Poetry in Valyrian

[Anthony Appleyard]

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In https://jdm314.livejournal.com/199528.html  the user "The Mad Latinist" speculates on writing Virgil-type hexameter poetry in High Valyrian.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylic_hexameter  for information about dactylic hexameter in Latin.

Latin dactylic hexameter poetry uses grammatical forms which are not used in prose :: disused old forms, and dialect forms, for example:-

(0) "mensa" has usual genitive singular "mensae" (2 syllables), but in poetry also the archaic form "mensāī" "(3 syllables); e..g. "māteriāī" = "of matter" as a line-ending.

(1) Verb 2nd person singular passive ends in -ris, but in poetry also -re

(2) In passive infinitives ending in -ī, in poetry this -ī is sometimes replaced by -ier

(3) Verb 3rd person plural perfect active: -ērunt in prose, but in poetry sometimes -ēre

Preposition after the noun, and suchlike shufflings of word order

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I wonder if whoever made up High Valyrian will come up with suitable poetry-only alternate declension and conjugation forms.

The Mad Latinist speculated on the role of "h" in High Valyrian poetry. In classical Latin, 'h' was on its way out, and was often omitted in writing, and is sometimes inserted in wrong places, and that is why it was ignored in scansion. In High Valyrian, it depends in how strongly and how regularly 'h' was pronounced, as to whether or not 'h' is treated as a full consonant.

Consonant plus r or l: e.g. Latin 'patrem' was sometimes to be scanned as "pa-trem" and sometimes as "pat-rem", according to metrical convenience.

 

[Br16]

I always thought High Valyrian was very cool. Whenever they spoke it on the show, it sounded as smooth as silk, yet authoritative and civilized. Really liked that conversation between Mel and Thoros.