Sometimes I'd go off on a tangent and contrive an entire conlang in a matter of hours. Often time I did this just for fun, with no other purpose. I've struggled with this madness many times, most of the time throwing away what I've created and never looking back to it. But the call is there. It consumes all other things, and makes me want to write.
Zanis was one such tangent. It fulfilled this puerile conception I had in mind of an archival language, purposed for simple transcription of information while retaining a "cool sound" that was both Arabesque and as if it was spoken by some arcane cult.
Of course, it's not a complete language. Here's what I have of it,
a- without
ba- great, revered
be- in-, to put into
ne- de-, under
bas shatter, break free from
barz dark, obscure, unseeable
bog god, deity
brog demon, troll
hal lord, holy one
hath holy
kal chain, bind; kahal - fetters, prison
kat creation, confection
nig swarthy, blackened
nun really, only, just
rak possession; marak - my, sarak - your, sharak - her
sal current, existence, soul, besal - influence, leadership; destruction
sar to do
sath equal, limit, saturation, dichotomy, reveal, under; asath - without equal
sha she
shab slave
shal planet, world; beshalatki - to spirit away/whisk away to another world, neshalatki - to bury
sheb servant, tool; beshebatki - to enslave
sher illusion, irreality; sherkatki - to deceive
shub beast, animal, goat
yab void, space
yog one, whole
zha who, which
-ai from
-al the
-an (verbs) can, able
-at turns the word into a verb, -atki - to, turns verb into infinitive form
-ath -ness
-na not, no (also written as -ne), e.g. sathne - not equal
-s (verbs) equatorial suffix, e.g. shas - she is
-ta the
-urath adjectival suffix, e.g. hal barzurath - Unseeable Lord
I imagined some inhabitant of a city from Lovecraft's dreams to have spoken this. It's obvious to see how Shub Niggurath is derived from this. There may have been other names as well. I don't plan on working on it anymore since it was a tangent... just something interesting to look at.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Lamian Words
How to change cases/Declension guide: Lamian Cases
Words that do not end in -as decline just like normal words except that the Nominative form often lacks -as. This is because those words are not derived from verbs.
Lexicon:
aithas - aether, od, aetheral energy and being
aras - air, nobility
asmas - position, way
doas - yonder (adj)
dos - stone, brick, sediment, v.1 to sediment, to settle, to cake, to amass, to harden
edas - unrelenting, ferocious, in fury, entranced, possessed
eiras - heights, angels
elas - heroy, bravery, spirit, will, friend, fellow, compatriot
eles - eye
epas - far-reaching, wide, long
etas - forewarning, ominous
gathas - flame, spark, figuratively a man, v. to dance, wisp
lapas - component, piece, unit, part
lepas - particle, unit, atom
magas - power, alchemy, science, magus
mayas - nurse, sister, nourisher, chaneller for Galas, attending maiden, tool, mother
modas - vibration, current, world, alterium, bound excursion (not used in sense of universe or altraum), bound fragment, continuum, the current world ,(mode of existence)
ostas - light, glow, the gentle light of morning, forms: ostemlai = sun's rays, ostayor = morning
palas - color, shade, shadow, emission, fruit, bud, flower, cast (thing itself)
paras - sphere, globe (geometry), v. to glide, orbit, go across
pelas - shade, skin, surface, shell (sea shell), face, thing
saras - sea/ocean, swarm, heavy
sopas - courteous host
uram - depths, waters; uncountable (uran)
bai - bee, wasp
both - chamber, compartment, hole, cell, burrow, nest, boith - honeycomb
eon - onion, bulb
dan - fir tree, fir forest
daum - smoke, light ash, scent, daumith - heavy ashes
thel - bird, avian
thuen - home, place where things belong
duen - path, way, course, track, loc. edueneas=to follow one's orbit
duer - gate
dul - rampart, room, pocket, enclave, cave, bunker, shelter, domain, vicinity, layer, inside of a shell (shell is shield/field/wall/barrier/gate/structure)
dun - noise, rumble, din
dum - depths, space, room
dur - dimension, world, especially a higher one; the spirit world, greater cosmic current, metaworlds
dirg - earth
don - unstable, dizzy, dancing, falling, shaking, trembling, abused
durg - shame, embarassment, serpent, scar
emla - tree, female
gam - heat, energy
gasma - see yab
lad - liquid, oil, bathe, foam
lan - cloth, fabric, linen, a line, strap, lace
lath - track of land, enclosement, land
las - lapus lazuli, cutting force, culling force, n o t e : gerimith and lasimith are considered sister-stones- one for growing, one for shearing. v. form is "shear" or "to cut". v. to cut
les - lace, string
lith - tear, rain drop (especially when the drop is running down something)
