We had an interesting discussion on "kvas" with @kasamira at @serpenteve 's blog yesterday and I thought it's worth a separate post.
@dreamsatdusk mentioned a Q&A that I also stumbled upon and managed to find it again. Here be link.
Tongue Twister
(This was originally published on MochaLatteReads as part of the Shadow and Bone blog tour.)
One of the biggest challe
All of it just doesn't make sense. If you model your fantasy world on Russia, you should take some research first and then do your version in a way that doesn't completely retcon the original culture.
As for Ravkan. I am a linguistics major and this is not how it's done. She either could have come up with a totally fake language or work with Russian in a way where the new words are coined based on word formation rules of that language. To do so, you really need to know those rules, at for that you need to really know the language, so consult a student of Russian and pay them with a mention in your book. As a student I would have been thrilled with such an opportunity.
Renaming vodka with a name of another existent beverage that is as alcoholic as kefir was not a good idea.
So I just looked up the etymology of vodka in Wikipedia and a random distillery site (first two hits on Google).
People in the area of vodka's probable origin have names for vodka with roots meaning "to burn": Polish: gorzała; Ukrainian: горілка, romanized: horílka; Belarusian: гарэлка, romanized: harelka; Lithuanian: degtinė; Samogitian: degtėnė is also in use, colloquially and in proverbs); Latvian: degvīns; Finnish: paloviina. In Russian during the 17th and 18th centuries, горящѣе вино or горячее вино (goryashchee vino, "burning wine" or "hot wine") was widely used. Others languages include the German Branntwein, Danish brændevin, Dutch: brandewijn, Swedish: brännvin, and Norwegian: brennevin (although the latter terms refer to any strong alcoholic beverage).
At the start of the 12th century, this substance was often used for medical purposes—to disinfect and to numb. Interestingly the verb razvodit—etymologically close to the word voda, from which the word vodka is derived—means to dilute with water. This meaning of the word reflects the last step of the process of making vodka. During the 17th and 18th century, vodka also went by the names “bread wine,” “bitter wine,” and “горящее вино“ (goryashchee vino), meaning “burning wine.” The first name “bread wine” is derived from the imperial practice of having vodka with bread at every meal, while the latter two clearly come from the taste and burning sensation that accompany a sip of vodka. The first recorded use of the actual term vodka did not occur until 1751 in Empress Elizabeth’s decree regulating the ownership of vodka distilleries. Vodka is still the most common name for this drink, today, but it has acquired a litany of others, including: “hot water,” “the monopolka,” “the bubble,” “crankshaft,” “the white stuff,” “half litre,” “daughter,” and “the bitter stuff.”
So many possibilities to play with. The "fire" could have been used effectively, IMHO. Oh, well.
P. S. As a side note - I actually did coin new words for sea fisherie terms for my work, and while they are not (naturally) in the dictionaries, they are in the EU terminology database and in relevant legislation. It's a fun and rewarding exercise, but you need to stick to existing word formatiom rules, as I mentioned. Or else nobody would have approved of my invented words (I just can't do whatever, I am just one person involved in the long journey of a document from draft to legislation). You have much more freedom in literature.
