Tammy: It’s just a simple medieval end phrase that I thought would work for something set in a non-Christian universe. These days it’s associated with pagan practice, but it’s been in use generally for a long time.
Tammy: It’s actually closer to “So may it be” or “so shall it be.”
Tim: You’re right – “dominus vobiscum” wouldn’t work in a polytheistic culture, since dominus means “God”, singular. “Dominae vobiscum” might, though…. <g>
Anyway, Tammy doesn’t use Latin in her books b/c that would make it too close to Western civilization’s evolution from the Roman Empire – which would mean she’d probably have to deal w/Roman Catholicism’s deeply-ingrained misogny and how it pretty much infected everything it touched. Better to sidestep that altogether….
Do you really refrain from latinate words?
Tammy: Within limits, or I’d never finish a book. A lot of it is religious terminology and scientific terminology. And it’s loony–I can’t even give myself permission to call Lindhall Reed a bio-mage, which is what he is. Did you see how I renamed the dinosaurs in EMPEROR MAGE? If I couldn’t translate the Latin form, or if it was named after a more modern discoverer, I had to come up with something. And it killed me not to call Bonedancer an archaeopteryx!
SOURCE: [2642]
Words of Tamora Pierce 