lod - body, shadow, shape, contour
lom - ample bosom, womb
lor - shadow, place, cast
lur - petal, flower petal, also used figuratively to mean child, a bud
man - place, temple, house
mas - lily pad, moss, algae, any soft cover
mes - moss, algae
min - love, eternal existence
mis - stream, brook, smaller river; moisture in soil, humidity
mith - stone, or grey
moc - forest, boundary, sea (of sth)
mor - field, sea, forms: moras yor/morayur = nightfall, twilight (when the stars appear, lit. opening of the field of stars)
mur - place, land, person, place-spirit, a whisper, a murmur, murmur in the earth. murai are trapped in the ground
mus - damp, tainted, filled, touched
nal - soft, like ground powder
nel - clump, lump, bump, clod, hill,hilltop (also nol)
nan - water, light/soft/powdery snow
nar - pond creature, insect
nas - snowy, snow, water, fluid-like, liquidy
nis - water, snow (harder than nas)
nin - snow
nir - band, chain, bridle, reign, strap, as a verb: to wrap around (lan)
niur - soon
nor - hole, gash, wound, defect, opening, crag, tear, lit. a "both" that has been emptied or hollowed out
num - cloud, nebula, collection of many things, brains, thought/conception/inception, nursery, free/anscestral spirits of a place too
nur - child, child of the stream, elf, water-mur, nymph, bride, blossom. Like mur, but less restricted to a place, transcendant of earth, or a running stream or growing plant
pad - a small trail on a hill or through a meadow, as a verb: to go along a path
reth - root, toe, foot, origin, support, spoke; red, rose, as a verb: to originate
sal - salt, mineral, powder, substance, medicine, lime (Salimith - rocky substance, ore)
sar - heavy, beating, pounding, smashing, hammer, something that comes down, falls (galasar - the fading/falling of a star)
sat - crystal, clarity, accuse, say truth, implant
sot - spilling, lumbering, saturation, bursting, decadent
sin - metal, ore
thal - to reckon, account for, count, take into order, inspect: thalas, also means "initiate"
thaud - corner, extreme or minimum of an ellipse, apsis, periapsis, apoapsis
ther - wind, zephyr, gust, expulsion, convulsion, breeze of air, breath
yab - gap, void, chasm, expansive
yar - segment, portion, instance (usually of time), point, spot, one out of a whole
yel - cold, devoid of heat or energy, dead
yer - procession, process, march, order forth, plan that is enacted, line, row as a verb: to proceed, march, go forth, and when paired with object = to depart
yir - sequence, set, order, line, row
yol - hill, mound, boulder, parabolic expression or protrusion, usually of land (Yolas Dirg). Yoluas is the arch of a letter, and yollan/lanas yol is arch.
yor/yur/gur - reinstigation, resurrection, rising, coming
yun - vegitable, bulb, herb
asaras - lake
osaras - pond
aluas - eternity
aluen - river
oluas - word, rune, inscription, script, letter, chant
eleas - seat, pedestel
etei - may you be
ulos - inhale
elos - exhale
thar - vector
Examples of combinations:
emla - tree
emlayir - a row of trees
emlith - a small group of trees
emlayer - procession of trees, as a verb: cutting down a tree (emlayeras, emlayerin, emlayeranniur)
Suffixes:
-aies many
-ain having done something
-ainna most, very (adjectival)
-en instrumentive noun maker
-eni how many
-ete as, like, in the way/mode of
-i with
-ine (verbs) to, in order to, towards (opposite of tei)
-iat agent marker/having done something, e.g. miriat = having seen
-iet being as, as a, being, to be
-ior question marker (v/n)
-ioru question marker, "if without"
-o from, by, because of
-te gerund, subjunctive marker (v) (-ing, jp. -te)
-tei when, if, during the moment of, after this, direct subjunctive for (v), describes following event
-un time, place, event, also -eimas
-an (verb) conjugate marker, also means "that which", in continuous verbal sense (especially when not connected to any suffix.)
poetic devices:
-iol (unknown)
-em related to the speaker
-es related to the listener
yey now and then, sporadically
yayu beginning, suddenly
yoyu suddenly
yoy now
yae then, that, in which
de last
a and, but also
e and, also, with
cyo what, interrogative pronoun (as in cyo leseinne?')
sa then, therefore, so, thus, well, anyways
ta singularly, only, alone, just, w/o when paired w/ gen
ue for what, towards what, lit. "towards not?", also means reason or cause
ut and
mui negation, not, ex. easiet mui easiet:to be or not to be
muie no more, not any more
muis if not, if not for, without
mie ever, never, forever
mies if ever
This should be my last post about Lamian. It was good while it lasted. Take what you can from it.
Words that do not end in -as decline just like normal words except that the Nominative form often lacks -as. This is because those words are not derived from verbs.
