Writ and Wit

Wit is the word for knowledge, cognate Wissen in German. It refers to a kind of corporeal knowledge that we find in science and intelligence. 

Writ is anything that is written, as in the modern English word writ which is less used but in a select few cases that have become outdated, such as legal terms. A writ therefore can refer to any written work, being the word for writing, which I have divided into longwrit and curtwrit. Longer written works like novels and plays are longwrits while passages and articles are curtwrits. This goes into the realm of word-count and you can form systems further by referring to the most current charts for what constitutes novels and short stories. 

In an effort to provide a more Germanic vocabulary for English, which has been undertaken by some in the idea of Anglish, I have presented here a list of words I find most benefactual for use in English writing. The idea here isn't to replace all foreign-rooted words in English for the sake of purism, as is with the Anglish endeavor, but to provide simple alternatives that make more sense in a Germanic/Anglo-Saxon literary mind and can be used interchangeably with the current vocabulary. This is the best method for reinstating Anglo-Saxon vocabulary in its Germanic sense, and it also is built for the sake of language and literature rather than the other way around, which is taxing and obstructive to the goals of language and literature.

Thede - nation, people, race; actual archaism, cognate Deut in German. From this we can derive several more words that have since only used Latin roots: 

Thedeland - Germany, cognate Deutschland in German. Also could be Thedishland or Thedshland

Thedish - German, cognate Deutsch in German. Perhaps it could follow the same form as Swede and become the toponym Theden. Also use of Thedic. 

Bethede - to mean, signify, cognate Bedeuten in German; Betheding - meaning, sense, significance; Thedely - articulate, clear, distinct

From this convention we can also use Anglish and Angland to denote English and England. 


OTHER NOUNS

Lede - person, people, cognate Leute in German; exists in the sense of growing up from the soil, hence people in a specific area emphasizing closeness with the soil, such as in peasant classes. 

Evenland - Europe
Morrowland - Asia

Witship - science. Makes more sense than the commonly suggested Witcraft or Lore, because Witship cognates with German Wissenschaft and carries the same linguistic meaning, which is science. Because wit signifies the actual knowledge, ship does not need to be appended to logies like biology or astrology; astrology would be starwit and astrological science would be star witship. Lore is a poor suggestion because lore is akin to mythology, which is a memorized archetypal knowledge of unscientific things, while wit is scientific and is based on experimentation or intellectual evidence.

Heirship - dominion, reign, built after Herrenschaft in German using "Heir" as a term for Lord, carrying additional hereditary implications. The cognate with the German word would actually be Hoarship from the hoary color of a man's hair, whence the word Herr came.

Meanship - community, cognate Gemeinschaft in German

Sellship - society, cognate Gesellschaft in German

Talebook - novel, also use of Novelbook

Wordbook - dictionary, wordbook

Wort - plant, actual archaism

Bild, pict - picture 

Starswirl - galaxy, whorl starswirl - spiral galaxy

Roomwit - astronomy. Makes more sense than the commonly suggested Roomlore, because lore is akin to mythology and is not scientific.

Outsunnish wanderer - extrasolar planet

Waterstuff - hydrogen
Sunstuff - hellium 
Sourstuff - oxygen


VERBS

to ly - to like (pronounced lee), derived from the mutation of the suffix -like into -ly. By the same virtue, I have suggested Ry for Reich or Empire.  

to overset - to translate, cognate Uebersetzen in German

EXAMPLE

The signs from the Morrowland bedethe thoughts peculiar to the Morrowlandish lede. Their thedes comprise a distinct mindbild [psychology], with variation, reflecting the different elements of their meanship. Such things persist even in the era of witship's heirship, and will so long as the starswirl swings in the sky. These bedethings, of which there are thousands, are often objects of confusion to the thedes of Evenland, even in the face of the best efforts put forth by Thedish Morrowlandwitters in the past century. Masses of wordbooks are made to bridge this gap, but lede continue to ly remaining ignorant.

NOTES

This list is nowhere near complete nor is it intended to be. It is only for the benefit of the reader to form like-words through the methods above for their own writing. The ones I have mentioned are significant for one reason or another, which is why they are included here. 

Thanks to the Anglish Wikia (The Anglish Moot) for providing a history of Anglicization and calque techniques.

