That’s what I thought. Thanks
Does anybody know what’s the etymology for lacre, whatever it is? It doesn’t seem to appear in any English dictionaries, so it’s probably not a common English word repurposed for Fallen London. I’d be happy to leave it as it is but “lacre” also happens to be the word for sealing wax in Spanish, which is used a few times in the text, and it could cause confusion.
I guess it’s likely the devs took the Spanish/Portuguese word, as it makes reference to a gooey, melting substance.
I suppose I could replace “lacre” as in sealing wax by “sello”, which also works, and leave “lacre” as in the mysterious Bazaar substance as lacre.
Lacre is the tears of the Bazaar and the word is based on “lacrimogenous” (Lacrimógeno in Spanish). I would say keep it as lacre, maybe italicizing it.
It’s a newly-coined word, but the ultimate source is the Latin lacrima, tear. (Related English words include lachrymose, sad or prone to tears, and lachrymal, producing tears.) Given that lacre is
Bazaar-tears that make you hopelessly sad,
my hat is off for neatly tying it together in a made-up word.
If I remember correctly, the Spanish equivalent changes the -c- to a -g-. (Is this correct?) If so, I suppose that one could make a similar change to lacre in hopes that a Spanish speaker might make the connection that way. However, to me that seems like overdoing it, and even if the connection to tears gets missed, it’s not necessarily the end of the world. Myself, I would probably leave it as-is.
edited by Siankan on 9/26/2019
Spanish also has “lacrimal” and “lacrimógeno”, as was pointed out earlier, so the connection is still there.
I never did Mr. Sacks questline in the game so I wasn’t familiar with the nature of lacre. Thanks for clearing it up.
I’m struggling to translate shapeling. At first I went with “reformado” but that’s too common a word and doesn’t work. Now I’m thinking “cambiaformas”. That would be more suited for “shapeshifter” (literally, shapechanger), but the word shapeshifter doesn’t appear in the game,and the thing with the shapelings, if I understand it correctly, is that they have reincarnated or gone through different shapes during their existence, so “shapechanger” is not that far off, if not perfect.
Bit late, but I would vouch for “reformado”. It’s a common word but Spanish isn’t suited to the kind of naming shapeling uses in English.
The thing is that shapeling is a unique and specific word, even if not exactly clear in its meaning at first glance, it’s hard to mistake it for anything else. “reformado” is too common and vague and could make reference to any number of meanings, with the intended meaning being quite far down the list. Especially as the word is not capitalized or otherwise marked as special (and I don’t want to capitalize it, I’ve already removed many of the liberal uses of capitalization English is knwn for, as Spanish rules are more strict in that regard).
“Shapechanger” definitely works - shapelings are (if I understand correctly) those who use forbidden science to change their forms.
I don’t know, to me a shapechanger/shapeshifter would be somebody who can change shape at will, not just “at a shape changing clinic”. Shapeshifter is a doer. Shapeling is a product.
Why are the neddy men called neddy men? Neddy means "ass, donkey" aswell as "idiot, stupid or comptemptible person", so I guess it’s just an appreciative nickname given by Londoners to the Masters’ henchmen? Or is there something else?
If it’s just that, that’s good, the different words for donkey have similar connotations in Spanish (stupid, rude or stubborn, not so much "comptemptible").
edited by Cpt. Eructus on 10/15/2019
“Anyone can be a needy man; all you need is a stick.”
I think even agents of the Masters and Constables somewhat dislike the Neddy Men; especially for their unsubtle and brutal methods. It could be they give such an unflattering nickname expecting that the Neddies would be too stupid to figure out it’s an insult (and thus far they’re right).
Any clue as to what a "Presbyterate heart-cup" is supposed to be? A cup shaped like a heart? A cup made to contain a heart, like Egyptian canopic jars?..
It’s part of the Whisper-Locked Puzzle Box quest that can be obtained through Fallen London:
[quote]You have your zailors bring the box in, and the Widower whispers the opening phrase. It clicks open with a sound as sweet and precise as a well-answered riddle. He takes a breath and flings back the lid.
A soul glowing like a hidden star. Heaped sapphires from the Elder Continent. A Presbyterate heart-cup. A water-stained journal, blurred to near-unreadability - an account of a failed expedition to the Mountain of Light…
The Widower looks them over. Abruptly, he snatches the heart-cup, and shoves the box towards you.[/quote]
It seems to be important to the Widower, although it doesn’t seem to have much to do with his wife’s fate in the Isle of Cats if it comes form the Presbyterate. Maybe just an old memento without more explanation.
edited by Cpt. Eructus on 10/17/2019
It might be a memento of affection.
Late to the party here, but
Not quite. Shaping might be a product, but shapeling cannot be. The suffix -ling is exclusively used for living things, usually people, and usually as a diminutive. Cf. darling, princeling, underling, duckling. So a shapeling, with considerable certainty, must be a person (after a fashion), which lines up with how the word is used in Fallen London and Sunless Sea.
English is weird enough that the process of shaping something my produce something else called a shaping, yes.
I don’t think that’s relevant. You can call somebody a product of some process, environment, or (most often) circumstances. Doesn’t kill them.
When the Alarming Scholar asks if the Judgement Egg can "provoke objects to self-motilation", what do you think he (she?) means? I would have said it was just a misspelling of "mutilation", but the fact that it’s talking about "objects" specifically makes me think in something deliberate, probably a play on "motility" (spontaneous motion) and "self-mutilation"?
Although, considering the weirdness of the setting, it’s not out of the question that objects would indeed auto-mutilate themselves and it may be after all just a typo.
edited by Cpt. Eructus on 10/31/2019
It’s probably a cross between motility, motivation, and mutilation.
or motile, provoking things to self movement.
edited by Ixc on 11/3/2019