Renatian Accent

[Sultan 3953]

The first thing you'll want to know is how to greet

Greetings

"Good morrow",

"Good day",

"Good eve",

"How now" or

"Well met" are all good replacements for hello in conversation.

Instead of yes and no, say "aye" or "nay". Instead of you, you can sometimes say "thou" or "thee", depending.

Similarly, instead of your, say "thy". "Thy peaches are truly wondrous ripe and juicy, mi'lady!"

Instead of listen, say "Hark" or "Hark now".

"Hark now, methinks I do hear the sounds of the duelists preparing for combat upon the green!" for example.

Where you would say, "Excuse me" instead try "Pray pardon me." "I cry your mercy" or "I crave your pardon"

Instead of "Please," try "An it please you" (an is an old form of "if"), "Prithee ", "I pray you " or "Pray "

Where you would say, "Thank you," say instead "Grammercy", "I thank thee", "I do humbly thank you" or "Many thanks, good sir"

Where normally you would say, "Darn it!", try "Alack!", "Alackaday!", "Alas!", "Fie!", or "Out upon it!"

Instead of here, say "hither". "Come hither Mistress Goodwife!" or "Come hither my good husband"

Instead of those, say "yon". "Yon minstrels do make a sound most pleasing to mine ear!"

Where you would say, "No way, really?" you can now say: "Forsooth!" (sooth meaning truth),

"In good sooth!", "Go to!" or "It is even so?"

Instead of "Wow!", say "I'faith!", or

"Now, by my faith!"

When you're ready to say goodbye, instead try "Fare thee well" or "I shall see thee anon", both of which are good partings.

Words and Phrases

Now you have some of the basics, try simply replacing some of the more modern words in your speech with these ones.

Anon - Later

Aroint - Away

As you will - Okay, or whatever.

Belike - Perhaps, or possibly

Betimes- Very early in the morning

By your leave - Excuse me or please

Carouse- Party!

Chide - Scold or nag

Comely - pretty

Cutpurse- Thief

E'em - Evening

Enow - Enough

Excellent well - Cool!

Ere- Before

Fie - A curse, as in "Fie on thee, poxy harlot!"

Forswear- To lie or cheat

Grammercy - Thank you

Good morrow - Good morning

Hello! - an exclamation of shock and surprise

How fare thee? - How are you

Huzzah! - a cheer

Maid or Maiden - A young woman of upstanding virtue

Marry! - An exclamation of shock and surprise

Mayhap - Perhaps. This is often mispronounced "mayhaps", which is incorrect.

Morrow - Days or tomorrow. As in "I shall see the on the morrow."

N'er - Never, pronounced "nair".

Nonpariel- A beauty

Oft - Often

In Faith - In truth, sometimes just "faith". A mild exclamation.

Indeed - Really

In truth - Really

Perchance - Maybe or Possibly. "Perchance we shall see the Queen on the morrow!"

Poppet - A doll, and sometimes a young child

Prating - Babbling, talking too much.

Gesundheit! - God Save You!

Air head - Lightminded, Airling

Bottom line - In the end, At bottom, In the main, Finally, In the final analysis

Bathroom - Privy, Jakes, Ajax, Little room of office

Certainly! - Certes! (sir-tees) Usage Note: Certes means certainly, not certain. Do not say "I am certes that I paid that account." And never use it to replace "sure" as in "They will be married for certes."

Pray pardon me - Excuse me

Pray tell - Please tell me

Prithee - Please, literally "I pray thee"

Privy - Bathroom, or more literally, outhouse

Stay - Stop or wait.

S'wounds! - An exclamation, like wow. A shortened from "gods wounds".

Tosspot- Drunkard

Verily - Very, Truly or Truthfully. "Verily, the maiden is comely as a spring morn."

Wench - A young woman

Wherefore - Why and sometimes where

Wondrous well - very good

Yonder - Over there. "Yonder merchant sells most wondrous baubles!"

This may all sound quite strange to you if you are just starting out, and you may feel self conscious Still, until the accent and speech patterns become second nature, it might be a good idea to have two stock things in your repertoire:

You'll need something to say when you are stumped. "Indeed!" "Forsooth!" and "In truth!" all work quite well, as they are all basically replacements of "really". If the patron says "You talk funny!" and you draw a blank, you can always fall back on a puzzled "In truth?" or if you are inclined to take offense then an exclaimed "In truth!".

An exit line is some stock line to say when you really just want to get out of a situation or a conversation and can't think of anything else to say. Anything can work, from

"God's teeth, there be my master! If he were to catch me dallying upon the village green, he would surely stripe my backside with his belt!" or

"Zounds! I did forget the baby in the tavern again. I must away good gentles."