Kaula - Avadhuta Gita

Band: Kaula
Album: Avadhuta Gita Chapter 1 (supposedly not to release another one)
Genre: Experimental Black Metal
Country: Italy
Year: 2011

Extreme ritual black metal or extreme clanking scratching metal? "Kaula" describes itself as experimental black metal exploring themes of the Kali cult and the Avadhuta Gita of Hinduism, and their first and only album so far is "less an actual album than a spiritual quest".

One thing that's immediately noticeable is that the hooks are great - truly in the area of ritual black metal, as if to trap the listener in a trance back to the ancient empires beyond earth; after these follow the usual metal vocals, which aren't bad, but at this point you realize that they really are a "black metal" band and not ritual or ambient. These parts are good especially because the instrumentals are always in the background, and when the vocal denouements come we hear the guitars or whatever else is making that infernal noise grow louder as if the chants have actually summoned something.

Riffs are average and supported by ritual ambient effects (distortion/bass). This makes them a little better than the average riff. Vocals aren't droning and their brevity is almost Burzum-esque, but nothing else is.

Rated 6/10 for Black Metal for  ritual ambiance/noise, rare themes/lyrics.

"It also can be seen as the vision of one Pietro Riparbelli, an Italian artist who not only composed and recorded the whole thing throughout most of 2009 and 2010 but also designed its cryptic booklet and contributed with organs, medianic chants, field recordings and radio signals.

Defining himself as a "philosopher, composer and sound-multimedia artists based in Liverno, Italy", Riparbelli may have made for himself in the noise/experimental spheres with his main act K11 -- with whom he put out a bunch of lo-fi mind-boggling through multiple respectable imprint like Old Europa Café, 20 Buck Spin, Actual Noise or Aurora Borealis -- but Kaula is a whole different beast that eludes any firm categorization and whose desire to strip the listener down of any preconceived notions and take him somewhere he's never been before is the backbone of one-a-kind project. Musically wise, what could be seen at first glance at some kind of weird black-metal outburst -- including rasping vocals courtesy of Rosy from old-school death-metal warriors - Profanal and buzzsaw guitars -- soon makes sure all rules go out the windows by using various metal (doom, thrash) and non-metal (noise industrial) elements and create a sonic black hole.

But it's really on the spiritual level -- or, say, on the conceptual level if you will - that Kaula really treads on uncharted territories. Keen to explore the Hindu culture and the cult of Kali in particular, all the lyrics are based here on ancient text called 'Avadhuta Gita', said to have been originally written in the IXth century. As a result, all seven tracks have been named after it and are basically about attaining a spiritual state "equivalent to the existence of god".

Suffice to say that mastered by Mell Dettmer, who've worked with SunnO))) and Earth among (many) others, Kaula debut is a beast on its own."

*I must state that this probably shouldn't be listened to for enjoyment by anyone seeking to  destroy Kali worship, such as myself. From a spiritual point of view, this album threatens to strengthen the idea-forms of the Kali Yuga through individual psyches. 

** I couldn't find a place to download this from other than a Bandcamp page which charges you a euro. 


I felt like this album needed to be dealt with. Melodramatic Italians might have been pretentious in writing these descriptions, against which I can easily dismiss as something edgy. Other than the superb leads, I don't recommend this band.

Nostraman

This project is to decipher the language Nostraman from Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Night Lords books from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Nostraman is the third language used by the Eighth Legion, aside from High and Low Gothic, and is also their native tongue. Culturally it is set as an extremely poetic, “flowery” language that doesn’t translate well into English or any other language. Its customs are ruled by deceit, violence, base human nature and gang/mafia themes.

The analysis of this language will come from the examples pulled from the trilogy’s three books, Soul Hunter, Blood Reaver and Void Stalker. Not all examples have adequate context to translate them.

The method of analysis will be a comparative sequence to English sentences and patterns, which most likely are reflected in the text, “Kosh, kosh’eth tay…” He’s saying thank you. Thank you, thank you very much. There are numerous places where the English pattern seems to surface in reflection to the gloss but within the Nostraman text.

The following are excerpts from the books which have, at least, some kind of context from which to draw translation:

CORPUS

Soul Hunter

Viris colratha dath sethicara tesh dasovallian. Solruthis veh za jass.

