Deciphering Nostraman II

See: 
Nostraman Grammar  (new)
Deciphering Nostraman I

The second Night Lords book by Dembski-Bowden, Blood Reaver, expands much upon the initial pretext of Nostraman and provides ample examples throughout of the Nostraman language. We are given even more clues as to the nature of Nostraman… Below I have the collected examples from the book, and their approximate meanings.

Ashilla sorsollun, ashilla uthullun

I am blind, I am cold

Since the words meaning “blind” and “cold” are both described as literally meaning “sunless”, we can derive that sorsollun and uthullun are the terms for blind and cold, with the suffix –llun or –un meaning “-less” or “without”. Therefore, ashilla would mean I, or perhaps “I am”.

Asa fothala su’surushan

(A term of dismissal)

Vaya vey… ne’sha.

I don’t… understand.

Since I described the use of the apostrophe in the previous post as being a possible contraction of a pronoun, ne’sha could retain the meaning “I” or maybe a negation like “not”. Therefore, Vaya vey ne’sha – I don’t understand.

Shrilla la lerril

(jibe, “whore that mates with dogs”)

Vellith sar’darithas, volvallasha sor sul

(From this I postulate the ending –asha might mean “I”)

Tosha amthilla van veshi laliss

This vessel is cursed

We see tosh and tesh in Nostraman – I think this might be the demonstrative pronoun “this”, similar to the English variation of “this” and “that”. Since “vasha” might correspond with the verb “to have” as conjectured below, veshi could be another conjugation of the Nostraman term “to have”, as if to say more literally, “This vessel has a curse”.

Forfallian dal sur shissis lalil na sha dareel

We must be cautious, watch yourself

Sil vasha nuray

He has no arms

Vasha could be the third-person singular conjugation for the Nostraman word “to have”.

Sinthallia shar vor vall’velias

That woman will be the death of us

The suffix –thallia might mean “that”. If that is true, then “amthilla” from earlier means “this ship”. In that case, we don’t know what tosha/tesh means.

Corshia sey

Breathe now (a deadly greeting)

Alternatively, breathe while you still can. I believe sey here means “now” and corshia is some conjugation of the verb “to breathe”.

Nishallitha

Poisonous

Athrillay, Vylas

Greetings, brother

This is pretty self-explanatory. The –ill suffix could possibly be a pluralization, and kinship terms seem to have many v’s and l’s (e.g. Viris colratha).

Vulusha, vulusha sethrishan?

How much?

Alternatively, How, how much?

Hopefully, since this is a trilogy, the Dembski-Bowden’s third book in this series will come out soon and perhaps shed some real light on this language.