Page 1416…
And enter…Niviene.
I hope I googled Latin correctly…
🙂
You can see some of Tracy Bailey’s designs on our Facebook page…
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-DREAMLAND-CHRONICLES/316374741809
Sorry again for the delay, all.
It has been very buys here.
Thank you for your patience.
Scott
Nice stuff there. 😀
Ohhhhhh 😀
Yes! I called it… 😉
(Serpent behind her) Mmm, redhead. Nom!
Whoa! DRAMATIC Entrance!! Timely, too. WELL worth waiting for!
(google, google, google) Is she saying, in effect, “Let There Be Light!”?
There she is! With her entourage!
Most awesome & definitely worth the wait! 😀
Interesting hair doo. So how exactly does she keep it so curly underwater?
No, I think it’s more like “Quietly go away/depart”
On further research, I’d say “By this light, I banish you/encourage you to leave”
She has naturally curly hair, like Frieda:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieda_%28Peanuts%29
I LOVE the character design.
Whooooot! Pretty!!!!
I LOVE her!!!!
I bet she’s gonna show us a portal through the water to Wakeland!
partum lux lucis discedo
I think you’re trying to say “The light begins to shine, split apart, go away!”
Light is the subject, to begin to shine is singular present active indicative, you (plural) split apart is present active indicative & “go away!” is imperative. The serpents are an implied direct object.
partio -ire; to divide
stem “parti” thus 4th conjugation.
Multiple serpents, so we want plural “you”.
Present active indicitave 4th conjugation:
I: io
You (singular): is
He/she/it: it
We: imus
You (plural): itis
They: iunt
So we want “itis”.
lux lucis, f; light
You have both the nominiative and genitive singular here, a bit like saying “the light of light” which makes little sense…
I’ll assume you wanted “lucisco lucescere luxi, to begin to shine” instead.
Third declension because of the -is ending on the genitive singular form. It happens to be feminine.
Nominiative s: lux
Genitive s: lucis
Dative s: luci
Accusative s: lucem
Ablative s: luce
Nominiative p: luces
Genitive p: lucum
Dative p: lucibus
Accusative p: luces
Ablative p: lucibus
We want it to be the singular subject (light, not lights) and thus use “lux”.
“lucisco luciscere luxi” is a verb, in the third conjugation. Again, present active
I: o
You (singular): is
He/she/it: it
We: imus
You (plural): itis
They: unt
It (the light) begins to shine, so “luciscit”.
discedo -cedere -cessi -cessum (I) to go away, to depart
We just want the imperative, it’s an order, so “discedere”.
Thus, “Partitis Lux Luciscit Discedere!” works. Word order is irrelevant outside of poetry. “Discedere partitis luciscit lux!” means exactly the same thing.
Latin is a terrible language to try to translate with a dictionary (or Google) alone. It really needs a grammar reference. Luckily it’s quite regular, once you know the grammar it’s easy to tell what goes where. Learning the grammar only takes a few years.
Watery tarts distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! (or has someone beat me to that joke weeks ago?)
It seems I can change my avitar by changing the case of my email address. Interesting.
uppercase second letter.
First two
Third
First and third
Second and third
First three. Okay, I could use binary to keep testing this out another 8,589,934,589 times, but I have a life.
Google Translate says “create light go away!”
Or you could just pick one you like – either from here or elsewhere – and set it up in Gravatar.
😉
This is excellent advice. If you plan on doing more Latin work, I would recommend looking at Wheelock’s Latin text book, which explains all of the basics. I wish I would have read it before making my online name (which is wrong, but since I’ve had it for so long….)
Mermaid ex machina!
She then turns to Nastajia and Alex and say “You guys had better have a damn good reason to be here!”
I think this is the best webcomic corrective suggestion I’ve ever seen. 🙂
Thank you SO much!
I got a D in Spanish…so I was really hoping for some help on this Latin thing.
🙂
By the way…
Niviene’s design was by the incredibly talented Tracy Bailey!
http://catenamanor.com/2010/07/26/she-got-her-spots-back/
hehe, I don’t think anyone else pulled that line out yet – nice one!
Epic entrance!
We were waiting for HER to arrive and save the day (or the night…whatever).
Well done Scott!
(I suppose she can speak contemporary english or there will be a need for a translator)
Scott, if there are any language discrepancies, just lampshade it by having Niviene say that her spell language is -based- off an ancient language. Suddenly faulty online translators turn into language progression over centuries.
Win. 😛
If you’re going to ask that, you might as well ask how she gets that skirt to bell out when she’s moving forward. The answer to both is, “Artistic license!”
I’m just so glad you are nicer than the Roman Centurion in Life of Brian.
