On Lapine (and I don't mean Warren)

[tamaranth]

Reading this page on Lapine makes me want to reread Watership Down, which was my very favourite book when I was about ten and which I don't think I have read since my teens.

From the Langmaker main page:
"Lapine, the language [Adams] sketches for his rabbits, is arguably the best naming language ever created, and is a minimalist virtuoso performance, a haiku of a language compared to the sonnet of Sindarin. It's amazing how much can be accomplished with so little (56 words!)."

Comments

[easterbunny.livejournal.com]

I remember being impressed that the whole endeavour led up to one of the rabbits being able to snarl "Snafu hraika!" (or whatever the Lapine words for "eat" and "rabbit poo" were) in a children's book. Otherwise, the book made me cry and cry and cry, so I haven't wanted to reread it. The movie is currently recorded on our PVR - I'm tempted to accidentally delete it when Adam's not looking in case he tries to make me watch it.

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

Silflay hraka. And I'm almost (but not quite) embarrassed to say I didn't have to look that up.