Tag Archive | conlang

Hello, in Calenyen

Jan21

So I’ve been playing with this #WIPWorldBuilders worldbuilding challenge on Twitter, and thinking about doing my own for Mastodon/The Fediverse, so when @DMoonfire greeted me this morning, I asked him how one greeted someone in (one of) his conlang(s).

Then I realized I had no way to say hello in Calenyen!

So I fixed that.

Hello

kettaar /kɛt.tɑɹ/ (from ket hey, and taar, you), Hello.

kettaarte /kɛt.tɑɹ.tɛ/ Hello (to you two)

kettaarbe /kɛt.tɑɹ.bɛ/ Hello (to a group/herd)

kettaarne /kɛt.tɑɹ.njɛ/ Hello (to an unknown group, as in greeting an audience)

Conlang, Calenyen

Feb14

I wanted to write the Calenyen classic blessing-on-parting, “smooth roads, clear skies.”

Turns out I had almost none of the words! Well, I had 2 out of 4 if you don’t consider the implied “May you always have” or “let there always be”.

What I had:

the word for under-clothes comes from the word lur, meaning smooth, easy: from kiprat-lur to kiplur and eventually down to kur.

eetan – sky

Subject-verb agreement
-unu beyond use (the sun, the moon, the stars)
ah- makes a verb be “always”

Plurals:
–ootun beyond use , plural
-ak useful, singular
-anan useful, plural
Two: -te or -tye
herd: -be or -bye
Many, unknown: -ne or -nye

New words:
kaab – to be

tidzieg – a path, a road
tidziegnye – Many roads
gud – clear

Which brings us to

ahkaabanan todziegnye lur
(Smooth Roads, or “may your roads always be smooth.”

ahkaabootun eetan gud.
(Clear skies, or “may your skies always be clear.”)

ahkaabanan todziegnye lur
(Smooth Roads)

 

 

A Last Conlang Word going in to April (written for Patreon)

Apr8
Since the theme for this month is Libraries and Librarians, and I got a new pen I want to try out (image coming tomorrow), today’s post is the Calenyen words around Libraries. From  December 16, 2015-

inventrix asked for books, which got handled a while back:

turnie, noun, book
turniete, 2 books
turniebe, a shelf of books
turnine, some books

So I figured I’d handle shelf and library!

Library, first, is a book-place, Turnietan. This originally referred to any depository of books. Now, a bookseller is a Liezturnie, Seller, of book and a library is a Turnietapon, a book place, scholarly.

And in the library there are shelves!

A shelf is a birtun, from a word which originally meant ledge; a bookshelf is a birtunturnie.

A collective plural of shelves is usually considered a bookcase, unit of shelves. If you collectivize that, birtunbebe, you end up with a slang word for a large gathering of shelves, a storeroom.

A Conlang Word for the Day (written for Patreon)

Mar29

Today we’re boiling!

Likkooz is an old word for bubble, as to roil or froth.

Likkoz is to boil; Likozok is a boil. (“bring to a boil…”)

The word got is a pot, generally a kettle for cooking over open fire, more generically any pot.

But for a modern teakettle, using Libbaano, music as sung, you end up with a Libbaangot, a sing-kettle.

Tairiekie, Libbangot-noo in-likkooz-ak – Tairiekie, the kettle is boiling.

Want more?

Some More New Words From a Name (written for Patreon)

Mar26
Mar 26, 2018 at 2:43pm
@RixScaedu asked for an etymology for her name in Calenyen, so, based on the meanings of the words that her pen name is based on and playing a bit with some etymology, I went looking.

Rik is from Beatrice, “bringer of joy”, and Scaedu is Old English for ‘shade’ , which has a sort of fun etymology to it.

I didn’t yet have a word for Joy yet!  Okay then, I can make it.

Rikkido : to give joy

Rikkie – Joy

Nor did I have a word for shade!  So I decided to steal a bit of English Etymology (shh)

Kadoo, shade: from archaic Kadkaddo, to give protection, to have one’s back (now only used in a social situation)

Kadtad, shield or protection, modern, used as aegis in English, that is, “she is under my protection.”

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A Digression to figure out a word in Calenyen – Written for Patreon

Mar23

Three conlang words: kaler, pailizdanon, and dieddetpaiz, with conScript "translation."

All right, today we’re figuring out the word for Diplomat, the title for many people to graduate Estiessyaa house.

Let’s see, the English etymology of the word… is one of those weird ones, where state papers come from the Greek word for folded paper.

I’m thinking blunted-spear is the word for diplomacy.

And it looks like I have:

paiterz, snow-spears, with the quote “The Cālenyena call almost everything long and pointy a spear. When all you have is a hammer, etc.”

The Arran/West coast word for spear-leaf: adavijamin (Spear-blade is adavi in that language) Continue reading →

Who are you In Edally Academy?

Mar21

For a little fun, I’m going to go back to something I did a long time ago:

What would your name be in Calenyen?

But more than that, what student would you be in Edally?  What house would you be in?  Talk to me, and we can come up with your Edally/Reiassan name and student!

Here’s one version of Clare’s:

and @rixScaudu’s

Want more?

– Conlang for Patreon

Mar18

We’re still in the month of Names, which Edally is good for.  But I’m going to do something a little different.

A couple years back, I turned several of my friends’ and readers’ names into their Calenyen versions, but Eseme was offline during that era.

She chose a colorful bird, so here we go.

A noun isn’t going start with an E in Calenyen; not unless it’s one of those that are Beyond the definition of Use — the sky, the sea, the mountains, the moon, the sun.

Now, a word coined first in Calenyen wouldn’t start with the se- sound, either. Continue reading →

Baarbaarbaar – Conlang for Patreon

Mar10

 

 

 

 

In Tuesday’s story, we have a character named Baarbaarbaar.

This is pronounced, in my head, like you started saying Barbara and got stuck.

(“Nanny Ogg knew how to start spelling ‘banana’, but didn’t know how you stopped. (Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett)

Someone on Mastodon asked me about the etymology, so I needed to come up with one!

First I found:

baar: he/she (person pronoun)

But I do not think someone is going to name their kid They-they-they (or he-he-he).

So I kept thinking.  And I found (in my head):

we had the word baarbaan, horizon, which became baarbaanbaar, a name, which then became Baarbaarbarr *nods*

(Adding “person” or “them” to the end of a name isn’t common, but repeating syllables is.  So in this case, I think what happened is that you had BaarBaan, and to differentiate it from the word horizon, they repeated a syllable again.  BaarBaanBaar. And then you have someone mishear it and you end up with Baarbaarbaar).

In Edally era, names are not commonly given for their direct meaning, but in Baarbaarbaar’s time, that may have been different.  And indeed, as the Head of Edally Academy, it would be good to be one who looks forward, toward the horizon.

For more about Calenyena, see the Reiassan landing page here: http://www.lynthornealder.com/2016/03/09/landing-page-reiassan-2/#more-11655