Lexicon:
aithas - aether, od, aetheral energy and being
aras - air, nobility
asmas - position, way
doas - yonder (adj)
dos - stone, brick, sediment, v.1 to sediment, to settle, to cake, to amass, to harden
edas - unrelenting, ferocious, in fury, entranced, possessed
eiras - heights, angels
elas - heroy, bravery, spirit, will, friend, fellow, compatriot
eles - eye
epas - far-reaching, wide, long
etas - forewarning, ominous
gathas - flame, spark, figuratively a man, v. to dance, wisp
lapas - component, piece, unit, part
lepas - particle, unit, atom
magas - power, alchemy, science, magus
mayas - nurse, sister, nourisher, chaneller for Galas, attending maiden, tool, mother
modas - vibration, current, world, alterium, bound excursion (not used in sense of universe or altraum), bound fragment, continuum, the current world ,(mode of existence)
ostas - light, glow, the gentle light of morning, forms: ostemlai = sun's rays, ostayor = morning
palas - color, shade, shadow, emission, fruit, bud, flower, cast (thing itself)
paras - sphere, globe (geometry), v. to glide, orbit, go across
pelas - shade, skin, surface, shell (sea shell), face, thing
saras - sea/ocean, swarm, heavy
sopas - courteous host
uram - depths, waters; uncountable (uran)
bai - bee, wasp
both - chamber, compartment, hole, cell, burrow, nest, boith - honeycomb
eon - onion, bulb
dan - fir tree, fir forest
daum - smoke, light ash, scent, daumith - heavy ashes
thel - bird, avian
thuen - home, place where things belong
duen - path, way, course, track, loc. edueneas=to follow one's orbit
duer - gate
dul - rampart, room, pocket, enclave, cave, bunker, shelter, domain, vicinity, layer, inside of a shell (shell is shield/field/wall/barrier/gate/structure)
dun - noise, rumble, din
dum - depths, space, room
dur - dimension, world, especially a higher one; the spirit world, greater cosmic current, metaworlds
dirg - earth
don - unstable, dizzy, dancing, falling, shaking, trembling, abused
durg - shame, embarassment, serpent, scar
emla - tree, female
gam - heat, energy
gasma - see yab
lad - liquid, oil, bathe, foam
lan - cloth, fabric, linen, a line, strap, lace
lath - track of land, enclosement, land
las - lapus lazuli, cutting force, culling force, n o t e : gerimith and lasimith are considered sister-stones- one for growing, one for shearing. v. form is "shear" or "to cut". v. to cut
les - lace, string
lith - tear, rain drop (especially when the drop is running down something)
lod - body, shadow, shape, contour
lom - ample bosom, womb
lor - shadow, place, cast
lur - petal, flower petal, also used figuratively to mean child, a bud
man - place, temple, house
mas - lily pad, moss, algae, any soft cover
mes - moss, algae
min - love, eternal existence
mis - stream, brook, smaller river; moisture in soil, humidity
mith - stone, or grey
moc - forest, boundary, sea (of sth)
mor - field, sea, forms: moras yor/morayur = nightfall, twilight (when the stars appear, lit. opening of the field of stars)
mur - place, land, person, place-spirit, a whisper, a murmur, murmur in the earth. murai are trapped in the ground
mus - damp, tainted, filled, touched
nal - soft, like ground powder
nel - clump, lump, bump, clod, hill,hilltop (also nol)
nan - water, light/soft/powdery snow
nar - pond creature, insect
nas - snowy, snow, water, fluid-like, liquidy
nis - water, snow (harder than nas)
nin - snow
nir - band, chain, bridle, reign, strap, as a verb: to wrap around (lan)
niur - soon
nor - hole, gash, wound, defect, opening, crag, tear, lit. a "both" that has been emptied or hollowed out
num - cloud, nebula, collection of many things, brains, thought/conception/inception, nursery, free/anscestral spirits of a place too
nur - child, child of the stream, elf, water-mur, nymph, bride, blossom. Like mur, but less restricted to a place, transcendant of earth, or a running stream or growing plant
pad - a small trail on a hill or through a meadow, as a verb: to go along a path
reth - root, toe, foot, origin, support, spoke; red, rose, as a verb: to originate
sal - salt, mineral, powder, substance, medicine, lime (Salimith - rocky substance, ore)
sar - heavy, beating, pounding, smashing, hammer, something that comes down, falls (galasar - the fading/falling of a star)
sat - crystal, clarity, accuse, say truth, implant
sot - spilling, lumbering, saturation, bursting, decadent
sin - metal, ore
thal - to reckon, account for, count, take into order, inspect: thalas, also means "initiate"
thaud - corner, extreme or minimum of an ellipse, apsis, periapsis, apoapsis
ther - wind, zephyr, gust, expulsion, convulsion, breeze of air, breath
yab - gap, void, chasm, expansive
yar - segment, portion, instance (usually of time), point, spot, one out of a whole
yel - cold, devoid of heat or energy, dead
yer - procession, process, march, order forth, plan that is enacted, line, row as a verb: to proceed, march, go forth, and when paired with object = to depart
yir - sequence, set, order, line, row
yol - hill, mound, boulder, parabolic expression or protrusion, usually of land (Yolas Dirg). Yoluas is the arch of a letter, and yollan/lanas yol is arch.
yor/yur/gur - reinstigation, resurrection, rising, coming
yun - vegitable, bulb, herb
asaras - lake
osaras - pond
aluas - eternity
aluen - river
oluas - word, rune, inscription, script, letter, chant
eleas - seat, pedestel
etei - may you be
ulos - inhale
elos - exhale
thar - vector
Examples of combinations:
emla - tree
emlayir - a row of trees
emlith - a small group of trees
emlayer - procession of trees, as a verb: cutting down a tree (emlayeras, emlayerin, emlayeranniur)
Suffixes:
-aies many
-ain having done something
-ainna most, very (adjectival)
-en instrumentive noun maker
-eni how many
-ete as, like, in the way/mode of
-i with
-ine (verbs) to, in order to, towards (opposite of tei)
-iat agent marker/having done something, e.g. miriat = having seen
-iet being as, as a, being, to be
-ior question marker (v/n)
-ioru question marker, "if without"
-o from, by, because of
-te gerund, subjunctive marker (v) (-ing, jp. -te)
-tei when, if, during the moment of, after this, direct subjunctive for (v), describes following event
-un time, place, event, also -eimas
-an (verb) conjugate marker, also means "that which", in continuous verbal sense (especially when not connected to any suffix.)
poetic devices:
-iol (unknown)
-em related to the speaker
-es related to the listener
yey now and then, sporadically
yayu beginning, suddenly
yoyu suddenly
yoy now
yae then, that, in which
de last
a and, but also
e and, also, with
cyo what, interrogative pronoun (as in cyo leseinne?')
sa then, therefore, so, thus, well, anyways
ta singularly, only, alone, just, w/o when paired w/ gen
ue for what, towards what, lit. "towards not?", also means reason or cause
ut and
mui negation, not, ex. easiet mui easiet:to be or not to be
muie no more, not any more
muis if not, if not for, without
mie ever, never, forever
mies if ever
This should be my last post about Lamian. It was good while it lasted. Take what you can from it.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Lamian Verbs
The verbs of my conlang, Lamian, are a mix in grammar between Indo-European stems and Japanese morphology. The verbs also follow a uniquely philosophical series of laws. All infinitives are given in the "past tense". There are three tenses that preside over Lamian verbs.