Sons of our father, stand in midnight clad. We bring the night. 

(When they are speaking about Septimus' eye:)

Athasavis te corunai tol shathen sha'shian? – (?)

Kosh, kosh'eth tay... Ama sho'shalnath mirsa tota. Ithis jasha. Ithis jasha nereoss. 

Thank you, thank you very much… Good color, very good color.
 

Jasca – Yes

Blood Reaver

Ashilla sorsollun, Ashilla uthullun – I am blind, I am cold

Vaya vey... ne’sha – I don’t… understand

Shrilla la lerril – whore that mates with dogs

Vellith sar’darithas, volvallasha sor sul – (-asha might mean “I” in some way)

Tosha amthilla van veshi laliss – This vessel is cursed.

Forfallian dal sur shissis lalil na sha dareel - We must be cautious, watch yourself

Sil vasha nuray – He has no arms

Void Stalker

Sinthallia shar vor vall’velias – That woman will be the death of us.

Corshia Sey – Breath now

Nishallitha – poisonous (p 165), since –llia is often a noun ending, -llitha is an adjective ending.

Athrillay, Vylas – greetings, brother

Vulusha, vulusha sethrishan? – How, how much? 

Valmisai, shul’celadaan… Flishatha sey shol voroshica – Variel’s call to arms for Nostraman crew (p 344), perhaps with the phrase "Be ready now or die"

Vishi tha? – (p 347)

Ivalastitha – peace

Yrosia se naur tay helshival – smiling to mock me

Vel jaesha lai – I love you (?)
Juthai'lah – Preysight
Valas Morovai – First Claw (First Squad)

LEXICON

Amthilla – vessel

Ashilla – I, or I am

Athasavis – eye, lens (?)

Athrillay – greetings

Dasovallia – being midnight clad, Dasovallitha – midnight clad (adjectival form)

Flisatha – ready, Flisa – prepared (?)

Forfallia – being cautious, Forfallitha – cautious

Ithis – color

Ivalastitha – peaceful, Ivalastia – peace

Nishallia – poison, Nishallitha – poisonous

Ruthis – absence (?)

Sinthallia – woman

Solruthis – night, “being wanting of sun” maybe, or “absence of sun” (sol – sun)

Sorsollia – sun that illuminates, Sorsollun – blind (lit. sunless)

Uthullia – sun that warms, Uthullun – cold (lit. sunless)

Valas – claw
Vallia – armor, cover, clad

Viris – sons

Vor – death

Vylas – brother (being addressed), possibly Vyla – brother

Corshia – to breathe (second person singular)

Vasha – to have (third person singular), veshi – third person singular inanimate

Vaya vey ne’sha – to not understand (first person singular)

Voroshica – to die (second person plural)

Yrosia – to smile (second person singular)

Jasha – good

Morovai – first
Nereoss – very

Kosh – thanks, Kosh’eth tay – thank you very much

Sey – now

Shol – or

MORPHOLOGY

Since both the Ashilla sorsollun and Sinthallia excerpts has the “to be” verb in their translation, perhaps the ending –illa itself means “is”, since it’s seen that not all nouns have the ending –illa but when the word “is” specifically occurs in translation.

-ll- if not the verb “to be”, it probably denotes the nominative declension case

-asha is contained in all first-person nouns, therefore “I”

-as is the only example we have of a singular second-person address, therefore “you”

-ia is contained in all third-person references, therefore “it”

-ay is contained in the only plural third-person reference, thus “they”

-is is contained once in a plural second-person reference, therefore possible “you all”, or an adjectival ending (ithis – color, solruthis – without sun)

-ian probably means “we”

-un means without

Possible Personal Declension, e.g. Vallia – armor

Vallasha – “I, armored”

Vallas – “you, armored”

Vallia – “it, armored”, “it, armor”

Vallian – “we, armored”

Kinship terms, from the two stated here (Vyla – brother, Vira – son) center around the v and l/r continuum, which is common in Latin (High Gothic) and Indo-European in general to denote the word “man” or “person”.

Nostraman is rife with apostrophes, being either a multiplicity of contractions as is common in degenerate languages, or a simple aesthetic motif which is common of scifi (I’m inclined to believe the former). Whether or not A.D.B. actually has a language – if he actually constructed the language of Nostraman and used it for the books – or has only made up the sentences as he’s gone on is unknown.

