Clearly, this is a non-issue. But it's .. fluff, it's story and world building, and that's my primary interest. To be honest, I think genasi would have a far more gutteral, far less melodious language than english, and I do think that should be a hard g. Not quite as in ghoul, but more like the german gegen or gefunden. Basically - even harder.
Shouldn't that vary between them, though? I can see that for Earth Genasi, but why would the much more fluid natured air or water Genasi have such hard sounds?
Assuming that in your world (1) Genasi speak Primordial, (2) Genasi is a word in Primordial and (3) Genasi live in linguistically distinct communities, based on their elemental ancestry, you could have four different pronunciations for Genasi. For example, Water Genasi might use the soft g (Jenasi), Fire the hard, Earth maybe pronounce it hard and further back (an uvular G) and Air instead pronounce it with a breathy h (Henasi).
I considered that too, and it is a very valid argument. I still stand by a soft g, though, in English
I agree. I just rather liked the opportunity for world-building this thread had inspired.
Djinn have been associated with air since the first edition. In myth, they live hidden in the earth, but are traditionally invisible, which is a property more often associated with air than earth. Fire in D&D is traditionally connected with the very similar Efreet.
More to the point, this being a discussion regarding D&D, Djinni are Air, Efreet are fire, Dao are earth, Marid are water. Genasi, as a word, is pretty clearly derived from Genies (Djinni).
I don't care about editions, and official D&D lore is always - to me - the worst place to look.
But I'm frankly on too shaky footing in terms of middle eastern mythology. If that's even where they're originally from. But my impression from various sources is that .... there's not four types of jinn (genie, dao, efreet, marid) - rather, there's a type of demon, the efreet, and a type of spirit entirely unassociated with the efreet, which is called a genie. Which is why, in my world, 'genies' of all kinds are basically efreet. And are associated with fire and earth.
And that's all irrelevant to everyone but me. Clearly. But it's still why I think the way I do.
Someone wiser on the actual folklore might set me straight =)
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
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I agree. I just rather liked the opportunity for world-building this thread had inspired.
I don't care about editions, and official D&D lore is always - to me - the worst place to look.
But I'm frankly on too shaky footing in terms of middle eastern mythology. If that's even where they're originally from. But my impression from various sources is that .... there's not four types of jinn (genie, dao, efreet, marid) - rather, there's a type of demon, the efreet, and a type of spirit entirely unassociated with the efreet, which is called a genie. Which is why, in my world, 'genies' of all kinds are basically efreet. And are associated with fire and earth.
And that's all irrelevant to everyone but me. Clearly. But it's still why I think the way I do.
Someone wiser on the actual folklore might set me straight =)
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.