Odoric (also known as Odoryc, Odorous, Dendric, Dryadic, Floric, and Floral) will be a language of odors used by many races of intelligent tree and a few races of intelligent flower for an indefinite period between 15,000,000 and 20,000,000 years in the future. In its standard form among trees it will be based on odors released from special odorifera (scent-organs) on leaves or branches and wafted from tree to tree by the wind or air-diffusion. Because of the chemical nature of Odoric, a simple exchange of greetings will take several hours in favorable weather, a brief conversation several days, and the recitation of an average tree-saga a year or more.

Odoric will have innumerable and often mutually unintelligible dialects falling into three main families: Coniferous Odoric, as used by conifers; Deciduous Odoric, as used by non-coniferous deciduous trees; and Floral Odoric, as used by flowers. Its native written form will evolve late and be based on chemical markers laid down within leaves and roots as a mnemonic for individual trees. In this form, it cannot be represented directly by a script suitable for human eyes, but Odoric will also be written by a non-plant species: an advanced race of intelligent squirrel that will discover and transcribe the language about 28,000,000 years in the future. This Sciurine (Squirrel) Odoric is presented here in one of its several forms.

As can be seen, the letters, or osmemes, of the script fall into six eight-letter scent-series named after the closest equivalent scent in the present-day plant kingdom. The letters of each series will be distinguished in their wafted (that is, “spoken”) form by subtle chemical variations, although some may be created artificially to complete an incomplete series – eight will apparently have mystical significance for squirrels, perhaps under the influence of a mathematic mysticism among trees. For example, seems to be a homosme of , or to become so in some dialects of Odoric. Each letter is transcribed into Roman using the initial of the scent in the series to which it will belong, plus a subscripted digit indicating its place in the series: the second letter of the Jasmine series, , is therefore J₂ and the fifth letter of the Honeysuckle series, , is H₅.

There will be only two punctuation marks in this form of Sciurine Odoric: <  >, used like a comma, semi-colon, or colon, and <  >, used like a full stop. It is believed that these marks will have no wafted form and will be used purely for the convenience of the squirrels transcribing a passage of Odoric.

Sample text

Transliteration
L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆ J₆H₄J₈C₂C₅S₁ L₂H₇L₇C₆V₈V₅ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ C₆H₈J₅H₃C₆J₆H₄ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂, H₃C₆J₆H₄J₈C₂ H₄J₈C₂C₅S₁J₁V₅J₄ L₂H₇L₇C₆V₈V₅ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₂H₇L₇C₆V₈V₅ C₂L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂V₇ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂, H₇L₇C₆V₈V₅C₅ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₂L₇C₂H₈C₆V₇S₆ L₂L₇C₂H₈C₆ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂, S₁J₁V₅J₄L₇C₂ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ C₆V₈V₅C₅C₂L₃H₁C₅ L₃L₂L₇C₂H₈ C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ L₇C₂H₈C₆ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂ C₅C₂L₃H₁C₅L₆ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ C₂L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂ J₄L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇. C₅S₁J₁V₅J₄ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ C₂C₅S₁J₁V₅J₄L₇C₂ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂, J₆H₄J₈C₂C₅S₁ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ C₂C₅S₁J₁V₅J₄L₇ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂, L₂H₇L₇C₆V₈V₅ H₃C₆J₆H₄J₈C₂ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ J₁V₅J₄L₇C₂S₆ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂, L₂L₇C₂H₈C₆V₇S₆ H₇L₇C₆V₈V₅C₅ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ J₈C₂C₅S₁J₁V₅J₄ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂, C₅C₂L₃H₁C₅L₆ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ S₁J₁V₅J₄L₇C₂ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₂L₇C₂H₈C₆V₇ L₂L₇C₂H₈C₆ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇C₆ L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂ L₇C₂H₈C₆V₇S₆L₆ L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇ C₂L₃H₁C₅L₆C₆V₂ J₄L₇C₂S₆C₄L₂H₇L₇.

Literal translation
sun rain with thou bless plural subj, leaf branch with thou plural wind stifle plural subj, root thou plural earth eat plural subj, seed thou plural number adj not be plural subj true thou stand future. but sun thou scorch subj, rain thou drown subj, wind leaf thou plural tear subj, earth root thou plural crush subj, worm plural seed thou plural each eat plural subj false thou stand future.

Idiomatic translation

“May the sun and rain bless thee, thy leaves and branches stifle the wind, thy roots swallow the (whole) earth, thy seeds be innumerable if thou art true. But may the sun scorch thee, the rain drown thee, the wind tear thy leaves, the earth crush thy roots, worms eat all thy seeds if thou art false.” – Traditional Odoric formula used to seal vows and treaties.

© 2005 Simon Whitechapel