Today we are talking about vermin!
First, we are going to use the word that means vermin in Old Bear.
It comes from the older word chiav, which means worm.
….Whoops, I need a consistant set of noun endings for this. Continue reading
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Lexember Day Three – Mama Bear
Mother Bear is our concept for today.
We’re going to start with bear, the actual word for it, which is nonggo.
You can find this word in only a couple places in modern Bear or even in Old Bear: the Mountains in the far north were originally Nonggofa and now nonggofa means “northern cold” or “inhospitable and cold” or “angry and cold.”
The other place you can find it is in the name of the Mother Bear.
Prɘrta Nonggo, Mother Bear. Neither of these words are used when talking to your actual mother or an actual bear; and actual bear would be called
Kruimja, brown-sharp, from kruimma (brown, obs., used only in formations now) and mimja, sharp.
This is a way of describing things that are not sacred but near the sacred; that’s how even kruimma became a word not used directly. Now one says nuruw, which was once a word for dead leaves,
nurniew, leafs, and –nuruw, dead.
Prɘrta means, in closest translation, mother-est, the most mother, mother above all. Your own mother would be Prer or prepre.
This one came out kind of short.
Lexember Day “Two” – Comfortable?
Today we’re going to move on to COMFORTABLE.
The word in Old Bear come from two words:
Tcha – this word, used almost entirely as a prefix by the time of Old Bear, means “Like, as, or with.”
Spes –
Spes comes from the Before Words word spezzi, which meant the best way to be; as a matter of fact, a few remaining records show that this was considered to be one of the major tenents of the faith of the Sunrise People*
Tcha-spes, like the proper way to be … Chaspis, comfort.
But wait, we don’t want comfort, we want to be comfortable.
so we want to add a –fa to the end. The -fa just means – is this way, or -is capable of being this way.
EXCEPT sfa is sort of an awkward way ot talking
so in words ending in s
it shifts,
thus, we end up with
chaspissa.
now, as for pronounciation
first syllable rhymes with chap
second one sounds like piss, but with a zzzz’d out s
and then the third is nearly ‘za, like the end of pizza.
* Once again, our terms are limited by the Bear-centric historical records. What we can tell – much of this is from hidden Elk records or from mentions in other nations’ histories – is that the Sunrise people were a people either before the spirits choce tribes, or before the spirits were known to people at all. The Sunrise People were one of three groups – the other two being the Moonlight People and the Earth People – known to speak the Before Words.
#Lexember – Day One (shhh) – “Keep Me Safe.”
Leave me a prompt here – http://www.lynthornealder.com/2018/11/30/lexember-is-coming/
We’re going to start with Safe!
This comes from something that is referred to, when linguists talk about it at all, as the Before Words. It’s a common ancestor to several languages, including those that fall under “Bear” – Bear, Cat, and Fox – those that fall under “The Leege” – Deklegion and Haloran, Thuthion and Roasti – and two other sets.
Interestingly, while Elk falls under this, it does so only very remotely and there is a great deal of argument therein.
But back to safe.
ðeckk
ðeckk is from the Before Words, meaning “to look over, observe.”
This became thechk in Oldest Bear*, which means “guard.”
This word split: theach became “protect”, while theek became “observe, study.”
(in both cases, the central vowels are pronounced as two separate vowel sounds)
Old Bear uses toa before a verb to implore or command a non-specific target, such as if one was asking the world to rain.
It uses ro before a verb to suggest it is happening to oneself or one’s group, where one’s “group” is a close-knit – a marriage or siblings or a small team.”
(there is also a personal pronoun for only-I, but it is generally considered rather antisocial to use it, and it is only used in magery/wizardry in situations where one wishes to remove oneself from the group around one and cut off all connections.)
Thus keep me/we safe
toa ro theach
except that we need agreement.
Again, this is asking the world. So (world) guard me, is toa ro theachow.
*Old Bear is considered the root language of Bear, Cat, and Fox languages, which it is. What it is not, linguistically, is any closer to modern Bear than it is to modern Cat or Fox, nor was it begun by the Bear people any more than any other of the two. Oldest Bear is an older form of that language
#Lexember is coming!
