iiny-ieny-eeny...

So a few other people have mentioned the use of language in Darkmans. But I don't think anyone has pointed out the fascinating tracing of English becoming English, and how skillfully Barker plays with the transformation of words.

In my undergrad studies I did a fair bit of work in linguistics and old and middle English. Though I didn't love everything about Darkmans one thing I did really enjoy was watching the characters take Middle English (sometimes even middle French and German) and Germanic words and work the sounds out until they became recognizable modern English. I've always enjoyed tracing how our language came to be and particularly pointing out what's a Germanic word, what's a French word and how they mushed together to get English. As far as I know, I no longer have the OED in full online, as I believe it is restricted to institutions or paying members. So I'm not sure if the words I'm looking at in this passage are truly "old worlds."

So I'm pretty sure that these words that are coming to the characters stem from John Scogin's supposed possession and influence on the characters, being that he is a learned scholar of the times, living in I think France. (I was never really sure where he came from, but that he was an educated jester, which seems unlikely as it is. So suspend some belief there). When Beede wakes up in the shower in chapter 12, he's totally disoriented, and his thoughts are in a different language. The first instance that isn't just reactionary sounds is "pen" and "penna." In Latin, penna specifically means "feather." So either Beede is thinking rather haltingly or Barker is playing with her words, since a "penna" could also be considered a quill, or a pen. From there he switches to "feder" which sounds like it's a bastardization of "feather" to English speakers, but really it's the German word for "feather."  Interestingly, "feder" also is a Latinate root from "fidere" for words that have a trustworthy connotation, such as federation or as the sound gets warped fidelity. (http://www.english-for-students.com/feder.html). I wonder just how deeply Barker looked at these word plays, since Beede is in no position at this state, particularly with his warped sense of reality to be trusting things. Particularly black feathers in his shower.

The section goes on. Beede eventually goes through several permutations of words until he uses his blood as ink for the quill, really showing how Barker is playing with her reader.

This word play happens all over the book, but really only with Kane, Beede and Dory, the three who are most affected by the "possession" and with Kane only in his dreams. I'm not quite sure what that means for the difference between Beede and Kane, perhaps a generational thing, but for Dory it's more obvious because he's already bilingual, so it makes sense that he'd think of words in another language until he came across the one he was looking for.

For me, there's not a lot in this book that's really very engaging, but this was one aspect that I really enjoyed, probably because I felt a little smug when I noticed it.