“I encourage you to leave” *giggles* XD
I myself am wondering if her “descendo/discendere/go away” was directed at the serpents, Alex and Nastajia, or everyone…. Nothing in what she says indicate it must be directed at the serpents…
Or a lot of hand waving!! =D And Scott would have to hire SoAnls every time Niviene so much as opens her mouth…
Not too recently. I mentioned a similar quote back on 1399, but that was nearly a month back.
I’d still like the fully intended translation, but if “discedo” is meant to be a present active imperative, it should also be plural. She’s addressing the serpents as a group, so it’s “discedite”.
Discedere partitis luciscit lux sounds better as lux is a more forceful word than discedere when screamed at monsters and flailing a stick about.
i totally gotta comment on this, WOW, total epicness. uh, if thats a word lol. worth the wait.
oh wow really beautiful splash page here! 😀
Dude that’s Latin! And I can actually translate some of it without looking at any text book!!!!
Thanks for the latin lesson, I know enough to be dangerous but I was confused as to why the word light was being used both in the genitive and nominative. Been a while since I’ve done anything with latin, that certainly doesn’t help. 🙂
I so agree! That’s what I thought he was trying to do at first ^^
Hmmm….Latin incantations. Harry Potter would be proud!
SoAnls’ Latin reads “You are dividing; the light begins to shine; to scatter” With Dan’s correction “discedite”, it reads “You are dividing; the light begins to shine; scatter!”
However, partitis is not a very common Latin form, and even the more common form, partimini, means “divide” in a transitive sense: you are dividing something (the cake into slices, for instance). Lucisco is also a very uncommon form–the verb for “begin to shine” is generally lucesco.
I’m not even sure the ‘divide’ word is necessary twice, but then I’m still not sure what you’re trying to say. However, I’d suggest:
Lux lucescit! Discedite! (The light begins to shine! Scatter!)
(applauds)
DEUS EX MACHINA GET!!!
Better, much better. Still not sure about ‘discedo’, though, either.
How about ‘abeo’? (What would the imp. pl. be, ‘abite’? I passed my final exam in Latin in 1982, so it’s got a bit rusty.)
Now, you write it right a hundred times! All over that aqueduct there!
Hello all,
I don’t want to be the negative one, but does she not look very scared? Here words and face are not matching each other, i think.
That said i find it a very nice page. Mostly the scary serpent behind here.
Very nice done.
Good to know, great design and wonderful page. 🙂
Also, I hope you and your family have a great Christmas and New Years Scott, all the best. ^_^
Really! Come on folks.. It’s Dreamland, it’s all about the “Magic”
You have WAY to much time on your hands!
Skirt – think jellyfish.
I belive her spell translates roughly to the roar of a krayt dragon.
Hi all!
With only 2 days left until Christmas. I think I’m going to take today off.
I’ll have more pages next week. But most likely…not a full week.
So much to do. Family visiting. And books to ship.
I hope you understand.
And I wish you all a wonderful holiday season.
See you on Monday (maybe Tuesday).
🙂
Scott
Merry Christmas Scott!!
This is a good page to end the week on anyway. It reminds me of angels heralding the first Joyous Christmas…..or as they say in spanish ‘Fleas on my Dog’ (Feliz Navidad).
Yep, abite. (Good memory there!) Perhaps the idea was “separate” and then “depart”, in which case we could go for “discedite abiteque!” where discedo is the separation aspect and abeo the going away.
Absolutely. Have a wonderful Christmas, Scott and family!! 🙂
Aye, the translation would be something like:
To bear light, to banish by light
Above water it’s a brilliant red afro; in the water it’s a slightly darker, nice loose curl.
I haven’t seen any comments about the staff (looks like a serpent head); and I wonder if her tail type is significant (looks like a shark); also, has she been above water (as human) and is there a history about her above-water?
Lot’s of unanswered questions……just adds to the mystery of the woman/mermaid.
Another thought I haven’t seen commented on as yet. Is Lady of the Lake and Merlin being used as titles (several bearers), or are they the same person from the beginning to now (immortal).
Unfortunately ‘discedo’ means “I depart” or “I scatter” or “I die”.
Can’t make sense of the first part, “partum lux”… But my Latin is only so-so.
Yes, naturally curly hair stays curly even under water. 🙂
Just don’t have her sing like Tom Bombadil.
Finally, we see her!
Oh, and I found this. http://www.offworlddesigns.com/p-268-zz-adorable-fairy-t-shirt.aspx
This is one of the best pages…there have been so many awesome ones…but I really love this one! We are shipping like crazy and I’m off work for a few days so hopefully we’ll be able to ship a lot over the next few days…at least until Scott’s hand cramps up completely! LOL!
