Phrasing a prophecy to avoid specifying gender or number

Is there a singular form for the ideas behind the words 'them' and 'they'? You have 'he', 'she', and 'they' (which often implies more than one person, but can imply one). In another tense you have, 'him', 'her' and 'them' (which again implies both a single individual AND a group).

Before I go on, I'm asking in Writers SE and not English Usage SE, because I don't mind what language the solution is in. I also feel Writers SE may be more aware of other conventions or phrases for what I'm after, maybe some writer or even entire language has already had this problem.

I'm trying to write a non gender-identifying 'prophecy' about an individual.

I don't want to write 'he' or 'she' as I want to keep the gender underwraps. I could use 'they', but I want to specifically indicate a single Individual* rather than a group**.

I'd also like to be able to mention non-specifc groups at the same time as the individual. A prophecy that goes...''and they decided that they need to get together with them''... (1 single and two groups, or is that 2 singles and one group, or wait is that 1 individual mentioned twice and one group?)

I'd also like to mention specifically gender-mentioned individuals (without actually naming them) alongside my unspecified individual. A prophecy that goes..."*He married her, much to the joy and celebration of 'them**'. After X years had an argument with 'them*'. 'They**' were not Impressed and kill him/her*" is kindof ambigious and confusing (to write and to read, if I hadn't put in some asterisks).

I realise prophecy is meant to be ambigious. But...

I'd still like myself, the readers and the characters to be able to sort of follow the gist. Yes, I'd like to be ambigious but not so ambigious that I can't even decipher the prophecies 2 months after I've written them, without using a cheatsheet!

Is there any known single (or maybe two-part) word that implies a gender neutral individual person? Maybe some writing convention I haven't come across. I'm not too fussed on the language. My story is set a long long time from now and would theoretically be in another language (although the reader would be reading an English 'translation'). As long as I will be able to explain the concept of the word in my text. I can have the word come across as 'didn't translate'/'no English equivalent'...

I have tried just making something up myself, I don't think with much luck.

The best I could come up with was combining, 'he', 'she', and 'them' to get 'shem'. I'm not too happy with it. Or should I just pick a random word or group of letters?

posted about 8 years ago

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