1. Present tense, or "Temporal Tense" - these describe actions happening now, or actions which happen only in the immediate present. Such actions are not continuous and happen within a short period of time; they can be repeated, but they happen "in the now". They describe actions that are temporal, and describe only one instance of the action it describes.
2. Past tense, or "Continuous Tense" - these describe continuous actions, or actions that things tend to do overtime continuously. These include descriptions of processes that repeat and exist throughout time and beyond time; for example, the rotations of the planets is a continual process, and would commonly by represented with the Past Tense, as if to say, "That which was, is and will always be".
3. Future tense - these describe actions that will happen soon, or are predestined to happen.
Take the statement, einin, which means "rotates" or "it rotates". Since it is in the Present tense, it means something akin to "it rotates now" or "at the moment it rotates"; it implies that it may or may not rotate in the future, and that it may or may not have rotated in the past - only that it rotates at the moment of the speaker. It describes a current reality that may be unique to this time. One might say, "a book spins", because someone flips a book into the air - it describes a temporal motion of an object. Books do not tend to spin, and the spinning book has not always spun nor will spin naturally in the future - but it spins now, and that is expressed with the Present tense.
The statement, einas, which means "rotated" or "rotates", is descriptive of the continuous process of rotation. For example, the rotation of a book, as in the previous example, would never be expressed in the Past tense, since the action only happens "in the now". However, something like the rotation of a planet would be expressed with the Past tense, since it is something that has existed and continues to exist. The Lamian philosophy states that temporal actions do not exist in the long-run of time, only "in the now". It also states that anything in the past worth recording are continual processes, since these are the only actions which have real and everlasting importance. This eliminates triviality, and therefore Past tense expresses actions that continue to effect us even today. It also expresses reoccurring things and things that continue to act a certain way. An example of this sense in English would be, "He shaves". The sense of this statement doesn't mean that he shaves at that very instance, but it means that he shaves reoccurring, that it is something continuous that he does that is not a one-time action expressive of only a present occurrence. It is a reoccurring, or eternal, action by the person, an action that has happened and thus continue to happen as before. That is the nature which the Past tense is expressive of. Future tense is just expressive of something that is predetermined to happen, and uses the element "niur", which means "soon".
There exists a certain set of attachable prefixes in Lamian that each give a specific extended meaning to a verb. For example, the prefix e- means "across" or "trans", like the P.I.E. prefix "s-", and it also implies a certain earthly or temporal nature for the verb. The verb leas means to lay down, to found, to chose and to collect, and when it is paired with this prefix, eleas means to lie across something, to stretch across, to cover or to place on something. It implies specifically something earthly or relating to the physical, such as stretching a blanket of night over the land, or a country lying in a particular corner of the earth, or simply lying down. Common combinations of these prefixes are supplied in the Verb list, while other combos are left to the creative combination of the writers.
Verbs are also closely linked with nouns, since in Lamian every noun was developed from a parent verb. Both the Past tense of a Lamian verb, which is expressive of continual existence, and the nominative case of a Lamian noun, which is expressive of an unchanging object, have the same ending: -as. This is because they originate from the same ending. For example, the word lamas by itself means both light and to illuminate. This is because the Lamian philosophy states that the statement of a noun automatically indicates the main reoccurring tenancy of the thing, and statement of a verb automatically implies the presence of the thing which naturally/continually preforms that action. Therefore, to say "lamas" implies the presence of light as well as the reoccurring action of light, which is to illuminate, thus expressing the existence of light.
However, there are times when one object preforms an action that is not typical to it; for example, a light could burn something or blind something. In this case, you would state both the noun lamas and the word for burning, beras. The object of the sentence, which is the receiver of the action, can also be attached to the verb by using an -a- stem, for example, lamam ganas, which means "to summon light", can also be expressed as "lamaganas". Lamas has its ending changed to a simple -a and then added onto ganas, which means to call or summon.
Word order is usually subject - object - verb. Whenever the verb happens to be the same as the subject, for example lamas - light and to illuminate, the order is simply subject - object or verb-object, since they are the same. When the object is attached to the verb, it becomes subject - verb, since in that case, the verb is not the same as the subject.
This way redundancy is reduced, so instead of saying lamas modam lamas ("the light lights the world"), you would say "lamas modam" or "modam lamas", or even just "modalamas".
