Etymology

by Jubilee Bloom

The Gap in History

The fresh, warm breeze of early summer days weaved its way between the leaves and blossoms of Sweet Apple Acres' numerous apple trees, reaching down to gently sway a certain somepony's cute pink bow tying back her cute red hair. Apple Bloom smiled, lifting her head to feel the breeze against her cheek, before returning to her book, a collection of fables she had borrowed from Twilight. Reading wasn't Apple Bloom's favorite-est thing ever, but she had a fondness for old stories. There was just something about the history of those tales that pulled her in, knowing that she was reading a story that had been told to fillies her age hundreds of years ago. And with the yearly summertime break from school, she had plenty of time to read.

Within a few minutes, she finished a particularly intriguing story titled The Mountain with Springs of Oil and decided to take a little break from her reading to run around. She stood up and stretched, extending her hoof to close the book. Before she did, though, something on the page caught her eye. It was a footnote, reading "Story translated from Old Ponish."

She didn't close the book just yet. She read the footnote again. For some reason, reading it gave her a strange sense of... something. Unease? No, that wasn't it. Surprise? Not that either. And she had heard plenty of stories that had been translated from Old Ponish before, so why was this just now bothering her?

Eventually, she gave up on the note and went to go play and run around, but the thought continued to linger in the back of her mind.

Why am I thinking about this so much? she asked herself. She knew about Old Ponish already, of course, an ancient language that had died out centuries ago, known today only by historians, bookworms, and magic nerds. Pretty much every creature today spoke- wait, that was it!

Every creature speaks the same language!

She hadn't had very many encounters with other creatures herself, but she had heard stories from her older sister. From Buffalo to Zebras to Dragons to Changelings and more, every creature spoke the exact same language.

Why was that?

This was a question that would need the other CMCs.

---

"Do we really have to take roll call every time?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes at Sweetie Belle, to which she retorted, "It's just protocol!"

"We don't have time for roll call anyway," Apple Bloom interjected before the fighting got any worse. "We have a mystery on our hooves, one that can't wait for roll call."

"Ooh, a mystery!" Scootaloo forgot about the argument in an instant. "You have my full attention, Bloom!"

"What kind of a mystery is it?" Sweetie as well had devoted her interest to what Apple Bloom was saying. "Is it a kidnapping? A thief? Inexplicable magical phenomena?"

"A murder mystery?" Scootaloo gave the others a devilish grin.

"Scoot!" Sweetie yelled at her.

"It's none of those," Apple Bloom interjected again. "And it especially ain't murder, Scoot. It's a mystery about all the creatures livin' in Equestria and beyond! Like the dragons and changelings and griffons and whatnot."

Apple Bloom paused for dramatic effect. It definitely had an effect on her audience, who leaned in closer, eyes wide.

"Go on, we're listening," Sweetie half-whispered, the excitement making her voice tremble ever so slightly.

"Why is it," Apple Bloom asked them, "that every creature speaks the same language?"

Sweetie and Scootaloo were silent for a moment, as the weight of the question sank in.

"Oh wow. That is a mystery," Sweetie remarked quietly, deep in thought.

"Way better than any thief or murderer!" Scootaloo hollered, her little wings giving her a short burst into the air. "I wanna find this out right away?"

"But how?" Apple Bloom asked.

This stumped the three. For only a moment that is. Sweetie Belle quickly had an idea.

"Why don't we ask Miss Cheerilee? She knows a lot of stuff, so she might be able to help us!"

"It's summer." Scoot wasn't as excited about this idea as Sweetie was. "Are we really gonna go back to school just a week after we escaped?"

"Wait, a week?" Apple Bloom asked. "Oh yeah! It has been only a week since school let out! Time sure flies pretty quickly, doesn't it!"

"Yeah, it does," Scootaloo agreed. "And I'm not going back to slow-time place anytime soon."

"Well, do you wanna find an answer or not?" Sweetie sighed. "I'm going to go find her." Without waiting for the other two, she jumped down the clubhouse stairs.

"Hey! Wait for us!" The others yelled, chasing after her out of the clubhouse, through the orchards, around the streets of Ponyville, and down to the little schoolhouse.

---

Knock knock knock.

Cheerilee looked up from her papers in surprise. Even though it was summer, she would sometimes stay in the schoolhouse out of habit. And at the moment, she was working on adjusting the curriculum for next year's lessons, so she needed a place with no distractions, and the schoolhouse was perfect.

