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David J. Peterson

Goodreads Author

Born

in Long Beach, The United States

Website

https://artoflanguageinvention.com/

Twitter

Dedalvs

Genre

Nonfiction

Influences

Virginia Woolf, Joseph Heller, Vladimir Nabokov

Member Since

April 2008

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/dedalvs

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My name is David Peterson, and I'm a language creator and writer. I'm the author of Living Language Dothraki, The Art of Language Invention, and Create Your Own Secret Language. I've been creating languages for television shows and movies since 2009. Some of the productions I've worked on (and languages I've created for them) are: HBO's Game of Thrones (Dothraki, High Valyrian, Astapori Valyrian); Syfy's Defiance (Castithan, Irathient, Indojisnen, Kinuk'aaz); Freeform's Motherland: Fort Salem (Méníshè); Netflix's The Witcher (Hen Linge); the CW's The 100 (Trigedasleng); HBO's House of the Dragon (High Valyrian); and Legendary's Dune (Chakobsa). ...more

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First, congratulations on both your forthcoming book, The Art of Language Invention, and on landing Penny Dreadful (perhaps the best show on TV)! So the Verbis Diablo. It does sound quite a bit like Latin (as remarked upon in "Fresh Hell" ). Did you begin with Latin or create Verbis Diablo from the ground up as your other languages? (Second question coming)

David J. Peterson Verbis Diabolo is different from anything I've ever done. First, it's a posteriori, which means that all the words and grammar come from other—in this…moreVerbis Diabolo is different from anything I've ever done. First, it's a posteriori, which means that all the words and grammar come from other—in this case, real world—sources. Specifically, the sources were Arabic, Akkadian, Middle Egyptian, Attic Greek, Latin, Farsi and Turkish. Second, VD was not intended to be a language proper. I looked at the language as an art piece. VD is supposed to be a language twisted in form; wrenched from Earth's languages. Many words that meant something in a given language are taken and reversed phonetically to produce the equivalent VD word. Sometimes the reversal came with a reversal in meaning, as with justa, from Latin, which becomes atsüü, "vile". Also pieces of words from many different languages will often be combined to produce portmanteaux which may have nothing to do with the original meanings of any of the parts.

In addition, though there are patterns in the language, sometimes the patterns are broken for no reason. A word which has meant the same thing every time one has heard it will suddenly have a new meaning in a new sentence for no discernible reason. Words will change orders to subvert previously attested patterns; words will be pronounced differently for no reason at all; the auxiliary, one of the few bits of predictability in the language, will move or drop out entirely.

All of this combines to produce something that doesn't sound an awful lot like a language, and I think that's true. It defies attempts to learn it, meaning that the only way to actually speak it is to be touched by the devil. In effect, that was the point.

So yeah, I had a lot of fun with it! It's far different from anything I've ever done in the past. It sounds really weird. I've been pleased with the performances thus far. I'll get to your second question tomorrow. :)(less)

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Second question on Penny Dreadful and the Verbis Diablo: Also regarding "Fresh Hell": John Dee was mentioned, along with his Angelic language. There are books in existence that claim to be written in this script. Did you look at any of these? Even for amusement value? Thanks very much, Jen Tait

David J. Peterson I was already familiar with Enochian prior to my involvement with Penny Dreadful. While I like the idea of tying John Dee fictionally to VD, the quali…moreI was already familiar with Enochian prior to my involvement with Penny Dreadful. While I like the idea of tying John Dee fictionally to VD, the quality of his work is such that it just didn't make sense to make any reference to it. It's basically coded English; an amateurish effort. It didn't make sense to take his actual material and try to fit it into VD.(less)

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David J. Peterson’s books

Average rating: 4.13 · 2,229 ratings · 402 reviews · 10 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves to Sand Worms, the Words Behind World-Building 4.13 avg rating — 2,030 ratings — published 2015 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies by Kathryn Hymes, Hakan Seyalioglu, Jill De Haan (Artist) 4.58 avg rating — 113 ratings — published 2018 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Living Language Dothraki: A Conversational Language Course Based on the Hit Original HBO Series Game of Thrones 4.06 avg rating — 103 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Create Your Own Secret Language: Invent Codes, Ciphers, Hidden Messages, and More by David J. Peterson (Goodreads Author), Ryan Goldsberry (Illustrations) 4.44 avg rating — 39 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics by Trey Jones (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Keith W. Slater (Editor), Bill Spruiell (Editor) 4.36 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Zaanics Deceit (Cate Lyr, #1) by Nina Post (Goodreads Author), David J. Peterson (Goodreads Author) 3.81 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Langmaker: Celebrating Conlangs by Jeffrey Henning, Mark Rosenfelder (Editor), David J. Peterson (Goodreads Author) (Preface) 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Zaanics Pursuit (Cate Lyr Book 2) by Nina Post (Goodreads Author), David J. Peterson (Goodreads Author) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	THE NEW ASTROLOGY: Facts About The James Webb Telescope Photo; What you Should Know. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	THE NEW ASTROLOGY: Facts About The James Webb Telescope Photo; What you Should Know. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Introducing Derrida: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides Book 0)

by Jeff Collins

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Jul 15, 2023 12:12AM

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I'm a Shark

by Bob Shea

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David Peterson said: " Amazing!

This is perfect! I cannot wait to read this to my child! Little shark ain't scared of nothing! (Except maybe spiders.) ...more "

Sep 04, 2015 01:06PM · see review

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Moominpappa at Sea (Moomins Book 8)

by Tove Jansson

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Jan 14, 2018 03:22AM

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David Peterson rated a book it was ok In a Glass Darkly, v. 2/3 by J. Sheridan Le Fanu	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 08, 2026 12:29PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of In a Glass Darkly, v. 2/3 by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — In a Glass Darkly, v. 2/3 by J. Sheridan Le Fanu <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
David Peterson rated a book it was amazing How to Create a Language: The Conlang Guide by Jessie Peterson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Quotes by David J. Peterson (?)

“If the actors speaking Dothraki or High Valyrian or Castithan or whatever make a mistake, who would know but the creator? Who would care? The truth is probably one in a thousand people will notice, and of those who do, maybe a quarter will care. In the 1980s that amounts to nothing. In the new millennium, though, one quarter of 0.001 percent can constitute a significant minority on Twitter. Or on Tumblr. Or Facebook. Or Reddit. Or”
― David J. Peterson, The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves to Sand Worms, the Words Behind World-Building

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“Acoustic economy is, simply, the idea that languages will conspire to take maximal advantage of the sounds available to human beings.”
― David J. Peterson, The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves to Sand Worms, the Words Behind World-Building

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“[...] This is important to keep in mind when examining English, whose orthography was devised by a team of misanthropic, megalomaniacal cryptographers who distrusted and despised one another, and so sought to hide the meanings they were tasked with encoding by employing crude, arcane spellings that no one can explain.”
― David J. Peterson, The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves to Sand Worms, the Words Behind World-Building

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