Just a rather random naming help request.

[Mith]

I'm still a bit uncomfortable asking for help, especially as I'm still fairly new here, 'tis not really in my nature, don't want to seem silly I guess

I'm going to take the plunge though and make a fairly simple-ish request:

I'm looking to name a narcotic. It's similar in effect and addictiveness to an opiate and is for the most part smoked through a pipe. I've wracked my tired mind, yet I can't think of a name that's sinister enough and rolls off the tongue!!

I wouldn't normally ask, but it's a big part of one of my characters so any help would be appreciated

 

[Varangian]

What about: 'Krull' ?

Krull could be a small shrub with purple leaves (the leaves could be either rolled and smoked to give the desired affect, crushed up and infused in a drink, used in food, or even beaten into a pulp and applied directly to a wound to give analgesia).

 

[mithril]

Dunno if it's helpful but a few possibilities occurred to me..

1. You could emphasise its origin and keep the name itself simple - ex Dylsian smokeweed. Which might be used in the plot as a way to not emphasise its nature until the hero unknowingly smokes it and starts having extreme hallucinations...

2. You could have the name itself sound foreign sounding.. something like hashish. I don't think it's a native english word. In which case either a made up word or a translated one for something that exists might work - ex marijuana sounds like 'Kạỵchā' in Thai, Opium is 'afeem' in Hindi And an entirely made up word could be Kilvish... just ideas..

3. You could create a word that expresses the intent/appearance somewhat, and it need not necessarily be a leaf like tobacco, it could be resinous(organic/mineral in origin), powdered bark, an animal product like musk etc.. Maybe something like 'ghostvine'?

Hopefully these have been of some help

 

[The Judge]

What kind of society smokes it? If it's an old agricultural fantasy society, they might go with the name of the herb/mineral whatever, eg tobacco, but a modern SF dystopia might use acronyms, eg LSD, MDMA, particularly for manufactured-from-scratch drugs as opposed to grown ones, or they might use words which have another meaning altogether, eg snow, horse.

Hashish** is indeed an introduced word, from Arabic literally meaning dry herb, according to my etymology dictionary, so if you have other languages in your world you can introduce words which mean something in those tongues.

What's important to me, though, when I create a word is to give a reason for it. Words don't just happen -- they come from somewhere and have a reason for being as they are. Even if they are borrowed from another language they have a root in an original word somewhere, viz hashish. Find the root word, and work out why it was called that originally, and then if need be twist it.



** and we get the word "assassin" from it, via an Arabic word meaning hashish-eaters!


Nearly forgot -- there's no need to be worried about asking questions, that's what we're here for! We all need help at some point or another, and it doesn't matter how new you are or aren't!

 

[HareBrain]

I've wracked my tired mind

Mindwrack?

That's all you get from me. I'm hopeless at naming things.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Maybe keep it simple just call it drug, smoke, stuff etc ?

 

[Boneman]

Sinistre?
White Kiss?
Venome?
Black Acid?
Sue Side?
Murdre?
Oblivion? (Too many perfumes here, have you noticed?)
Baddo?
Eve?
Closed Fist?
Whiteout?

 

[Mith]

Sinistre?
White Kiss?
Venome?
Black Acid?
Sue Side?
Murdre?
Oblivion? (Too many perfumes here, have you noticed?)
Baddo?
Eve?
Closed Fist?
Whiteout?

Been spending too much time in Boots lately?

Thanks all for your help and suggestions, you may just have kickstarted my thought processes

 

[thegreywolf]

Phenylyn (might actually be a drug, not sure)
Cortavar
Prescin
Urdrave
Molorin
Erinacc
Abstyl
Tetranine
Noff
Canulaxia

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

What about: 'Krull' ?

Krull could be a small shrub with purple leaves (the leaves could be either rolled and smoked to give the desired affect, crushed up and infused in a drink, used in food, or even beaten into a pulp and applied directly to a wound to give analgesia).

"Krull" would not work as that is the name of a cult classic Conan the Barbarian knockoff.


I'm not good with naming narcotics myself. You could go perhaps with an official-sounding prescription drug, as any opiate-style drug would have painkilling effects and therefore be distributed as such.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Hmm.

Whitecane.
Lysine.
Calatin.

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

Kull... Kull the Conquerer, is not the same as Krull.

However, as a type of narcotic, hmm...

Dimweed
Krylis
Phenil
Rope

I like taking names of other things, and applying it to something totally different I've got a novel where a major plotpoint is that people name themselves to hide their true names, so they've got names like Cornrow or Weaver.

You could get creative with a type of narcotic. You could even take a fun word like Brass, and call the narcotic brass because it has the color and sheen of metal.

 

[Fitzchiv]

Tek.

Done!

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

The problem, as I see it, is that whatever you call it you will have trouble getting the reader to accept this new name as a credible substance.

Although in the real world when someone brings out the latest drug and it's name becomes common place the various generations just accept what the 'users' have called it and are content.

When E appeared (OK so I'm an old gimmer and can remember it) we older, 'none users', at first thought

"E , E you say, what the... does E mean."

Eventually we accepted it was the new thing on the block and that everyone using and dealing it (mainly in the nurseries and primary schools, cos that's what young kids )do

Going back even further LSD, Acid and the like were just names people used, but most (and by that I mean, none-users) didn't really know much about it until deaths started amongst our own generation through 'bad experiences". Then everyone knew and the terms became bandied about in 'acceptable' society. (In a way, similar to how AIDS became talked about)

So in conclusion, call it whatever you like, but to establish it in your story, have a significant character (even if this is his only role in the plot) die from it's use. Then force the term into the readers mind by 'pushing it' into the storyline by having your other characters refer to this significant event. If you can get a good joke in about the 'unfortunate death' this will also establish the term in the readers mind. Not easy I know, but who said writing was easy.

In the end, (no, not that end) as writers, we are similar to drug dealers. We want people hooked on our 's***' and will do anything to get the punters addicted (including free give aways to the kids leaving school: go on, admit it, you all know it's true)

For what it's worth

TEiN

 

[meursault]

I'd play around with foreign words, especially those do with addiction, misery, drugs, despondency, darkness, etc (assuming you want it to have a negative, not a "cool", connotation).

Here are a few ideas:

Murka
Huonao
Blightweed
Ts'murye

Or you could go with something Nordic-sounding, like in that Max Payne film. (Valkyr)