Until the knocking.

She had barely any time to process the sound before the CMCs barged in and Sweetie Belle started rambling excitedly.

"Miss Cheerilee? We have a very important question for you and we really need to know the answer and we're sorry for bothering you but we just really wanna know-"

"Calm down, girls," she interrupted them. Usually, she was the one telling her students not to interrupt, she thought to herself. "So, what is this question you have for me?"

"Why does every creature speak the same language?" Apple Bloom asked, much more calmly and understandably than Sweetie had before.

Rather than the clear answer that the fillies had been hoping for, Cheerilee looked just as confused as they felt. "I'm sorry girls, but I don't know."

"Oh." The trio spoke in unison. Everypony was silent for a moment before Sweetie Belle piped up again.

"Do you know where else we could look to find the answer? We really, really wanna figure this out."

"Yeah, it's gonna drive me crazy!" Scootaloo yelled in frustration, her tiny wings buzzing angrily.

Cheerilee sighed. "I admire your enthusiasm for learning, girls, but I'm afraid that answer is going to be extremely difficult to find."

"What do you mean?" Apple Bloom asked. "Isn't there some sort of history pony who would know?"

"I don't know terribly much about history beyond what I teach," Cheerilee explained. "But what I do know is that there's a point in history that is lacking information. Many, many years ago, ponies fought against each other and other creatures constantly, and I'm assuming their languages were many and separate. Nowadays, as you know, everycreature gets along better, and we all speak the same language, which is the fact that lead you here in the first place. But the transition from many languages to one common language isn't understood very well. Part of it is due to Discord's temporary rule over Equestria. A lot was lost during that time. From what I know, the language we speak now was growing more and more popular over time, and then after Discord's reign, it was pretty much all anypony spoke on a day-to-day basis."

The Crusaders were quiet, taking in this information.

"If I remember correctly, pretty much everything in between the events of the first Hearth's Warming and the end of Discord's reign is almost completely unknown. There's plenty of documents from the time revolving around things like mathematics and magic, including many of Starswirl the Bearded's spells. But very little is known about things like the law, as well as language and things that happened in everyday life. And the origins of this language are unknown as well. For all we know, it just kind of... appeared."

"The plot thickens!" Scootaloo said, musing over this new discovery.

"So... are we never gonna find an answer?" Apple Bloom said.

"I'm afraid not," Cheerilee said. "Maybe somepony will figure it out someday, but for now, it remains a mystery."

"Well, at the very least I'm glad I could learn something, even if it wasn't the answer I was looking for," Sweetie said. "Thanks, Miss Cheerilee."

"Thank you!" the other two said in unison.

"You're welcome!" Cheerilee said with a smile. "I'm always happy to teach something new. Oh, before you go, could I ask you something?" The girls stopped just short of the exit, having already started to head out, but paused to listen to Cheerilee. "Speaking of Starswirl's spells and such, is it really true that he's back in Equestria now? I've heard ponies talking about it out and about, but I'm having a hard time really believing it."

"It's true!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Twilight and her friends brought him back, along with a bunch of other ancient ponies!" Apple Bloom added.

"We don't know all the details, but yes, it did happen," Sweetie explained.

"Well, that's exciting!" Cheerilee waved to them. "Bye now, girls!"

"Bye!'' the three called back, before taking off in the general direction of their clubhouse. They ran for a few streets and then switched to a slower pace. They walked in silence, the air around them seemingly heavier with disappointment.

Apple Bloom's thoughts drifted once more to her book of stories, still left open out in the orchard. At least she had that to cheer her up. And a good ol' rant to Applejack might help, too. That wouldn't be for a while, though, as she was with Twilight in the Castle of Friendship. Twilight had wanted them all there to help explain key points of modern life to the Pillars and Applejack wouldn't be home for a few hours... "Wait, the Pillars!" she thought aloud, stopping in her tracks and also stopping the other two. "They were there before Discord's reign, after all, so maybe they know something!"

"Of course!" the other two yelled. They all changed course from their clubhouse to Twilight's castle, switching back to running. However, they were too excited to be watching where they were going very well and ran right into somepony else. After a lot of tumbling, yelling, and general mayhem, the three found themselves caught in a bush with whomever they had run into. After yanking their legs out of the shrubbery, they looked over to see a somewhat scrawny grey unicorn brushing leaves off of his tattered brown cloak.

