#bigbadanswers

[fenxshiral]

hey! i haven't been following your work for very long, but i'm incredibly awed at what you've managed to do. i know you're on hiatus right now, but i figured i'd go ahead and ask since i'm likely to forget: have you thought about what kind of vocables the dalish/elvhen would use? thank you!

I have a few, but this is by no means an extensive list.

For those of you who don’t know, a vocable is basically a word that is made up of a sound or letter that forms a word with no actual meaning. Rather than me explaining it in detail, just read this if you’re curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocable

Elvhen Vocables

Ha na ah [ˌhɐ.nɐˈɐʔ]; Ha da da [ˌhɐʔ.dɐˈda]; De de de [ˌdeʔ.deˈde]; Do Do Do [ˌdoʔ.doˈdo] - Vocables used when singing, often in the same manner that many languages will use la la. Elvhen will often switch them about in a song, e.g. Ha na na, Ha na ah ah. Hee dee dee. Ha doo doo Etc.

E-na [ˈeʔ.nɐ] - Vocable used for denial, confusion, or error. Similar to the English vocables uh-uh, huh, or uh-oh.

Nn [nː] - Vocable used as a pause filler in speech; Similar to the English um or er.

Eh’h [ˈeˌhʔ] - Vocable used to denote displeasure or dislike. Similar to the English ugh, uck, or ick.

su’di [ˌsʌʔˈdi] - Vocable used to express happiness, joy, or excitement. Similar to english yay, or whee. Often becomes faster and more repetitive the more excited the speaker is. For example, a good translation of “YAY!” Would be “Su’di su’di su’di su’di!”

Again, this isn’t a full list, but merely the ones that have been floating about my head the longest.

[fenxshiral]

Firstly, I love project elvhen. I was just wondering what the translation for 'I crave the sweet release of death' would be in Elvhen? I've tried translating it myself but it just ended up a jumble of words that made little to no sense.

The idea of death being a ‘sweet release’ wouldn’t really exist in Elvhen, at least not from what I can infer and dissect from the lore given to us in canon. The Elvhen mostly viewed death as something temporary, and as such, ‘death’ would be a rest from life, not necessarily a release from it (not in the same way we, or common Thedas culture would, anyway).

The Dalish, instead, view death as another journey, not a release. For the Dalish, dying is merely stepping through a door to another life in the beyond, not escaping this one.

For those reasons, “The sweet release of death” is simply not a phrase that would exist in Elvhen, neither the ancient nor the more recent Dalish variants.

The closest phrases in either would be the following:

Nuvenas ha’mi’in or uth’then’era. (More common in Ancient Elvhen)

Nuven-as     ha’mi’in  or   uth’then’era.Want-1.SG    rest         of    forever_waking_sleep

“I wish for the rest of uth’then’era.”

Nuvenas revas or tael’shiral din’anes. (More common in Dalish Elvhen)

Nuven-as     revas     or   tael’shiral          din’an-es. Want-1.SG   freedom  of   second.journey   death-GEN

“I wish for the freedom of death’s second journey.”

[fenxshiral]

Hi there, I'm so sorry to bug you! I love your work for Project Elvhen, it's been an incredible resource for my writing! But I need some translation help. I've looked through the tags and the AO3 Lexicon, but I can't seem to string together a logical translation for the names "Valyssa" or "Ashurel". I was wondering if you could help! And again, thank you very much for your time and effort! No rush!

Valyssa wouldn’t mean anything. However, it’s possible that it’s an alternate to either Val’lassa which would be a name variant of the verb, “To remember,” or Valassa, which would be a name variant of the verb, “to write,” “to record,” or “to paint.”

Ashurel would likewise not mean anything by itself. It’s possible, however, that it is a variant to Asharel which would mean “Female trickster,” "Female rebel,” or “dreaded woman.”

[fenxshiral]

How might one translate the Elvhen prayer for the dead? ("May Falon'din guide your feet and calm your soul.") My declension skills are rusty but I gave it a shot, and it just... looks wrong, to me?

Nuva Falon’din ghi’l nar shosaan i ladar nar sal.

Nuva            Falon’din   ghi’l_            nar              shosaanprayer_for    Falon'din     guide_3.SG   you.POSS   foot.PL

i        ladar_            nar             sal.and   soothe.3_PL  you.POSS  soul

May Falon’din guide your feet, and calm your soul.

[fenxshiral]

Awooo! :) I have a question. I've been reading your chapters on elvhen grammar, the lexicon, phonetics, all of it. I think it's brilliant and thank you so much for taking the time and putting in the work! Question: Do you know of any word that might mean something like centre, middle, core? I'm looking fore something that coud be described as a person's 'psychological' core, rather than a physical one, if that makes any sense ^.^ Kinda hard to describe. Didn't find anything in your lexicon, tho.

If by psychological core, you mean either a spiritual or emotional core, then they would use the same word as for the conceptual heart: vhen’an. 

If, by psychological core, you mean their mind or intellect, they would use the same word for either soul, or mind, depending on in what context. Sal would be the conceptual or spiritual soul, sal’in would be the physical mind or head, and sil would be the conceptual mind, or thought.

If you just mean someone’s unspecified psychological center, the Elvhen word for core, middle or center is baran.

[fenxshiral]

Hello, i was wondering how one would say "i didn't mean to stare at you" in elvhen? Thank you for your time.

Tel unsulevas iritha su na. 

Tel     un-sulev-as            irith-a         su            naNot    PST-intend-1.SG     stare-INF    toward    you.OBJ

I did not intend to stare at you.

[fenxshiral]

Wow, I started slipping back into Dragon Age obsession mode, and I forgot how amazing your work here is. Hope you're having a great week!

Thank you! :)

[fenxshiral]

i know you get this kind of question a lot so i apologize in advance, but i was hoping you could come up with an elvhen name that means "ocean", "deep ocean", or something along those lines? i couldnt find if you'd translated these anywhere else (i looked, but im currently restricted to a half-broken phone for my internet needs, so i may have missed it). thank you so much!! project elvhen is truly incredible.

Ocean is manaan. Deep ocean would be bremanaan (for an ocean that is deep), or durmanaan (for the parts of the ocean that are deep).

Given that the Elvhen word for ‘ocean’ is literally “large water,” there really isn’t anything you could do to either word, if you wanted them as a name, without losing at least part of their meaning. For example, Breman, Bremana, or Bremani would all mean “Deep water,” not “Deep ocean.”