I decided the Bear Empire needed Ancient Bear, a tongue used in magery, rituals, religion, and medicine that looks nice to chant.
And here is Lexember.
I’m gonna do this backwards: I’m gonna start making up a few words, and then work the language around them. I have a couple ideas for phoneme and morpheme sets, but since this one is for flavor in books, I might steal the grammar of Latin wholesale.
First, I need words.
So I’m taking prompts for words. I will TRY to do a noun and a verb every day, but I’m not going to stress about this.
And past experience has shown that if you ask me for the word for cheese, I end up with the whole dairy system.
BUT
Don’t ask me for the word for cheese, please.
Instead, think about a spell (If you’re reading Running in the Bear Empire or if you’re Eseme and reading OTStrange, you’ve seen some spells).
Then think about the words you might use for that spell.
Or just suggest a spell and I’ll go from there.
Go!
- the spell for making your sleeping space safe and comfortable
- Does how you would address the Mother Bear count?
- Vermin. As in the spell to get rid of vermin from your house.
Two “PrepTober” Pieces
These have been sitting in my drafts bin for a bit, but here we go…
Based on Twitter Prompts
“Write your character sick“ – Deline, Bear Empire, some time before the book
“Bear Claws don’t get sick.”
Deline had been saying this for a week, but the evidence was mounting up against her: chills, fever, an unfortunate habit of losing whatever she put in her stomach, an increasing inability to stand up.
“We don’t. It’s part of the magic of the Claw. It’s part of the initiation, it’s part of what we are. We don’t get sick.” She wasn’t really arguing with Anire, her husband’s junior wife; she was more arguing with the facts.
Anire had never turned down a fight. She looked Deline up and down and huffed.
“Well then, someone poisoned you. Or cast a nasty sort of magery on you. Something like that. Either way, you cannot go on a mission today, and you shouldn’t be going to a formal dinner. You shouldn’t be going anywhere except to bed.” Anire took a firm hold on Deline’s arm and tugged.
It was a sign of how miserable that Deline was feeling that she didn’t feel strong enough to resist the tug. “We have to be at that dinner. Any absence, any of the four of us, it will be noted.”
“This, this is why you need another husband. You need someone to send you to bed and then take your regrets to the dinner. You need someone to tell you when you’re being foolish, Deline. And make sure that you don’t knock yourself over. If you’d listened to me, if you hadn’t gone out on that hunt yesterday-”
“Enough.” Deline tried to put some firmness in her voice, but she found she had none to offer. “Enough, Anire. I will go to bed and sleep until an hour before the dinner. You can send your junior husband in, if you’re worried about me staying in place. And then, when it’s time for the dinner, I will put on my best gown and my best bright-eyes spell, and I will walk around. Then, if someone has poisoned me, they will see that they’ve failed.”
“Sleep.” Anire shoved Deline lightly into bed and hauled a blanket over her. “If you sleep now and drink broth when I bring it to you, I will make sure someone wakes you up in time for you to dress for the dinner. But if you give me any trouble at all, I’m going to sit on you, and we will both miss that dinner, and the scandal can say that we would rather spend the day in bed together than meet with the governors. Which, considering it’s the Lynx and Elk governors, has more than a small grain of truth to it. Sleep, Deline.”
Deline blinked up at her husband’s junior wife, wondering why she looked as if she was shining. “Sleep,” she agreed. She was so cold. “Another blanket?”
“Another blanket. And, you know, Deline. I’m a Claw, too. You know I know there’s no such thing as magic to keep you from getting sick.” Anire kissed her forehead lightly. “Rest, Sister Claw. I’ll watch your back.”
Running in the Bear Empire 26: A Place
First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Magery
Next: 27: Climbing
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Stupid Bears… Deline found her hands clenching into fists. “Don’t,” she warned Carrone. “Don’t. Don’t say that. Not the Bear, not the Fox, not the Lynx. Don’t.”