THANK YOU all so much for supporting Scott over the years! This has truly been an incredible journey and I know your support and encouragement means a lot to him!
From the wife…I wish you all the Merriest Holiday season and the Happiest of New Years!
Donna
Perfectly all right, enjoy your time off! We’ll just keep staring at this magnificent page…
She might be scared for Alex and Nas, unsure if she got there in time. Or she might be invoking a power she can barely control and worried about what happens if something goes wrong. Or she might even know Smiley there behind her has her in his sights, and be unsure if her spell is going to stop him. I agree, she looks worried; we’ll have to wait and see what she’s worried about.
Welcome in the story, Niviene 🙂
And happy Xmas to all of you 🙂
Yeah. I licensed that to them maybe 4 years ago. After a year…we ended our relationship.
I just contacted them to ask why it’s still up there.
Hope I don’t have to call my lawyer.
Awesome page Scott. And even more awesome discussion of Latin. I never knew there would be so many people who know so much about Latin (I know nothing).
And a wonderful and Happy Holidays to all!
OH NOOOOOOOOO!! Missing days of Dreamland???
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
.
But, seriously, Have a very merry Christmas, spend some time with family ripping apart presents, enjoying goodies, and remembering the season.
I agree with the Latin translators above. And I also recommend a copy of Wheelocks Latin. You have that book and a good dictionary you can translate anything. I highly recommend “WORDS” a latin online translation program. If you input your latin it will parse it for you, so you can be sure you got the correct grammer for your sentance.
http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/wordsonline.html
Heard back from them.
They’re just selling the last of their inventory (of which they advanced me a check many years ago).
So if anyone wants one…grab them cheap.
Only a few left.
not to be overly analytical, but if this truly is the Lady of the Lake, then the words she is saying would be better if they were in Welsh and said the following: “creu golau yn mynd i ffwrdd” or something to that effect…
kinda off topic here but have a merry Christmas BTW sweet page i love her hair=P
actually based on one of the posts prior to mine, the following:
Mae’r golau yn dechrau i ddisgleirio, hollti ar wahân, yn mynd i ffwrdd!
would actually be a more accurate translation into welsh.
As for why I suggest Welsh, most Historians generally agree that King Arthur and his court would have been from a Post Roman, Pre-Anglo-Saxon period of the British Isles, and thus would likely have been native British speakers or remnants of the Roman Legions whom remained in Britain with their families and loved ones.
The most likely suspect for the role of King Arthur was in fact a Roman Legion Officer. But the characters such as the Lady of the Lake, Merlin, and Taliesin would all have been native citizens of the British Isles. Currently the only native languages on the British Isles are Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Manx, and Cornish each of which is a dialect of Gaelic (aka Celtic). Welsh and Cornish are the languages most often associated with the King Arthur legends, especially since many of the original legends about King Arthur were written in an Ancient book of Welsh Mythology.
But EVERYONE knows that magic spells are only effective in Latin. If it were spoken in a native tongue, then it would be common place, boring, and anyone could then say the words.
‘Mortale Vade!
Testing
Have a happy time with you and yours, with a new year of blessings to come.
You don’t say!
I love you!
er… in traditional TV Trope Theory of “Gratuitous Latin” = excellent spellcasting, I suppose this would potentially be true. But bear in mind that each Dialect of Gaelic has various sub-dialects.
Welsh in particular has the following sub dialects:
— Primitive Welsh (earliest known Dialect of Welsh, and ideal for usage as a Magic Dialect as it is likely the language used by the Druidic College that the Romans were aware of in Wales)
— Old Welsh (the Language that was likely in common use during the days of King Arthur)
— Middle Welsh (Circa the 12th to 14th Centuries A.D.)
— Early Modern Welsh (starts being used Circa the 15th Century A.D.)
— Late Modern Welsh (starts being used in 1588 and is basically the equivalent to the King James Version of the Bible’s English)
— Welsh of Today (alot of changes have occurred in the Welsh Language since 1588, too many to list individually, so I will just catagorize them all as the current Welsh Dialect).
Basically both Old Welsh and Primitive Welsh would qualify as DEAD languages because they are so old that nobody alive today knows how to speak them. We are fortunate enough to be able to read Old Welsh, I am unsure if there is even written examples of Primitive Welsh for us to be able to read… And thats just Welsh, if we were to do a similar comparison to the other Gaelic and Brythonic languages, we would run into a similar problem when we get far enough back into the history of the languages.
This is because the Native Britains, and the Native Irish, did not traditionally write anything down in their native languages until much more recently in their history. This makes these languages IDEAL magical languages due to their archaic nature.
Middle Welsh (what was likely the common usage during
ignore that last sentence that got cut off… it appears to be a lag spiked sentence from a previous incarnation of that post.
