Challenges of the Etymological Kind

When I am writing, given that my story is set in the 15th century, I often find myself wanting to use words which I am uncertain as to whether or not were in use at that time. Some notable examples include scapegoat, human, and mesmerise. Mesmerise, for example, I was aware would not have been used in Wat Baudin’s world, given that the term was coined in reference to Franz Mesmer, the 18th century German physician who pioneered hypnotism.

So what to do? Googling lists of synonyms is always helpful, but occasionally there are no words to truly replace the ones I would like to use. In “The Ravens’ Augury”, I was extremely particular about this. But this time around, as I currently write its sequel, “The Owl’s Vigil”, I am being a little bit more flexible in my approach to word usage, if it means that I can adequately convey my meaning and the writing is good.

I will just have to remember to write some sort of disclaimer at the beginning!