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Topic : Re: How do i properly name a fictional species and describe it? I'm currently developing a fictional species set in a fantasy world, and I want to name it, but I don't want it to sound too... - selfpublishingguru.com

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In my opinion you should always have at least three names for a species/culture:

What they call themselves.
What outsiders call them when they're being polite.
What outsiders use when they're being, shall we say, less than polite. There will be more than one of these if there are multiple species involved.

The first two can often be the same thing while the third is open to all sorts of latitude and potential scatology and reflects how that particular group of outsiders views them rather than necessarily being about any trait the creature actually possesses.

Scientific names created by humans are going to be Greek/Latin because that's the language of science as we use it. When it comes to creating a scientific name for creatures from a non-human cultures though there no real limit to what you can use. The language of science will be different in a non-human culture so you can make up whatever sounds fun to you, but you will probably want to codify some basis for creating such names for consistency. Also the average member of the culture should probably consider the language used to codify lifeforms as archaic and incomprehensible if not outright arcane.

When it comes to describing the humanoid form without saying humanoid you can use the term "bipedal tetrapod" to describe a creature with an upright stance and a total of four limbs.


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