No way! This strip rocks. And does that look like Merlin’s staff, or am I just imagining it?
No way! This strip rocks. And does that look like Merlin’s staff, or am I just imagining it?
Great! And since it’s all caps, I’d also use Capitalis Quadrata with Vs instead of Us:
LVX LVCESCIT DISCEDITE ABITEQVE
Maybe even change the speech bubble background into grey stone, so it looked a bit like this. Now, that would be one incantation to scare Salami Monsters off. 🙂
that make sense indeed. Lets hope all go’s well after Christmas.
Scott, have a good and atmospheric Christmas.
One more thing to consider here is the size of speech bubbles. I’m afraid, Gaelic languages, no matter how sweet they sound when spoken, beat even French and German when it comes to written text length.
Latin, on the other hand, uses Latin alphabet with striking efficacy, making it a natural choice for a comic.
Of course, Scott might use some really short phrases written in Ogam instead, but that’d require a resident translator.
Cool, just making sure you were getting the proper recognition.
Hey! Can you have a splash page underwater?? (Sorry for the pun! 🙂 )
I recall one story in which spells were most effective in slang–from a different culture. So, say, Chinese would come to American cities to study their slang, Africans would go to Louisana for Cajun banter, and Brazillians would head for Tokyo to learn from the yakuza.
(Don’t forget his early Double Dutch Greek text!)
English in some ways is so much different than Latin, so it is easy to get confused. The main issue that has to be noted with Latin is that the nouns and adjectives are declined, meaning that they have different endings for different tenses. This is something that google translate does not pick up on. If you don’t want to buy a book, I would recommend looking up the word that you want to use by definition and then looking up online how to decline it correctly for the tense you want. An easy way to remember it is that Nominative is the subject or agent of a finite verb but is also declined the same (normally, I think) as the vocative case. Genitive is basically like the possessive case and is normally translated to “of …” using the word instead of the dots. Dative is the receiver, and is used instead of the English by, to or for …. Accusative is used to note a direct object (eg: I sing a song). Ablative is used to indicate movement away from something and stands in for from, away from and concerning. Of course, like in Spanish and French, certain words take certain tenses after them. Like the verb esse (to be) tends to take the nominative case after it. Basically Latin tends to remove the small tiny participle words that we use in favor of just declining the object word. I hope that this helps.
Merry Christmas, Scott!
Indeed. Too late for it, though.
But hey, might work for the first thing she says to our heroes. It’s been a while since she met people from outside Dreamland, I suppose.
Merry Christmas, All!
Merry Christmas to all the readers and to the entire Sava family!
Merry Chrristmas!
I have just gotten caught up, and this run has been a BLAST!
Thanks for all the fun
Flee from my dramatic lighting!
Ah…good entrance…very flashy…she obviously studied from the best. 🙂
And I hope you all have had a very Merry Christmas…:)
Epiiiiiic!
An interesting introduction for her indeed.
Next page is being worked on.
Should have it ready by Tuesday.
Taking some time with family visiting from out of town. So updates this week may be sporadic.
That’s ok, Scott. Take your time. We don’t mind. The difference between you and most other webcomic people is that you bother to tell us what’s going on, the reason. It makes us much more reasonable about things like that. It’s Christmas, after all!
When I start to think of Latin declensions, my head starts to hurt. It didn’t back when I was in HS (when I took Latin), but ouch.
I love it!
Happy B-Day to my Self!
*Chants some latin verbs, finds out the meaning.” Create Light go away. Considering the situation at hand, that is a very good job. This latin teacher gives you a thumbs up.
“I implore you to reconsider.”
Now write it out a hundred times. And if you’re not done by morning…
I had one of those once. Terribly annoying. Then I found the Internet, and we’re all better now.
Belated happy birthday, Sarah.
As a student of Latin, I must say the grammar is iffy. Google translate isn’t very good at Latin, so I think a better way of phrasing it might be “Partus Lux, discedite”, I’m not really sure why the “lucis” is there.
I’ve been loonkig for a post like this forever (and a day)
I like the quirkiness, but I personally think it’s too complicated. I would say most successful businesses have a simple, memorable name. Think ‘Amazon’. If you’re set on having ‘Writing Studio’ in the name, then how about ’4am Writing Studio’? 4am is kind of your brand, and it has real meaning for you.
That’s a crackerjack answer to an interesting question
Para cris:Si leyeras todo, verÃas que dice “con una pistola calibre 22″ (aunque ése es un error, es calibre .22 o 0.22), está especificando con qué lo balacearon, pudieron haberlo balaceado con una pistola calibre .45, un rifle calibre .22lr, una subametralladora calibre 9mm, un rifle de asalto calibre 7.65mm…