great resources, but I'm confident I've still gotten lots of things wrong. When in doubt, I just presumed modern English syntax rules to fill in the massive gaps in my OE knowledge. My sincere apologies if there happen to be any cringing scholars/linguists reading this fic! (And if you can help me to do better, please let me know! I'm always eager to learn!)
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For finding Old English words based on meaning/translation, I have found the following to be an invaluable resource:
oldenglishtranslator dot co dot uk
In most cases, I've taken a verb from that Old English Translator and used the imperative conjugation, so that the simple spells are one-word commands (singular or plural depending on who or what is being commanded).
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When I started wanting to create slightly more complicated spells, such as including direct or indirect objects, using prepositional phrases, or specifying the person or object being commanded, I realized I needed to know more about how Old English functioned grammatically and syntactically. (Spoiler alert: It's NOT like modern English!)
I've found the following to be incredibly helpful:
lrc dot la dot utexas dot edu slash eieol slash engol
Thanks to that resource from the Linguistics Research Center at UT-Austin, I have been able to utilize more of the information from the Old English Translator resource described above, such as the noun declension charts.
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A Running List of Obscure Things Learned and Nerdy Speculations with regard to Old English in the course of this writing project:
1) Old English evidently did not rely on word order to indicate meaning (the way that modern English does). So on the one hand, that means not having to learn a bunch of implicit syntax rules (yay!) and not having to repeatedly rephrase sentences to avoid ambiguity because pronouns. But, on the other hand, it means—unlike modern English—that noun declensions are a thing in OE. (Incidentally, I ended up teaching myself about noun declensions during the course of writing this fic. So there's that.)
2) The Medieval Lit class I took in undergrad has proved surprisingly useful over the course of this project (even though most of the material we read was in Middle English, not Old English). It's been interesting to keep in mind what was happening historically and linguistically in the British Isles between ~500-1300AD. I've enjoyed trying to mesh together in my head how the fantasy/quasi-historical setting of the series could work with both historical and linguistic landmarks:
Was the Norman Conquest in 1066 (and the subsequent switch to Norman French as the language of government and formal literature) the point at which the Old Religion—like Old English—was supplanted and relegated to the common people? Will the Golden Age of Albion mark the resurgence of English—Middle English, specifically—in formal literature and courtly life, as a blending of the old and new ways once magic is formally restored to Camelot? (This speculation presumes a later medieval setting of the series, ~12th century or later, perhaps with Arthur as a contemporary of historical Geoffrey of Monmouth).
More importantly, though: How the heck is Old English the language of the "Old" religion if the Saxons (who actually spoke a precursor to/variant of Old English) haven't invaded/conquered Albion yet?! This is especially problematic if (and it's a big if) a historical Arthur actually existed, because he would most likely have lived in the era when the Saxons were first invading, so he would have spoken a language/dialect that was even 'older' than the language the Saxons brought with them!