Lexember Day (7): Losing

[personal profile] lilfluff asked for words for games, and from there for words for winning and losing.

Winning! And losing…

The Calenyena have three sets of words for winning and losing: in games for fun, in games with a prize/in a single battle, and in a large war or conflict.

Pol is an archaic word which once meant to fall. (Falling, as from a goat, is now duddie, from Dudiedah, tumble). It now means to lose shamefully – where you could win something.

Pyuh is for when one suffers small, unimportant loss. We were playing Monopoly and I lost.

Darnietda comes from an old word meaning to slip and fall (into the river) It now means “to lose” in a large way, for instance, “The Bitrani lost the war.”

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