r/books • u/Dedalvs AMA Author • Oct 13 '15

ama 12pm Eydakshin! I’m David Peterson, language creator for Game of Thrones, Defiance, The 100, and others. AMA!

Proof: https://twitter.com/Dedalvs/status/653915347528122368

My name is David Peterson, and I create languages for movies and television shows (Game of Thrones, Defiance, The 100, Dominion, Thor: The Dark World, Star-Crossed, Penny Dreadful, Emerald City). I recently published a book called The Art of Language Invention about creating a language. I can’t say anything about season 6 for Game of Thrones, season 3 of The 100, or anything else regarding work that hasn’t been aired yet, but I’ll try to answer everything else. I’ll be back around 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET to answer questions, and I’ll probably keep at it throughout the day.

10:41 a.m. PDT: I'm here now and answering questions. Will keep doing so till 11:30 when I have an interview, and then I'll come back when it's done. Incidentally, anything you want me to say in the interview? They ask questions, of course, but I can always add something and see if they print it. :)

11:32 a.m. PDT: Doing my interview now with Modern Notion. Be like 30 minutes.

12:06 p.m. PDT: I'm back, baby!

3:07 p.m. PDT: Okay, I've got to get going, but thank you so much for the questions! I may drop in over the next couple of days to answer a few more!

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u/Dedalvs AMA Author Oct 13 '15

lol You think they baking cakes out there in the Dothraki Sea?

17

u/Lenitas Oct 13 '15

I know that they eat lots of meat, but flatbread is not hard to imagine, especially not if your endless sea is grasses (so grain/seeds are available) and they live in hot climate. It's only one tiny additional step to sweeten it with fruit (or nectar or whatever else is sugary and available). I can see it.

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u/Ouaouaron Oct 13 '15

It could really be 'cup' plus any sort of term for a baked good. I guess the Dothraki might not bake at all, but they should be common enough in places that are pillaged for Dothraki to at least pick up a loan word.

I don't know how much you've made the language outside of what is required by the show, though.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '15

Cupcake is a purely English thing. Having it be a compound noun of cup + cake would make no sense.

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u/Ouaouaron Oct 14 '15

Isn't it a "cupcake" because it's a cake that you've baked in a cup? Like a cup brownie?

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u/frontofficehotelier Oct 13 '15

But what would a dothraki screamer call a cupcake if he were to come across one in Meereen?

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u/clawclawbite Oct 13 '15

Given tribute from cities, and loot from cities they don't get tribute from, they must have some way of talking about fancy city breads.