What to Call People

Simply addressing people in Renatus is a much more complicated prospect

. People are very conscious of their social standing. Well, that all depends on what the person standing in front of you is like.

Is he an elderly man? You could say Good day, good sir.

In fact, you can use that greeting for almost any male of any social station.

Is it an elderly peasant? You could say Good day to thee, Father, or Good day to thee Gaffer (Gaffer is short for grandfather). This would be more of an affectionate greeting than a respectful one, though. Or, you could say Good day, old lad, but this would be considered quite rude unless you too are an elderly man. Do you know his name? You could say Good day, Gaffer Jones, or Good day Father Culpepper! (And no, you are not implying that he's a priest, Father is just a term of respect.)

Is this person an elderly woman? You can say Good day, Good Mistress. That is neutral and polite. Or you could say, Good day to thee, Gammer, which is short for grandmother. You could say, Good day me old lass, if you happened to be her old lad. And you can always address her by her name: Good day, Mistress Smith.

Are you facing a respectable man of adult years? You can address him as Sire or as Master. This is courteous without being servile. Is his profession obvious? Does he carry a bow and arrows, or does he wear a leather apron and carry a hammer? Or perhaps he has a mandolin on his shoulder? You could say Good day, Master Archer, or Master Blacksmith, or Master Musician. Or course if you know his name, that's what you call him by. Is he a peasant? You can say, Good morrow, Goodman or even Good my man-about the most polite way possible to greet him while acknowledging the he's poorer than you are (if he is). He would take no offense at such a greeting, either: he'd assume you were a nice, courteous person.

Is this a woman you see before you, of mature years? Good day, good mistress is just about right. So is Good Lady. Is this a homey, housewifely person? You can call her Good Mother or Goodwife.

Is this a fine, lusty young fellow you are greeting? You can say Good day, my fine lad.

Or is it a young lady? Again, you could use lady, or mistress. If you feel like being flattering, you can call her sweet mistress, dear mistress, fair mistress or what you will. By the way, there is no dirty joke here: you are not implying that she is your "mistress" in the modern sense. Mistress was simply form of "Ms." It was a polite title making no reference to her marital status or rank. If you're being quite flirtatious, you can call her pretty maid, sweet lass or even sweetheart.

Is it a little boy? Little sir, little master, young lad will all do well. Simply to call him "boy" would be rude, and what we are discussing here is courteous address.

Is it a little girl? Obviously, you can call her little mistress, little lady, little lass.

Addressing nobility

King or Queen - Your majesty, sire

Prince or princess - Your highness

Baron, Baroness, Duchess, Duke, Count, Contessa, etc - Your Excellency

Cardinal, Prince Archbishop, etc. - Your Grace or Your Worship

And about the term wench. Wench, in this day and age, didn't mean "****". It did not mean doxy, *****, bawd, or anything insulting. It simply meant girl. A woman's father, or husband or close friends might all call her wench, very affectionately.

And...while we're on the subject:

Three Forms of Address You Do NOT Use In Polite Conversation:

1. Sirrah. This is not a form of the word sir. It is an insult, and you use it on bad little boys, lazy servants, and any male you wish to infer is a lying rogue.

2. Sire: You might address your King as sire.

3. Fellow: Innocent as this word sounds to us, the average male appears to feel insulted by being addressed merely as fellow. Apparently, it had the same general meaning as dude, or pal.

Now, what if this person in front of you is a noble man or woman? Forget their age or appearance: it would be foolish and rude to refer to either, unless you are noble yourself. You say my lord, my lady, your worship, noble sir, noble lady, noble madam, good my lord, good my lady. If there is a pair of them, say Good gentles.

Cursing

Here is a list of rather colorful terms for you to use, or you can feel free to develop a few of your own. cursing was far more of an inventive art A few examples curses are:

"You poor, base rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate!"

"You bottle-ale rascal!"

"Standest thou there the lyingest knave in Christendom."

"Thou art a boil, a plague-sore, or embossed carbuncle."

"Thou art...the son and heir of a mongrel *****!"

If you care to swear BY something, as in to lend credence to your words, you can swear by:

God's death

God's wounds

Men also swore by their beards, by their swords, by their honours- all that "macho" stuff- or by the tools of their trades, if they were commoners. A smith might swear "By my hammer and tongs!".