Verb list:
aithas to breath, fluctuate, rhythm
agas to absolve, eat, absorb (dumie eragas - to fade (into darkness), also gamageas - to fade, lit. stretch heat, experience entropy, to bleed)
beras to pulse, throb, twinkle, go in and out (when paired with noun in locative case = in and out of (noun), e.g. in and out of the trees). Related word: belai - flowers (lit. the blooms, blossoms,)
degas to burn
eas to exist, to be; Related words: eam - existence
eras to thus be, to so be (eas paired with prefix -er)
einas to become, turn, rotate; Related words: einai - rotational periods, of day cycle, rotation
elas to keep, hold, retain, withhold, have, show, bear, exhibit
enas to command, put forth, lead, decide, rule, reign, take ownership/responsibility, put, mandate, enact; Related words: enam - ruler, lord, king, ienas - to disperse, dismiss
erenas to so be ordered/commanded
galas to nurture, sustain, produce; Related word: galam - fount, fountain, well, star, duct
gamas to charge, warm, Related word: gamen - hearth, fireplace
geas to gape, stretch, open wide, n. chasm, gap, universe/cosmos (also yasma/gasma/casma)
gemas to pour, flow into, flood, swarm
ganas to call, summon, bring, charge, call out for, conjure, name
duorganas - to summon a bridge
genas to progenate, continue, produce, make alive, go on, make go on
geras to make timed, emerge, begin, coming into being, make becoming; geram - plant (?) (lit. growths), geraduen - time's flow
geril - plant, flower
gerith - garden
geren vessel of time, ath. that bears the mark of time, the fruit of time, grain, harvest, crop, culture; sth through which you can mark the time
lamas to illuminate, emit; lamam - light, lamen - lamp, lantern, vessel
leas to gather, collect, count, tell, lay down, choose, judge, found; layam - law, order, dictation, judgement, transform
eleas to lie across or on something, or, to stretch across, lie (as in a place), be placed on sth., or, to traverse
erleas to found, dictate
lipas to slip, evade, glide, get out of or in way, +gen. slip away from, when paired with noun in locative case = slip into, through or within
litas to slide, ski or surf. Similar to lipas except it requires a medium to run down; to tear or rain
luas to record, mark, scratch, leave mark, crest, stroke; luam - record, recording, text, work, piece of work
oluen book, written material, codex
ithas to meet, congregate, transit; allign; galithas - planetary allignment, planetary transit
luseas to search for
meas to mow, reap, cut, take, put into, insert, take (as in to eat); omean - scythe, tool for reaping
melas to crush, hit, bring in, grind, compact (i.e. gravity); melen - container of gravity, hammer, graviton
miras to behold, bear witness, witness; miram - miracle, spectacle, sight, vista, vision
nathas to give, the accusitive to need or be needed by
niuras to come, be soon, be resultant
pagas (unknown)
samas to unify, make one, bring together
semas n. sense, nature, as in something's nature, aspect, essence, being
seas to say, differentiate, tell, judge to be so, discern, proclaim
oseas to depart
eseas to see through, see visions, use the third eye, see from afar, to dictate from divine posession
erseas to say, speak, proclaim
thas to concieve, give birth to, make, create, bring into world (or asthas); lamasthas - create light
Verb prefixes:
e through, across, around, over
a over, into
o related to an object, means to an end
er, ere literally, physically, resultantly
tha fore-, in favor of, -like,
i inter-, ex-, dis-, un-, atomize
po with-, con-
1. Present tense, or "Temporal Tense" - these describe actions happening now, or actions which happen only in the immediate present. Such actions are not continuous and happen within a short period of time; they can be repeated, but they happen "in the now". They describe actions that are temporal, and describe only one instance of the action it describes.
2. Past tense, or "Continuous Tense" - these describe continuous actions, or actions that things tend to do overtime continuously. These include descriptions of processes that repeat and exist throughout time and beyond time; for example, the rotations of the planets is a continual process, and would commonly by represented with the Past Tense, as if to say, "That which was, is and will always be".
3. Future tense - these describe actions that will happen soon, or are predestined to happen.
Take the statement, einin, which means "rotates" or "it rotates". Since it is in the Present tense, it means something akin to "it rotates now" or "at the moment it rotates"; it implies that it may or may not rotate in the future, and that it may or may not have rotated in the past - only that it rotates at the moment of the speaker. It describes a current reality that may be unique to this time. One might say, "a book spins", because someone flips a book into the air - it describes a temporal motion of an object. Books do not tend to spin, and the spinning book has not always spun nor will spin naturally in the future - but it spins now, and that is expressed with the Present tense.
The statement, einas, which means "rotated" or "rotates", is descriptive of the continuous process of rotation. For example, the rotation of a book, as in the previous example, would never be expressed in the Past tense, since the action only happens "in the now". However, something like the rotation of a planet would be expressed with the Past tense, since it is something that has existed and continues to exist. The Lamian philosophy states that temporal actions do not exist in the long-run of time, only "in the now". It also states that anything in the past worth recording are continual processes, since these are the only actions which have real and everlasting importance. This eliminates triviality, and therefore Past tense expresses actions that continue to effect us even today. It also expresses reoccurring things and things that continue to act a certain way. An example of this sense in English would be, "He shaves". The sense of this statement doesn't mean that he shaves at that very instance, but it means that he shaves reoccurring, that it is something continuous that he does that is not a one-time action expressive of only a present occurrence. It is a reoccurring, or eternal, action by the person, an action that has happened and thus continue to happen as before. That is the nature which the Past tense is expressive of. Future tense is just expressive of something that is predetermined to happen, and uses the element "niur", which means "soon".
There exists a certain set of attachable prefixes in Lamian that each give a specific extended meaning to a verb. For example, the prefix e- means "across" or "trans", like the P.I.E. prefix "s-", and it also implies a certain earthly or temporal nature for the verb. The verb leas means to lay down, to found, to chose and to collect, and when it is paired with this prefix, eleas means to lie across something, to stretch across, to cover or to place on something. It implies specifically something earthly or relating to the physical, such as stretching a blanket of night over the land, or a country lying in a particular corner of the earth, or simply lying down. Common combinations of these prefixes are supplied in the Verb list, while other combos are left to the creative combination of the writers.