You can find links to the two earlier articles about Nostraman here:

Deciphering Nostraman I

Deciphering Nostraman II

The data from both of these works has been compiled into the present page. This is one of the most popular pages and hopefully it continues to be of use to you. 

Disclaimer: Soul Hunter and all other books, and their contents, released by Black Library are their property. I'm not stealing.

Nebelung - Vigil

There they're rooting out the forests,
With the ruiners I want to fight,
This God in my left,
This ore in my right.

Blessings drip the golden flowers,
And they sanctify my weapons,
For I bring prayers to all
Which I myself have not created.

See, the gnat of a small life,
And how light is it to kill.
Yet they cannot knead from clay,
Yet they can't whistle from the pastures.

Only sometimes shakes the hunger;
Tender meat is good for eating,
And just as I murder the boar,
So will the wolves eat me.

Yet stays a Friend and willing
What ducks in shrubs and corners.
The wise snake calls me Herbs,
A Toad, the metal veins.

Brothers house in far-off cities,
Where they butcher, play and smoke.
Since there's much what they have,
And little of it is what they need.

For to me, these things are lavish:
Spears and arrows, when I hunt
And a woman for my nights,
And a child for my days.

To the roots I may fall
From the battle with the ruiners,
In the same earth will
Someday their bones rot.

-original from Die Roder

Band: Nebelung

Album: Vigil

Genre: Neofolk

Country: Germany

Year: 2008

More info Here and Here.

I discovered Nebelung in the summer of 2009, and this was my favorite song of theirs from the beginning. Recently I found a load of CDs I burnt at the time and put them in my car's track player, meaning that for the past few weeks I've heard this song every morning. When translating songs I try to make them fit the original pace of singing so they can be sung, the fact of which English is similar to German is to be thanked for.

On their album Vigil, this is definitely the "best" song. The other ones are toned down, mellower, and what you would expect from Neofolk. But they are good nonetheless, the lyrics are provocative and meaningful, and the music is soothing if not uplifting at times and dramatic. Again I gave the album a chance because of the cover art, which is superbly ambient and nicely done.

Rated 7.5/10 for Neofolk Organic neofolk with a few memorable songs and thoughtful lyrics


About the rating system: 5 is average, 0 is atrocious, 10 is the best thing you ever heard.

Failure - Perfect Isolation

Band: Failure

Album: Perfect Isolation [EP]

Genre: Post-Metal (listed as Depressive Black Metal)

Country: Honduras

Year: January 2013

Link: http://www.suicidepath.com/2013/02/failure-perfect-isolation.html

I started off listening to this album yesterday and finished it a few minutes ago, not really noticing the transition in songs. It's composed of a single sound-scape, sometimes rasping into heavy riffs and melodic... screaming as typical DBM vocals go. But there's a melancholy current drifting beneath all of it and it returns to prominence during the rest of the songs, which are calm. Most songs flow into one another or have abrupt endings, but the flow isn't broken for long.

I chose this album because of the attractive cover art, which is strange and simple as far as the genre goes. The "pure" quality and thoughts of Honduras unveiled a strange artistic essence that I wanted to pry deeper into. But what happened as I listened was a question that's passed my mind many times now: How can this be called Metal? Granted the long tradition of DSBM and how the typical metal-riffs get toned down into a melancholy sound-scape, but there are entire sections of the album with just calm, electronic and drum pieces. It was just calming, atmospheric music. Maybe someday a scientific committee of metal heads will get together and label this kind of music as non-metal, just like Pluto was labelled as a "dwarf" planet rather than a planet proper. But for now we'll continue to attach the label "metal" to it. But despite it being metal or not metal, the album was a calming piece without anything to really gripe of complain about. I couldn't find anything especially special about it, other than providing a good 40 minutes of relaxing background music. 

Rated 5/10 for Ambient Neutral, calming background music with Post-Metal gaze

***

As I've started to go back on the internet, especially to blogspots posting music (like the Dumah of so long ago), I've realize once again that there is simply a mess of too many bands and albums to focus on. Never having got a chance to hear most of them, I'm going to start picking albums from recent releases (since I don't really know anything about them) and listen to them one at a time in order to rate them in a sort of list. The number of albums being uploaded is far past casual browsing these days! So I'm going to have to start a system of going through them to see which ones are worth downloading.