Men and women also swore by the Saints, especially their patron saints. Hunt up a "By saint Daniel"

Women did not swear as much, and if they did, it was by their honour, modesty, chastity or maidenhead. Of course, if your character is obviously lacking the latter, it's always amusing to swear by it anyhow.

Formal and Informal Speech

One basic rule of thumb is to never use "thee" or "thou" with anyone you would address as sir.

If you think about the above, you can see that nobody ever, EVER calls the King thou; and he doesn't have to call anybody you-unless he talks to his horse.

Don't make the mistake of assuming that thee and thou are only two different forms of the same word. They aren't. Thou is the subject of sentences, as in "What hast thou done?" and thee is the object of sentences, as in "I shall tell thee a secret."

As you can see, the antique verbs are used with the second person intimate, or the third person-never with the first person.

Thy is the possessive used before words beginning with a consonant, as in "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

Thine is the possessive used before words beginning with a vowel, as in "Drink to me only with thine eyes."

The possessive form of you doesn't change, of course-it's still your.

The same rule applies to my and mine as it does to thy and thine. My is used before words beginning with a consonant, and mine is used before words beginning with a vowel: "My hat", "Mine eyes".

Now, what about "Ye"? "Ye" is the plural of both you and thou. It's used when addressing a crowd of people, as in "Hear ye, hear ye." Or "O come, all ye faithful." Occasionally, it's used as s sort of slang contraction for you or thou, "D'ye hear me?" or "I tell ye true."

Simple-right? But this tiny little word has a perfectly huge mistake often associated with it. "Ye" is not now, or has never been, synonymous with the word "the."

Do / Dost

You are / Thou art

Your / Thy

You / Ye

You / Thee

Where / Whither

There / Thither

Here / Hither

Will / Wilt

Later / Anon

Perhaps / Perchance

Maybe / Mayhap or Belike

You say / Say you

Alright / Splendid

Has / Hath

Morning / Morrow

Day / Den

Evening / Eventide or E'en

Bud / Sirrah

Gentlemen / Good Gentles

Beautiful / Beauteous

Yes / Yea or Aye

No / Nay

Why / Wherefore

Ask You / Bid You

Please / Prithee or Pray

Thank You / Grammarcy

I Think / Methinks

Swear / Troth

Truly / Verily

Long / Goodly Length

[TMGavLan 92]

So.. Detailed.. Brain.. Exploded.

Very interesting, first human dialect I've seen.

[AlphaCentaurus 173]

So pretty much Shakespearean english?

[everblue2er101 906]

Walking through the streets of Arethor, Josef begins to notice that many of his fellow Renatans sound... different. Although it is not difficult to understand, unlike the speech of the Orcs, he is still very confused. It takes his old mind quite some time to determine what these others are saying now. Although he is too old to adopt this way of speaking he notices that Kernith is beginning to pick up on it more and more. Another change among many to the kingdom, he thinks. Life has sure been different under King Godfrey. He does approve of the sudden change people seem to have towards those in authority positions.

So hopefully this will be introduced over time, since it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for everyone to suddenly begin speaking in an entirely different way. Unless you have a plan.

[DecoLamb 959]

*slow clap

My sweet god and goddess.. for once the humans have had something truely unique and impressive...

I better see this next time I trot into Renatus. Otherwise Im going to raise hell.

[Song Druid 1486]

All humans should use this. I love you Khalifaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

[Sultan 3953]

Mostly Elizabeth English. And yes you do not have to speak it but it adds a nice flavor and twist, also it shall be introduced slowly as this is not done yet I have many to add.

[Fredfort (jens6851) 283]

((Lovely guide indeed, going to use his for sure :D ))

[Chrisdena 83]

((This is quite charming))

[Snake Plissken 637]

I feel lucky neither Athirius or Halboron were raised in Retanus :D

[Jorgen Reimer 74]

Is this because I went all Hansetian accent on you yesterday Mogroka?

[ℓαтєяяє ~ 236]

:|

I hope people don't take me as a Renatian now. I've been speaking this for about 3 months now. :(

It's good to see an accent for Humans though.

[Braxis 813]

:|

I hope people don't take me as a Renatian now. I've been speaking this for about 3 months now. :(

It's good to see an accent for Humans though.

One of us...... One of us....

On a serious note ths is s awsome if only been using a small portion of this due to it being the only few I knew. Can not wait till this is finished!

[Agnub 605]

"Verily thither hath been many an eve wither many nonpariel maids sayeth, 'good morrow' upon mine trucklebed."

[ayresalex 517]

Hmm.. I think this should be reserved for the nobility and probably and higher-upper class. Peasants would normally have a gruff, shortened way of speaking.