What to call this magical artifact?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Moderators, this thread will be about a story I’m working on, but I’m asking for input on an aspect of it, not comments on literature in general, it seems better suited for IMHO than CS. That said, if you feel it should be moved, knock yourself ot.

As mentioned in these threads elsewhere on the board, I’m working on a children’s story with significant fantasy elements. In the story, a supporting character suffers a magical ailment in which her voice is removed from her; the other characters must go on a quest to retrieve it for her. Specifically they are seeking the magical artifact, a sort of bottle, in which her voice is kept. I’m trying to think of a good name for such an artifact, one that iis evocative without being overy specific.

Any ideas?

2

The Echo Cage or Cage of Echos

3

If her name is Klein, it could be a Klein bottle. It’s pretty magical, in a topological sense. :slight_smile:

4

Vox Captivus?

5

Babel Stone - the voice could get absorbed into this some mystical way.

6

Klein Bottle I like. It actually meshes nicely with some themes of the story…but too scientific, I think. I may make the voice-cage look like that, but probably won’t use that name.

7

My suggestion: “Vokleptor.”

8

The flask of tongues. Hmmm.

The Quelljar. (or you could omit one of those L’s and call it the Queljar).

9

The 'ShutTheFuckUpBitch".

Seriously, how about a ‘vocavoid’.

10

Voice bottle.

11

Since her voice, in the vessel is silent, could it be the Saturnine Jar?

12

The Flask of Silence.
The Censor’s Grasp.

13

Cone of Silence :smiley:

14

Voice box is too obvious I guess…
A draught of naught?
An accursed purse?
A glottal bottle?
A whineskin?
A shushol?
A hushop?
An avox?

Sounds almost like a riddle quest. You can search far and wide to try to discover what force on earth can make a young girl stop talking, consult sages and gurus who are stumped, only to discover that the correct answer is nothing.

15

A crystal bell ot challice?

16

all right, this is stupid but:

How but a cats’up bottle as in cat shut up bottle (cat got your tongue!).

17

An enchanter decanter?

18

Since it stops her from talking, how about a Glottal Stop ?

19

Aphasia phial?

Phial’s a good word with an honourable history. And “aphasia” can cover so much more than mere muteness - the character can still be able to speak but not convey meaning.

Piers Anthony would probably make it a 16oz bottle just so he could make some crap pun about “mute pint”, or something.

20

The first time I sold a story I promised myself I’d never do anything Piers would do.

Of course all I ever sell are confession stories and consumer affairs pieces, but the principle still stands.

“Aphasia Phial” works. It fits in nicely with the slightly archaic yet reasonably well-read diction of the character who describes it. I’ll put that in the “to give serious thought to” list along with Klein Bottle—or I could use the phial idea (or another if it comes to me) along with the eventual description of it BEING a Klein Bottle.