Next up: Shadows of Tragedy Compilation
               Draugadrottin - Where the Sea Gives Up Its Dead

Well, that time has come again. The time to look back at the progress of this blog. Of course it's only meant to be a record of the projects I've worked on and need to save somehow in a way that's accessible and public. Yet only those few who've traveled this far know of it. That's the beauty of obscurity, of yelling something into the sea breeze, that only those few pilgrims and spirits of the depths will hear the cry and only those of true essence can sense it. It's one small security from the bludgeoning weight of the modern world, its mechanical alien nature and tenure. I've been adding words over the past few days to the version of the Black Speech featured on this site because it's the relatively easiest one to add to. The grammar is simple enough at this point to create freely without much trouble; and a selective vocabulary makes the choice much more fun. But in regards to my work with languages I have something greater approaching on the horizon.  

K

But first of all I'd like to finally state the nature of this site. This is a disclaimer and a statement of purpose. My experience and work with conlanging isn't done for the purpose of entertainment, escapism or anything of the sort. It's not a passionate or feverish cry into nothingness, or the ramblings of a dying and crazy mind. It's a subject of the utmost spiritual importance, and that is why I take it seriously. Constructing, managing and observing artificial language, such as has been on this web log, is an exercise in the mind and spirit; the therapy of connection between meaning and what we say, between true existence, the idea, and the actual action and thing. Between the spirit and the body, so to speak. And by generating language on the basis of introspection, with certain influences and currents of thought affected by spirits of different natures and beings, conlanging becomes an activity to reach into the human heart and look.    

K

None of what's here is driven on the basis of efficiency, auxiliary communication or artistic expression, to use those modern terms. Neither is it to test interhuman communication with any scientific method. This is free of all that. It's driven by discovery, by the novel within the self of what was always there, an infinite world hitherto unknown. In particular, each constructed language here has been driven by a different spirit, or aggregation of spirits, tending towards unification or breaching with another world. Lamian is the speech of the stone-elves of the eastern forests whose ruins still lay beneath tree trunks; Bljaidi is the tongue of a coastal people in the far north with a spirit of simplistic pragmatism and organic wholeness. Each language has been "revealed" to me in different ways, always drawing from some distant inner creative-spirit with minds and gods in other places unknown and alien, for which I am only the messenger (and diligent scribe), on the outset only appearing "artificial" by observational standards. But those who know and see deeper into the mists will have no doubt that the nature of these findings is one of utmost pure discovery.

K

With that being said, in the near future (the coming months, or seasons) I plan on printing a compilation of the work I've done here. There is more than I have published here since the blog's beginnings, more saved on my computer's hard drive that I have yet to put here. This will all be included. It will be a small book housing dictionaries and excerpts of the languages I've worked on (except perhaps of Nostraman, since that's Dembski-Bowden's domain and not mine). Each section will include an introduction to the language and then a detailed account of its grammar. These will reveal nearly all the transmittable aspects of the language that there is to know. At the end of each word-list there will also be an excerpt of the language to read including a full page written in the language. This will be a monumental task, for the process of composing in such a language is an arduous task and seems little rewarding. But just thinking of the greatness just forged bypasses all doubts. To think, an ENTIRE page written in the language. The fruits of my mind will finally come into bloom in that respect; it will be beautiful. I will also include hand-written samples for Lamian which has its own script. I'll also include the sum of the scripts I've created.  

K

This blog has existed for over a year now. The poem Waning of the Stars was written and posted here but little more than a year ago now. I remember those times, troubling and serene, much removed from the world I'm in now. It was quite different, and I'm surprised I've even kept up with this site. To see an entire year pass on its dates is amazing to me. In the beginning it changed a lot and then stayed the same for a while, fading into the back of my mind. But it's always there whenever I have something to put down. The fact is that most people, when using such rationalizations, tend to fall back on it as a fallacy and forget it forever. But the fact is also that I will always have such needs that this site does and will provide, and therefore it escapes the fate of the internet's sad and misbegotten children.  

K

Until next time.