"Sorry we crashed into you," Apple Bloom said timidly. "We should have been looking where we were going."

"It's all right," the unicorn said. "I wasn't really looking where I was going either." He looked at them closely. "You wouldn't happen to be the so-called Cutie Mark Crusaders, would you?"

"We sure are!" Scootaloo said. "And you are...?"

"Stygian." He paused to remove one final leaf from his cloak. "I assume your older sisters have mentioned me before?"

"Yeah, they have," Sweetie replied.

"You were the bad guy, right?"

"Scootaloo!"

"What, I'm right!"

"It's called tact, Scoot!"

"Girls, quiet!" Apple Bloom yelled at them, then turned back to Stygian. "Sorry about that, Mr. Stygian."

"It's all right. Don't worry about it," he replied. "Anyways, have any of you seen Flash Magnus? He's been disappearing lately."

"No, we haven't," Apple Bloom said. "Sorry."

"Where were you going in such a hurry, anyway?" Stygian asked them.

"Looking for one of you thousand-years-ago guys," Scootaloo said.

"We had a question and we were wondering if you knew the answer," said Sweetie.

"What is it?" Stygian asked. "I can't guarantee that I'll have what you're looking for, but... maybe I should find one of the others instead. You're probably looking for them." He looked away, his eyes downcast.

"Not necessarily," Apple Bloom said. "We were just wondering why every single creature speaks the same language, and where this language came from. Maybe you know something about it?"

Stygian perked up upon hearing their request. "Why, I do know what happened!"

"Can you tell us?" the three asked in unison, sitting down in a neat row in front of Stygian and gazing at him expectantly.

"Of course." He couldn't help but chuckle at their eager, adorable little faces. "A few hundred years before the first Hearth's Warming, which to us was simply known as the Hearth's Warming and it's subsequent anniversaries, the three kinds of ponies had just begun to interact with each other on agreeable terms. By this time, Old Ponish had already been around for a while and was commonly used, but they were also trying to establish some sort of peace treaty with both Griffonstone and the hippogriffs of Mt. Aries, who couldn't understand the ponies or each other. As you might be able to guess, this was a major problem for everypony, and everycreature."

"To make a years-long story short, twelve pony scribes, four from each major pony tribe, decided that it was time for a new language. Their goal was to form clear communication between ponies and other creatures. They called upon griffon and hippogriff scribes to help them, collecting scripts of any languages they could find, hoping to create something that would be able to unify all creatures. And, well, this is the result. At first, this language was mainly used for the sake of negotiations between parties, but it began making its way into everyday life as well. By the time that I and the Pillars were born, this language was usually our first, followed by whatever regional language may have been in use, followed possibly by bits and pieces of Old Ponish, depending on where you lived and what you studied. And, well, that's about it. Any questions?"

Apple Bloom went to raise her hoof out of habit, before realizing that she didn't really need to. "Is there an actual name for this language?"

Stygian thought for a moment. "Originally, it was just called the Negotiation Language or something like that. It never had a proper name. I believe it was usually referred to as just Common whenever it needed to be referenced by name."

"Thanks for telling us, Mr. Stygian!" Scootaloo said. "I felt like I was gonna explode from curiosity!"

"Just Stygian is fine," he said. "And I hope you were speaking figuratively."

"Yeah, she was," Sweetie said. "If you haven't been warned already, us modern ponies like to exaggerate stuff a lot and we're serial abusers of the word 'literally.'"

"Unless you're the book-smart, precise type," Apple Bloom added, "Like Sweetie here, or Twilight."

"Rarity's also precise, and she's the most dramatic exaggerator I know," Sweetie said.

"Yeah, but you're a little more of a dictionary fan than she is," Scootaloo said.

"Fair enough." Sweetie shrugged. "Thanks again for the story, Stygian."

"Bye!" Scootaloo said. "Oh, and can we talk again sometime soon? Like, maybe tomorrow?"

"And could you tell us more stories?" Apple Bloom asked.

Stygian looked surprised. "You want to talk to me of all ponies? Your legendary heroes are here too."

"Yeah, yeah, we've heard enough about them," Scootaloo said. "We wanna hear more of your stories!"

"Yeah!" the other two yelled.

"Well... all right then." Stygian turned and walked towards Twilight's castle. "Twilight and her friends will likely want me back soon, but how about this same time tomorrow?"

