Two words: Marestrangelo Horsyrian

[Sean Skyhawk 12]

So as you've probably seen from my previous postings, languages and writing systems fascinate me greatly. Though the conlang as a whole is in development hell, I've come up with a few variations of my previous drafts of Equestrian language.

 

The following was inspired from the various dialects of Syriac, one of three known abjads (consonantal systems, no vowels) known in use today, the others being Arabic and Hebrew. It's derived directly from Aramaic, the language of Jesus himself. Syriac is divided into three types: Estrangelo, an outdated system found in early manuscripts, and the Western (Serto) and Eastern (Madnḥāyā) systems.

 

So in response, I used these, along with my previous systems, as a model to create what I dub "Marestrangelo Horsyrian", a title parodying "Estrangelo Assyrian". It's still a work in progress, but see below in the red box:

 

 

It doesn't appear to have any pictographic origin; that's because it was purportedly taught to paleoponies by the Arcana (spirits embodying the 22 Elements of Harmony) themselves. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Note the rarity of vowels; they only established those later on, and I'll add said vowels accordingly. It is written right to left in hieratic cursive, so each letter probably has an initial, medial, final, and isolated form. Won't be the first time I had to do that.

 

Anyway, tell me what you think!

 

Cheers,

Sean

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

To make sure I'm understanding this correctly, this is supposed to be an ancient written language for the ponies and not their modern script?

 

It's really quite fascinating. The symbology you've chosen to represent letters is quite...interesting.

 

I'm sorry, I can't offer more thoughts as I know very little about the script you're deriving from, but I love this piece of fanwork nevertheless. I'm really interested to see more about it.

[Titan Rising 2,156]

This is brilliant, you should find a way to send it to hasbro somehow lol

 

Marestrangelo Horsyrian is pure genius haha

[Sean Skyhawk 12]

To make sure I'm understanding this correctly, this is supposed to be an ancient written language for the ponies and not their modern script?

 

It's really quite fascinating. The symbology you've chosen to represent letters is quite...interesting.

 

I'm sorry, I can't offer more thoughts as I know very little about the script you're deriving from, but I love this piece of fanwork nevertheless. I'm really interested to see more about it.

 

Yes. However, it forms the basis of their modern systems, which include the Canterlotian alphabet, the vernacular Ponyvillian printed script used in presses, and other distant relatives such as the modern-day boustrophedon abjad used to write the Aramareic language. It is the final system that Spike is writing in during the beginning of Episode 1A, where Twilight is dictating to him the letter to warn Celestia about NMM.

 

I'm glad you like it. Do note it's still a work in progress; I have some ideas for the initial/medial/final forms and the vowels that eventually came into the script. Stay tuned

 

The script I derive this from is the Syriac abjad, a modern derivation from Aramaic that came about during the 2nd Century BC. Pre-Classical Israel if you're into that sort of thing. It shares similarities between Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic, even the Traditional Uyghur and Mongolian alphabets. If you wish to examine some of the characters yourself, go to Character Map on the start menu in your Windows OS and then scroll down to the "Estrangelo Edessa" font, which should give you a neat set to play with.

 

This is brilliant, you should find a way to send it to hasbro somehow lol

 

Marestrangelo Horsyrian is pure genius haha

 

Thanx

 

Although, I'd need to work on it a bit more to get to that quality

 

maybe when I send it to Omniglot (and probably get accepted) will they notice

Edited May 18, 2012 by Sean Skyhawk