Glamour

[Manuk]

Glamour unit ability:

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Martini.gif[/img]

In combat: Mirror images like Mirror image spell
On land: inetectable on self provinces and helps sneaking in someone else´s land (it´s supposed to shape change to look like common people).

So... Why is that ability called glamour???

[Alneyan]

Glamour would be, I think, a fey appearence of sorts, quite appropriate for the Vans (Elvish beings according to their description), Faerie Queens and Sylphs, among others. Not strictly mundane glamour, but more of an otherwordly charm, mysteriousness, and so on.

[RonD]

Common usage today restricts the word to mean some sort of Hollwood high-fashion beauty. But the real definition is:


glam·our also glam·or n.

1. An air of compelling charm, romance, and excitement, especially when delusively alluring.
2. Archaic. A magic spell; enchantment.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

For the longest time I thought the term the devs were looking for was glamer but I just looked in a couple of the dictionaries I have lying around... and it wasn't there. (whoa how weird is that... imagining a term that means "something that messes with your imagination"?) I imagine the effect is sort-of a reverse hallucination (instead of seeing what isn't there, you are specifically NOT seeing what is).

[Chazar]

I'm not a native english speaker, but my dictionary lists 'bewitch' and 'enchant' as synonyms for the verb glamour in addition to what has been said before. Seems alright then.

Nevertheless, the same question as the original poster bugged me before as well. So what would be a better word? While archaic words are usually fine and thematic for use in a fantasy setting, the problem with the word 'glamour' probably is that it has a modern meaning which has dislodged a bit too much from the original meaning...

[Alneyan]

I don't see a problem with glamour here: use this word as a verb is definitively archaic, but the noun is still used widely today. While that modern usage is around, it is by no means the only one (in English at least), and it is not really a new meaning per se.

Dominions is not the first game to use glamour in this meaning either: at least a few fantasy roleplaying games (pen and paper) use the word in relation with Fey beings (and assorted creatures). And glamour is a much more common word in "plain" English than D&D cantrips.

[Graeme Dice]

Chazar said:
So what would be a better word?

Illusion perhaps.

[PvK]

Yep, in TFT too, Glamour is an illusion cast on someone to make them look like something else. I'd like to know a little more about the etymology, though.

PvK

[Alneyan]

Glamour is not of direct Latin origins, unlike virtually any other "our" name in the English language (ardour, valour, honour...). Incidentally, I gather it is why glamour is by far the most widely spelling of the name, and "glamor" is a rare spelling, even in American English, while honor and honour are both common spellings.

The most common etymology I found was from Scots, where glamour appears to be a transformation of "grammar", and was literally a magic spell, especially one affecting the sight. Glamer was an alternate spelling for this glamour. Icelandic has similar words, connected to a weak sight, the moon, and a ghost, but I am unable to check that (I couldn't speak Icelandic if my life depended on it).

So, I gather glamour is actually a very corrupted word coming straight from Greek (through Latin and French), sharing a connection with grammar (French grammaire). I guess grimoire comes from the same path too.

[PvK]

Super! Thanks Alneyan.

PvK