Ambiguously refers to the structure or device producing light, or the beam of light produced—literally "fire thrower". This term sometimes refers to beams of sun or moonlight breaking through clouds, as well.
gevaaqnǎšsot [ɣe'vaːqnɜʃsot], n., "buoy; any flotation device"
Literally 'one that makes things light,' refers to buoys and other flotation devices. Typically used nautically, these buoys can also be used to lighten cargo loads on land, provided they are powered by magical linkages.
Etvox derned gevaaqnǎšsot seǎštšeu þentot naisot leǎvdǎvǎštǎ.
"The lighthouse revealed buoys floating in the dark sea."
Refers to any concentrated light source, typically human-made. Poetically refers to natural lights—stars, planets, or even the shine of a person's eyes.
Nook seǎkveden štleǎntot ketš meǎso kštante.
"The many lanterns of the spirits swung across the sky."
Borrowed in the middle period, in the sense of a tool used to make books. Etymologically shares a root with the verb lep- 'fold', referring to the folded pages of a book.
Maistuo'x paloxǎ vaatš pal, eklo-jenþettuo'x kšupaa.
"Take this stylus from me and write a letter."
maistuo'x paloxǎ vaatš=pal
take-DIR-IRR=C stylus 1p-ADV=and
eklo-jenþettuo'x kšupaa
point-cut-DIR-IRR=C letter
sumnaa [sʉmnɑː], n., 'populace, common people, common opinion'
A borrowing from the middle period (orig. meaning `voices'), it once referred to the common people in their function as subjects of the empire, but now has generalized. It also can refer to sourceless opinion, when viewed as an opinion widely held.
Sumnaa eqvǎǎstǎkmǎ sornaištše kšaivtomǎ'n.
"People generally say that sailors are gregarious."
sumnaa eqvǎǎstǎkemǎ sornaištše
populace say-DIR-REP-3S sailor
kšaivtomǎn
gregarious-DIR-3S=C
siþ kvigen [sɪθ 'kviɣen], v., 'secret, nefarious, associated with witches'
Literally "to be hidden beneath," refers to nefarious, sorcerous activity, to objects with nefarious uses, or properties associated with dark magic.
Nǎ gettomǎ siþ kvigento'nte, o vlan mod škaitomǎ feǎ'nte.
"He watched his enemies secretly, without the use of his eyes."
nǎgettomǎ siþ kvigento'nte
3O-watch-DIR-3S beneath hidden-DIR=C-OBL
o vlan mod škaitomǎ feǎ'nte
NEG eye 3POS use-DIR-3S NEG=C-OBL
Dusting off the old blog to see if I can manage some lexember posts!
The three verb stems below all are based on the incorporated instrument tvlen ‘eye’, which along with other incorporated nominals in the language has become largely lexicalized (although still productive in forming certain types of derived verbs).
Tvlenoosuk- /tvlen'o:sʉk/
to be sick with jealousy or desire, to be extremely covetous or jealous
origin: OK æn-wla:n-o:s-uk (INC-eye-die-APPL), lit. ‘to die by the eye’
Eǎvm tvlenoosuketusokǎmǎ fevluušaut ekeǎktǎt
eǎvm tvlenoosuk-etu-so-kǎ-mǎ fevl-uuša-ut ekeǎk-tǎ-t
child be.desire.sick-APPL-DIR-INDIC-3SBJ play-PASS-NMZ fresh-DIR-REL
“The children are sick with envy for new toys.”
Tvlenseqek- /tvlen'seqek/
to challenge or subdue with a glare
origin: OK æn-wla:n-tʰaq-uk (INC-eye-hit-APPL), lit. ‘to hit with the eye’
Vaupux raat maa tvlenseqektǎke þaidǎtš saa
vaup-ux raat maa vau tvlenseqek-ta-u þaidǎtš saa
wolf-EMPH dog dem challenge.by.glare-DIR-IRR even IPFV
“That dog subdues even wolves with a glare.”
Tvlenkeǎxek- /tvlen'keɜχek/
to appreciate a work of art, intently watch a performance
origin: MiK æn-wla:n-ketʃ-uk (INC-eye-eat-APPL), lit. ‘to eat with the eye’
Eutšǎnseqtǎ aaxǎnaut tvlenkeǎxektǎkauve
eu-tšǎnseq-tǎ aax-ǎnǎ tvlenkeǎxek-tǎ-ka-uve
INDEF.HUM-dance-DIR good-ADV-REL appreciate.by.eye-DIR-INDIC-1SBJ
“We took in the excellent dancing.”
Kullut xampsaimmǎ kviusokotde gekikeǎþsekkoo mo fuuktokǎmǎ maiko. Anun, gekikeǎþsekkoo xe enþetš kviuko maa þoqkastǎkǎmǎ. Vle maiþme pal fuuktokmǎ tesuus ronto tootn mod enkikeǎþsexe semmǎte aisok maajot, ensilliǎ, enþetš kviuko xesuuso gesivuštšiunkemǎ, se lǎgaistuomǎ kasuušaut ideko, ilǎs se tootn kekeǎþseu maatš feǎ. Anun, xesuuso id aupǎstot pǎǎttuo, ilǎs pal tootn xampsaimmajotde ensiǎmosuo, enþetš xe kšaidemevu kštši ensoosomǎ maatš, pǎlaan tootn siǎmosot mainnǎšsomǎ lun.