Verbs are also closely linked with nouns, since in Lamian every noun was developed from a parent verb. Both the Past tense of a Lamian verb, which is expressive of continual existence, and the nominative case of a Lamian noun, which is expressive of an unchanging object, have the same ending: -as. This is because they originate from the same ending. For example, the word lamas by itself means both light and to illuminate. This is because the Lamian philosophy states that the statement of a noun automatically indicates the main reoccurring tenancy of the thing, and statement of a verb automatically implies the presence of the thing which naturally/continually preforms that action. Therefore, to say "lamas" implies the presence of light as well as the reoccurring action of light, which is to illuminate, thus expressing the existence of light.
However, there are times when one object preforms an action that is not typical to it; for example, a light could burn something or blind something. In this case, you would state both the noun lamas and the word for burning, beras. The object of the sentence, which is the receiver of the action, can also be attached to the verb by using an -a- stem, for example, lamam ganas, which means "to summon light", can also be expressed as "lamaganas". Lamas has its ending changed to a simple -a and then added onto ganas, which means to call or summon.
Word order is usually subject - object - verb. Whenever the verb happens to be the same as the subject, for example lamas - light and to illuminate, the order is simply subject - object or verb-object, since they are the same. When the object is attached to the verb, it becomes subject - verb, since in that case, the verb is not the same as the subject.
This way redundancy is reduced, so instead of saying lamas modam lamas ("the light lights the world"), you would say "lamas modam" or "modam lamas", or even just "modalamas".
Verb list:
aithas to breath, fluctuate, rhythm
agas to absolve, eat, absorb (dumie eragas - to fade (into darkness), also gamageas - to fade, lit. stretch heat, experience entropy, to bleed)
beras to pulse, throb, twinkle, go in and out (when paired with noun in locative case = in and out of (noun), e.g. in and out of the trees). Related word: belai - flowers (lit. the blooms, blossoms,)
degas to burn
eas to exist, to be; Related words: eam - existence
eras to thus be, to so be (eas paired with prefix -er)
einas to become, turn, rotate; Related words: einai - rotational periods, of day cycle, rotation
elas to keep, hold, retain, withhold, have, show, bear, exhibit
enas to command, put forth, lead, decide, rule, reign, take ownership/responsibility, put, mandate, enact; Related words: enam - ruler, lord, king, ienas - to disperse, dismiss
erenas to so be ordered/commanded
galas to nurture, sustain, produce; Related word: galam - fount, fountain, well, star, duct
gamas to charge, warm, Related word: gamen - hearth, fireplace
geas to gape, stretch, open wide, n. chasm, gap, universe/cosmos (also yasma/gasma/casma)
gemas to pour, flow into, flood, swarm
ganas to call, summon, bring, charge, call out for, conjure, name
duorganas - to summon a bridge
genas to progenate, continue, produce, make alive, go on, make go on
geras to make timed, emerge, begin, coming into being, make becoming; geram - plant (?) (lit. growths), geraduen - time's flow
geril - plant, flower
gerith - garden
geren vessel of time, ath. that bears the mark of time, the fruit of time, grain, harvest, crop, culture; sth through which you can mark the time
lamas to illuminate, emit; lamam - light, lamen - lamp, lantern, vessel
leas to gather, collect, count, tell, lay down, choose, judge, found; layam - law, order, dictation, judgement, transform
eleas to lie across or on something, or, to stretch across, lie (as in a place), be placed on sth., or, to traverse
erleas to found, dictate
lipas to slip, evade, glide, get out of or in way, +gen. slip away from, when paired with noun in locative case = slip into, through or within
litas to slide, ski or surf. Similar to lipas except it requires a medium to run down; to tear or rain
luas to record, mark, scratch, leave mark, crest, stroke; luam - record, recording, text, work, piece of work
oluen book, written material, codex
ithas to meet, congregate, transit; allign; galithas - planetary allignment, planetary transit
luseas to search for
meas to mow, reap, cut, take, put into, insert, take (as in to eat); omean - scythe, tool for reaping
melas to crush, hit, bring in, grind, compact (i.e. gravity); melen - container of gravity, hammer, graviton
miras to behold, bear witness, witness; miram - miracle, spectacle, sight, vista, vision
nathas to give, the accusitive to need or be needed by
niuras to come, be soon, be resultant
pagas (unknown)
samas to unify, make one, bring together
semas n. sense, nature, as in something's nature, aspect, essence, being
seas to say, differentiate, tell, judge to be so, discern, proclaim
oseas to depart
eseas to see through, see visions, use the third eye, see from afar, to dictate from divine posession
erseas to say, speak, proclaim
thas to concieve, give birth to, make, create, bring into world (or asthas); lamasthas - create light
Verb prefixes:
e through, across, around, over
a over, into
o related to an object, means to an end
er, ere literally, physically, resultantly
tha fore-, in favor of, -like,
i inter-, ex-, dis-, un-, atomize
po with-, con-
Monday, September 19, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Deciphering Nostraman I
See:
Nostraman (main article)
Deciphering Nostraman II
In the dark future, there is only conlanging. Aaron Dembski-Bowden's novel Soul Hunter embarks on the presentation of the constructed language Nostraman, which is the obscure and native language of the Night Lords legion in the Warhammer 40k universe. Since the language seems to have some semblance of consistency, I think Dembski-Bowden has a certain formula for this language that he's only revealed to us in little snippets so far. We are only given sparse phrases in Nostraman, with only rudimentary translations part of the time since Nostraman is "hard to translate" into any other tongue.
