Re: Dune Conlang

At 03:03 PM 11/10/99 -0500, Steg wrote:
>I just started reading the classic science fiction book _Dune_ for my
>english class ("epics"), and i immediately noticed (of course) all of the
>conlangish terms - there's even an entire sentence or two in one of the
>languages of the book's universe.
>
>Many of the terms are based on Semitic, such as _qwisatz haderach_, from
>Hebrew _qfitzat haderekh_, _shaitan_ from Arabic...  Those are the ones
>that i can remember at the moment, i don't have the book with me.
>
>But has anyone ever done a study or anything about the languages and
>terms in Dune?  The Semitic-based words could just be there for the
>'desert' feel of the setting, but....
>
There was a book published back in the 70's (?) called the Dune
Encyclopedia that had long sections on several languages
from the Dune series.  I don't know how much of the information
came from Frank Herbert, but IIRC he contributed an introduction,
so it probably had his approval.

-- Terry

http://www.geocities.com/weseb_2000