Law of grazing-lands
All residents of a holding own that grazing land in common. However, the grazing land is managed by the lord of that holding. Any person has the right to let their yaks graze in that place, but given that the lord of the holding is a governor, he may put aside a portion of land such that yak may not graze there. However, if the land that remains is insufficient, causing the resident’s yaks to be starved, the lord is required to give them hay, or to buy the yaks that are starving.
line-by-line gloss as follows:
Sometimes you spend 8 hours writing about yak pasturing laws...stay tuned for part two :)
...for the sake of laying it out somewhere, here’s the basics of the orthography I’m developing for Koskeve:
So far I have 143 unique glyphs, each of which stand for a root word, and which may additionally either stand for a syllable (onset and first vowel of the word they represent), and/or be used as a determinative—that is, a character that helps indicate the meaning of following glyphs.
I have much fewer “composite” glyphs (I’m continuing to add to both categories on an ad-hoc basis). These glyphs also stand for words (or sometimes individual or strings of morphemes), but are composed of multiples of the unique glyphs I mentioned.
Often, the first glyph will be a determinative (so above, the string for nevm/silver begins with the glyph tain/stone, helping to indicate we’re looking at something hard or stone-like), which can be marked with a small circle below or to the side. The following glyphs use the syllabic readings—usually, there are two syllabic glyphs per square, stacked one on top of the other. So still looking at nevm, following the glyph for tain is a composite of net (forehead) and veq- (to swim). Since no glyphs stand for consonants on their own, the consonant coda is represented by a syllable containing an echo vowel of the preceding syllable (often, syllables with a short /i/ are also used for codas—however, there are no roots where /v/ precedes /i/ in the language).
So, all together, we have the determinative, telling us the word is in a class with stone-like things, and a phonetic glyph giving us the first syllable nev(e). Taken together, the interpretation is nevm, silver. These combinations are largely conventionalized (tho I imagine there’s room for variation in spellings), and must be learned—you can’t really guess what the pronunciation of a given collection of glyphs will be unless you’re already familiar with the word and the context makes it clear.
(ps: if anyone has a great idea for how to digitize these for easy searchability, let me know! Figuring out how to make words/glyphs findable is my next challenge—the thought of having to individually uploading each glyph/cropping out each glyph separately is haunting me...does anyone else who has made a logographic script have a system?)
One of the most common sorts of tales are so-called “sorcerer stories.” These short fables typically involve a sorcerer’s encounter with another person, in which the sorcerer offers advice, a gift, or an omen of some sort to the protagonist. The protagonist tries to use the advice or gift, or in some way to follow the sorcerer’s instructions, but inevitably it ends in failure due to some ambiguity in the sorcerer’s wording, or some other unforeseen obstacle.
Some of the fables are humorous, others are more parable-like (with a moral at the end of the story), and still others are simply interesting stories. They compare with the prototypical “trickster” genre in many ways, with the sorcerer as a morally ambiguous and changeable character whose ultimate intentions are unknown.
There was a young lord to whom it happened this way. He was drinking chocolate with a sorcerer of the highest order. The sorcerer said “There is a gift within your glass—I shall give you your greatest desire if you drink it entirely.”
“All right, that thing is possible.”
He drank the chocolate, then, and it was terribly bitter at the bottom. “Alas! I am suffering with this,” the young lord said. “By my blood, I would be rid of the taste.”
“There is still some in your glass,” the sorcerer said.
“Alas!” The young lord drank it all, then turned his glass over. “What a bitter taste,” he said.
“Take this water.” The young lord drank it with relief.
He said, “So then, the matter of my gift is left. What do you say?”
“Oh,” said the sorcerer. “But, you must realize, you have already drunk the water.”
Gloss
(apologies for the unreadability—there’s no great way to align things as far as I can tell)
Well, we’re well past the New Year, but all the same here are some Kōskeve greetings of the season for you:
taistl vǎnotr kūxe ǎl vǎlusiu faixe
taistl vǎn-otr kū-xe ǎl vǎl-u-siu fai-xe
oil yellow-PART be.there-IRR CONJ rest-IRR-LOC be.deep-IRR
“May you have clear oil and deep sleep”
lit. "May there be yellow oil and may the resting be deep."
li, vleǎn ekkūxes so kūvkǎnǎstl
li vleǎn ekkūx-e-s so kūvkǎn-ǎstl
seed milk fill-IRR-REF fat be.there-IRR-COMP-OBL
"May grain and milk fill your stores"
lit. "May grain and milk fill the lard-place."
palǎt seǎkn ǎksinǎšeǎxke
palǎt seǎk-0-n ǎk-0-sinǎ-šeǎx-ke
year turn-IRR-COMP 1p.OBL-1p.S-DES-push-IND
"Let’s break into the new year"
lit."I want to push the new year with you."
So, I underestimated the amount of time and concentration the end of last year would take from me, vis a vis lexember, but I’m going to try to go back to posting semi-regularly now that things have slowed again. Thanks to those of you who’ve stuck with the blog!
Štarekeǎgmǎt n. anim. In folklore, a spirit which lures travelers out into the open ocean, away from land, esp. during a storm. Literally, ‘one who carries it out to sea.’
[ˈʃtæ.ɹ̥e.ˌkeɜʁ.mɜtʰ]
šta - rekeǎg - mǎ - t
into.hidden.place - carry - 3p - COMP
The directional prefix šta- like many others has a dual purpose meaning. One is the general sense of from the open into a concealed or hidden place, while the other is out into the open sea (as opposed to out onto the water generally). Perhaps the connection here is something to do with the way one is concealed from the shoreline when they are far out in the water. This is supported by the fact that a speaker can never use a verb with this prefix in the first person (i.e. ‘I am going out to open sea, am going into a concealed place’).
Ovdut- v. trans. 1. To listen to a story or anecdote, to listen to a description, to read a letter or direct account.
[ˈʔov.ðytʰ]
ovd - ut
experience - APPL
Though this stem does consist of the verb stem ovr- [ʔo.vɹ̥] (experience, perceive, understand), the applicative ending -ut- is extremely limited in its distribution, and no longer productive.