Currently there are two books that have samples of Dembski-Bowden's Nostraman; Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver. This post will be going over the language as presented in the first book; I'll do an analysis on the text presented in Blood Reaver at a later date.
In the book's universe, Nostraman is a grandiose and wordy language, "flowery", "The tongue had its
roots in High Gothic, but much had changed through generations of unique phrasing by faithless, truthless, peaceless people." There are obvious examples of where Nostraman words come from High Gothic (Latin), for example, what other word would mean "night" in the phrase, "Solruthis ve za jass" ? Here I postulate "Solruthis" to be a flowery word meaning "Without Sun", meaning "Night". From this we can see that "Sol" means Sun as in Latin, and that -ruthis is some kind of suffix akin to English "-less", as if to say "Sunlessness".
Another expression come across in the book is, "Kosh, Kosh'eth tay." This is translated as an expression of thanking someone. Notice the use of the apostrophe when a word seems to be "added" to another word; in our history, languages descending from Latin often contracted forms using the apostrophe (look at French; le Amerique -> l'Amerique). Therefore, the " 'eth " might function in a similar way, for a word probably expressing an integral part of a sentence like a pronoun. Since people sometimes lengthen their graces by expanding "Thanks" into "Thank you very much", this phrase could perhaps mean something along these lines: "Thank you, thank you very much". You can see here the same pattern of repetition. So then, if Kosh is expressive of a simple "thanks", 'eth could mean "you" and tay could mean "very much" or an expression of great quantity, an intensifier. Supposing these things are true, we now have three words for which we know the meanings: kosh, 'eth and tay. We should experiment with these if found anywhere else in the sample texts in order to figure out if they indeed mean these things.
The corpus:
Viris colratha dath sethicara tesh dasovallian. Solruthis veh za jass.
Sons of our father, stand in midnight clad. We bring the night.
Athasavis te corunai tol shathen sha'shian?
Kosh, kosh'eth tay... Ama sho'shalnath mirsa tota. Ithis jasha. Ithis jasha nereoss.
Jasca
Yes
Possible words:
Corunai eye
Ithis color
Jasca yes
Jasha nice
Kosh thanks
Nereoss very, an intensifier
Tay very, an intensifier
Te your
Solruthis night
Viris sons (or father, ?)
Like I said, I am not sure about any of this, most of this is pure speculation. Please stick around for part II.
(P.S. - I really hope that Dembski-Bowden actually made a conlang for this, and didn't just make up random words ;^;)
Nostraman (main article)
Deciphering Nostraman II
In the dark future, there is only conlanging. Aaron Dembski-Bowden's novel Soul Hunter embarks on the presentation of the constructed language Nostraman, which is the obscure and native language of the Night Lords legion in the Warhammer 40k universe. Since the language seems to have some semblance of consistency, I think Dembski-Bowden has a certain formula for this language that he's only revealed to us in little snippets so far. We are only given sparse phrases in Nostraman, with only rudimentary translations part of the time since Nostraman is "hard to translate" into any other tongue.
Currently there are two books that have samples of Dembski-Bowden's Nostraman; Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver. This post will be going over the language as presented in the first book; I'll do an analysis on the text presented in Blood Reaver at a later date.
In the book's universe, Nostraman is a grandiose and wordy language, "flowery", "The tongue had its
roots in High Gothic, but much had changed through generations of unique phrasing by faithless, truthless, peaceless people." There are obvious examples of where Nostraman words come from High Gothic (Latin), for example, what other word would mean "night" in the phrase, "Solruthis ve za jass" ? Here I postulate "Solruthis" to be a flowery word meaning "Without Sun", meaning "Night". From this we can see that "Sol" means Sun as in Latin, and that -ruthis is some kind of suffix akin to English "-less", as if to say "Sunlessness".
Another expression come across in the book is, "Kosh, Kosh'eth tay." This is translated as an expression of thanking someone. Notice the use of the apostrophe when a word seems to be "added" to another word; in our history, languages descending from Latin often contracted forms using the apostrophe (look at French; le Amerique -> l'Amerique). Therefore, the " 'eth " might function in a similar way, for a word probably expressing an integral part of a sentence like a pronoun. Since people sometimes lengthen their graces by expanding "Thanks" into "Thank you very much", this phrase could perhaps mean something along these lines: "Thank you, thank you very much". You can see here the same pattern of repetition. So then, if Kosh is expressive of a simple "thanks", 'eth could mean "you" and tay could mean "very much" or an expression of great quantity, an intensifier. Supposing these things are true, we now have three words for which we know the meanings: kosh, 'eth and tay. We should experiment with these if found anywhere else in the sample texts in order to figure out if they indeed mean these things.
The corpus:
Viris colratha dath sethicara tesh dasovallian. Solruthis veh za jass.
Sons of our father, stand in midnight clad. We bring the night.
Athasavis te corunai tol shathen sha'shian?
Kosh, kosh'eth tay... Ama sho'shalnath mirsa tota. Ithis jasha. Ithis jasha nereoss.
Jasca
Yes
Possible words:
Corunai eye
Ithis color
Jasca yes
Jasha nice
Kosh thanks
Nereoss very, an intensifier
Tay very, an intensifier
Te your
Solruthis night
Viris sons (or father, ?)
Like I said, I am not sure about any of this, most of this is pure speculation. Please stick around for part II.