"Sure! Bye!" The trio called after him and then ran off, letting out the occasional victory whoop in celebration of their new knowledge. Stygian went back to the castle, smiling all the way.

---

Finally back home, Apple Bloom settled back down with her book, now knowing that she was reading it in the Common language. Scootaloo had gone to practice her usual scootering stunts, and Sweetie Belle had gone back to Cheerilee to inform her of their findings.

With one last glance at the footnote that had started it all, Apple Bloom turned the page to read the next story, once more relaxing in the warm summer breeze.

Comments

[PeachClover]

It seems to me they would have had to call the language something in order to teach it to everypony. Coming from the first season, I figured that spoken language must derive primarily from Celestia and Luna as they are immortal goddesses, and time alone would make the stability of their speech universal for many species. I also believe that in many cases what we are experiencing through the show is an automatic translation where common languages that foals would be taught alongside their native language are translated to English (or whatever language in which the viewer is watching the show), and only when words from other languages are used for emphasis inside of an otherwise common language sentence are they represented by another language that exists on earth.

[Jubilee Bloom]

9775924
For one thing, I don't follow the "Royal Sisters are immortal goddesses" theory. I want to find a reason for anycreature's longevity that doesn't include immortality. (And I do have a few ideas for the Sisters.) I could see the automatic translation thing working, although one would have to wonder if it would still work if we ever did stumble across Equestria one day. You never know...

[i_am_the_jam]

So the zebras picked up Common Language as time went on?

[Jubilee Bloom]

9776848
Yes, or at the very least some of them.

[Scyphi]

Bit of a non-event, really...I admit I was sort of expecting the explanation to be something a bit more...you know...off the wall, it being MLP and all.

But in all fairness, this is partly how major languages get to be so widespread during their times of use in history--people needed a common language so they can all clearly communicate with each other. Granted, none of them have, to date, ever achieved truly universal coverage like here in the story, but they were certainly widespread and common at their heights. Today, its English. An example of a past one was Latin. Someday in the future, there might be yet another.

It's sort of intriguing to think about if you're into languages and all that.

[LucarioFan2066]

9777149
A 'common language'...isn't that referred to as a 'lingua franca'? Which sounds French, despite it never applying to French?

[Scyphi]

9777970
Yes, lingua franca is one term for a common language. The term steams from what is called a "pidgin" language in use in the Mediterranean around medieval times that was referred to as "lingua franca," (loosely translated, "the language of the Franks") and was a language used for trade and commerce, hodgepodging together elements from several differing languages common at the time. It mostly used Italian, as Italian speakers were mostly dominating the markets of the day, but it also borrowed words from other common languages of the day and region, including Old French...though the term "lingua franca" derives more from Italian (and a little Greek) than it does French.

The reason it might seem French though is because both it and Italian are "Romance languages," having heavy roots in Latin, and thus have many similarities in structure and words.

[Mica]

Hmph, interesting headcanon, and it's always a question that I've had. While I like your theory, I feel the explanation in the story was a bit rushed, with Stygian explaining everything in one or two paragraphs and a lack of a build up to the answer.

I always thought the language was called Ponish (from the episode "A Kirin Tale"). Which might suggest that ponies came up with the language, and other creatures adapted it as a lingua franca.

I personally just treat it as an oversight on the show creators' part. This is a cartoon intended for small children, and having hard-to-understand accents or multiple languages for different creatures (even with subtitles) would be plain confusing for them.

Incorporating multiple languages into a fictional show is quite difficult in general. The British TV show Allo Allo took a unique approach where French characters spoke in French-accent English, while British characters spoke in British-accent English. And the French could not understand what the British were saying. And vice versa.

[orp]

So it's like Esperanto, only successful as a project.

"Just Stygian is fine," he said. "And I hope you were speaking figuratively."

Clearly, he's heard of them more than just in passing.

9775924 9776190
They might not be goddessess, but they - Celestia in particular - have been responsible for the principal heavenly bodies for over a thousand years, so the argument still makes sense.

Luna's speach patterns can serve as a weak evidence of that influence. What she's speaking can be generously described as Middle English at most, but Old English that actually existed a thousand years ago is nearly completely incomprehensible to modern speakers. (However, there's a limit to this point's relevance - for one, as you need to ignore the Norman invasion.)

9777970 9778042
The 'Franks' in lingua franca basically referred to all Western Europeans as a group distinct from Arabs and Greeks.