His head jerked up and his lips curled back in something that might have been meant to be a smile. “Is there anything else my lady would like to demand of me?”
“It’s not a demand, you bull-headed git. It’s advice. It might be – there are living bears and foxes, living lynx and elk, and sometimes those make us very angry. Or kill us,” she added more quietly. “But we don’t insult them. We don’t insult them because this is the county of the Bear, and because The Bear, The Fox, The Lynx, The Elk, all of them, they are here, and they listen.” Continue reading
Running in the Bear Empire 25 – Magery
First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: The Bear
Next: 26: A Place
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“I suggest,” Deline murmured, her voice as low and her body as still as she could manage,” that you try to stay relatively still until I move. Also, if you are prone to praying, now would be a good time for it.” Behind him, she move her hand very slowly towards the biggest cluster of berries. “And when I move – hold your breath. It would be a good idea to close your eyes, too.”
He grunted in the affirmative. She watched the bear, hungry and ponderous, shifting towards them as it sensed that they were actually prey. She could hear Carrone’s heartbeat, his breath that he was struggling to keep even. She got her hand as far as it would move under the cover of Carrone’s back.
Please, Mother Bear, she prayed again, and in one quick movement, she grabbed the berries, crushed them in her hand, and threw them at the bear’s eyes.
With her other hand she grabbed Carrone and hauled him backwards. They tumbled back together, running before they got turned around, and dove into the cave. Continue reading
Running in the Bear Empire 24 – the Bear
First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Revelations in the Bear Empire
Next: 25 – Magery
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Deline spent a few minutes focusing on her breakfast. The bread was actually quite good; she’d have to remember to mention the place to other Claws who happened to be in this corner of the Empire. Assuming, of course, that the man didn’t sell them out to the bounty hunters.
Carrone was hung up on false pretenses and she wasn’t about to kill someone just to prove to him that she was, as a matter of fact, willing to kill. So there was no point in arguing that with him.
The cheese was good, too, and the sausage was actually very nice. She sipped water from her canteen and considered him.
“I don’t expect you to like it,” she said, when her mouth was empty. “That’s never been a requirement. I don’t think you’d like being dead, either, or being actually enslaved.”
“What do you call this?” He shook his cuffed wrist at her. “Seriously? I can’t go against your orders!”
“I call it being bound into the Bear. Being tied to the totem. Being my unwilling companion. If you were my slave, you’d be wearing a collar and shackles and be doing a lot more work,” she added dryly. “So far, mostly you’ve just had to walk a lot.”
“And save your life a couple times,” he added. Continue reading
Running in the Bear Empire 23: Morning
First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: Confidences in the Bear Empire
Next: 24 – the Bear
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Carrone squirmed under her regard for a few moments before looking away. “I can’t talk about that,” he muttered. “I really shouldn’t have said that much. But the Empire – the Empire acts like they’re the only ones with the spirits on their side.”
“Considering how you complain about sorcery and magery-“
“That’s different! I mean…” He dropped his voice down. “I mean. Well. Sorcery has nothing to do with the spirits. That’s why it’s evil. That’s why it’s the sort of thing that you just don’t do. But this. I don’t know. Your ‘magery’….” He shrugged. “We should get some sleep. I don’t know where we’re going, but we can probably make good time if we sleep solidly and warm. Besides, last night…”
“…Last night was not exactly solid sleep,” she agreed. She considered all of the juicy morsels of conversation they’d left lying around. They would, she decided, have plenty of time to get back to those conversations while hiding from Carrone’s compatriots in the bounty-hunter business. She settled back into her bedroll, glad once again of her magery, whether it was heresy or evil or not.
She woke in the morning to Carrone’s breath on her face, his arm flopped over her shoulder, and the sound of his breathing far too close to her ear. Deline trapped against the back of the cave, she had nowhere to move, and his arm was heavy on her shoulder.
She considered him. He was sleeping heavily, pressed against her. His breathing was steady, if a little loud, and his whole posture was relaxed. Continue reading