(P.S. - I really hope that Dembski-Bowden actually made a conlang for this, and didn't just make up random words ;^;)
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Language of the Vril-ya
Il - God, e.g. Ilu-Aschera
Vri - as, like, both of these are Babylonian words
Vril - "As God"
Yani-Ya Koom-Zi Vril-Ya An Sumer An Drakon Aur-an
Yani-Ya Glek-Ya Sol Nax An Sorat An Drakon Aur-an
Enter the place of the Vril-ya, man of Sumer, man of Dragon to his well-being.
Enter the revolution of the Dark Sun, man of Sorat, man of Dragon to his well-being.
A-glauran - their political creed, "the first principle of a community is the good of all."Ata - sorrow
Aub - invention
Aur-an - health or well-being
Bodh - knowledge
Bodh-kum - ignorance
Ek - strife
Glata - public sorrow, public calamity
Glaubsila - poetry
Glauran - well-being of the state
Glek - universal strife
Glek-Nas - degeneration, entropy
Glun - town
Iva-zi - eternal goodness
Kum - cavern, hollowness, space (also spelled as koom)
Kum-in - hole
Kum-posh - government of the many
Kum-zi - vacancy, a void
Nan-zi - eternal evil
Naria - sin
Narl - death
Nas - corruption
Nax - darkness
Pah-bodh - futile philosophy
Pu-pra - disgust
Pu-naria - falsehood
Sila - frequency, tone
Tu-bodh - philosophy
Un - house
Veed - immortal spirit
Veedya - immortality
Ya - to go, a very important auxillary verb
Zi - to stay or repose
Zi-kum - valley
Zummer - lover
Zutze - love
Zuzulia - delight
Excerpt from Lytton's Vril:Power of the Coming Race:
Example: An - man
SINGULAR
Nom.: An, Man
Dat.: Ano, to Man
Ac.: Anam, Man
Voc.: Hil-An, O Man
PLURAL
Nom.: Ana, Men
Dat.: Anoi, to Men
Ac.: Ananda, Men
Voc.: Hil-Ananda, O Men
Example: Ya - to go
Yam - I go
Yiam - I may go
Yani-ya - I shall go (literally, I go to go)
Zam-pu-yan - I have gone (literally, I rest from gone).
"Ya, as a termination, implies by analogy, progress, movement, efflorescence. Zi, as a terminal, denotes fixity, sometimes in a good sense, sometimes in a bad, according to the word with which it is coupled."
"By a single letter, according to its position, they contrive to express all that with civilised nations in our upper world it takes the waste, sometimes of syllables, sometimes of sentences, to express. Let me here cite one or two instances: An (which I will translate man), Ana (men); the letter s is with them a letter implying multitude, according to where it is placed; Sana means mankind; Ansa, a multitude of men."
Vri - as, like, both of these are Babylonian words
Vril - "As God"
Yani-Ya Koom-Zi Vril-Ya An Sumer An Drakon Aur-an
Yani-Ya Glek-Ya Sol Nax An Sorat An Drakon Aur-an
Enter the place of the Vril-ya, man of Sumer, man of Dragon to his well-being.
Enter the revolution of the Dark Sun, man of Sorat, man of Dragon to his well-being.
A-glauran - their political creed, "the first principle of a community is the good of all."Ata - sorrow
Aub - invention
Aur-an - health or well-being
Bodh - knowledge
Bodh-kum - ignorance
Ek - strife
Glata - public sorrow, public calamity
Glaubsila - poetry
Glauran - well-being of the state
Glek - universal strife
Glek-Nas - degeneration, entropy
Glun - town
Iva-zi - eternal goodness
Kum - cavern, hollowness, space (also spelled as koom)
Kum-in - hole
Kum-posh - government of the many
Kum-zi - vacancy, a void
Nan-zi - eternal evil
Naria - sin
Narl - death
Nas - corruption
Nax - darkness
Pah-bodh - futile philosophy
Pu-pra - disgust
Pu-naria - falsehood
Sila - frequency, tone
Tu-bodh - philosophy
Un - house
Veed - immortal spirit
Veedya - immortality
Ya - to go, a very important auxillary verb
Zi - to stay or repose
Zi-kum - valley
Zummer - lover
Zutze - love
Zuzulia - delight
Excerpt from Lytton's Vril:Power of the Coming Race:
Example: An - man
SINGULAR
Nom.: An, Man
Dat.: Ano, to Man
Ac.: Anam, Man
Voc.: Hil-An, O Man
PLURAL
Nom.: Ana, Men
Dat.: Anoi, to Men
Ac.: Ananda, Men
Voc.: Hil-Ananda, O Men
Example: Ya - to go
Yam - I go
Yiam - I may go
Yani-ya - I shall go (literally, I go to go)
Zam-pu-yan - I have gone (literally, I rest from gone).
"Ya, as a termination, implies by analogy, progress, movement, efflorescence. Zi, as a terminal, denotes fixity, sometimes in a good sense, sometimes in a bad, according to the word with which it is coupled."
"By a single letter, according to its position, they contrive to express all that with civilised nations in our upper world it takes the waste, sometimes of syllables, sometimes of sentences, to express. Let me here cite one or two instances: An (which I will translate man), Ana (men); the letter s is with them a letter implying multitude, according to where it is placed; Sana means mankind; Ansa, a multitude of men."
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Bactarahad
jaa age
maa power
nacta night
practa protection
raa kingdom
raya king
rasha sultan
raha kingly
araa aras
asna tears
-n accusative
-had possessive
-tsi locational
-i verb
maa power
nacta night
practa protection
raa kingdom
raya king
rasha sultan
raha kingly
araa aras
asna tears
-n accusative
-had possessive
-tsi locational
-i verb
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