Thread: WIP - Shegu

I am not at all surprised to see this looking absolutely yummy. The mountains look about 100% better, IMHO, and I always love all the detail included throughout the whole. This one has a lovely antique feel to it that I am liking very much.

Continuing the spelling fiesta, I'm going to volunteer my unrequested editorial skills. (Bet you're excited, huh?? I knew you would be!) You have majisty (with an "I") in the first case and majesty (with an "E" -- which is the correct version) in the second case. If the word is given the plural form (more than one king and/or queen), it becomes majesties. If it signifies that it belongs to the (singular) king, it is majesty's. And if it's more than one king, then it's majesties'.

And there, my darlings, is your English lesson for this month!

Guys, thanks for the comments and being my spell check. Maybe in PSE8 they will include a spell check for me!

Anyway I decided to move this to finished folder after a couple of touchups. I finally found some time to finish it up and start a new project.

Attached is my inspiration for the dedication on my Shegu map. I put this up for two reasons: 1. To debate whether or not this is proper english and
2. To let you guys know I wasn't crazy!

Thanks again for the help.

No sweat. It can be seen from that text that it is old english with old english spelling. In context with it being an ancient map then your first spelling is obviously perfectly acceptable. Modern english rules about possession probably weren't standardised then.

I guess it just stuck out to a grammar spammer like me because of modern sensibilities. Obviously, what you should have done is started with "Ye Olde..." and then put an "e" on the end of every other word.

Proper English? As far as I'm concerned there is no such thing.

I've said it before, English is one of the most ridiculous and contradictory languages ever created. Thank god I learned it natively.

First, let me say, beautiful map.

Then, huzzah for discussions of language change over time! Considering that this was written for a king, it probably is as proper English as it could be. It's just...not Modern English. Most of the spelling things (in your book image) follow consistent rules: j is replaced by i, u with v (in most but not all cases) and actually...this doesn't look too old. I mean, it's pretty standard - at the bottom of the page, where the initial s in a word is replaced by f? That one's in just about all the documents from around the 1700s. As it would so happen, King James ruled from 1566 - 1625, so this is more like Shakespearean English. If you want the map a bit earlier (1400s-ish), you could throwback to Chaucer. Middle English is still legible by Modern English speakers, but it looks foreign enough and preserves enough of the awkward morphological rules that it can add an air of antiquity and good old old-fashionedness.

It depends on when you want this map to have been made, I suppose, or how arcane you want to get with your language. Anyway, the map itself is brilliant and skilfully done, and the language sounds about right and looks well-placed.

Clearly Mr. Speed was a cartographer, not an English linguist...!

I love looking at those old prints. They're so awesome. So... elementary!

I really love this map, its one of my favorites so far, I'll need to check out your other maps.