Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Aeshie glossary, E-J


e           the
echye       coward
ederoi      angels
efeil       (Elen. efaille) forgotten
ehiela      devoted
ekahal      wizard
ekahua      sorceress and advisor
ekahuei     wizard and advisor
ekar/a      master/mistress (implies skill and control)
eke         seven
ela         stars
Elashta-shiri     Heavenly Tribe
Ela-Ishtel  Star Palace; the sky
embave      resting (also imperative:  rest!)
emme        four
enai        endures, withstands
endrai      free
Endrastai   (Elen.) guard to the high court
eng         me
Enrai       (Elen.) high king
Eren'rai    (Elen.) high princess
eshe        friend, especially in the sense of trusted ally
eshehuei    friend-guard, personal guardian
estai       wrath, anger
evala       cloak
faeroch     hunting dog
fai         “huh?” Related to efeil, literally “to be forgotten”
falan       cousin
fama        ten
fin         air
gale        staining
gar         proficient?
gaya        hear this (formal)
gear        bone
gieran      (Elen.) brother
glora       sun
gwairoch    (Elen.) winged horse
ha          and
Hal         Festival day
hatha rhan  "Little old ones," nature spirits
-he         “lineage,” closest to our “great” in “great-grandparent”
hein        gold
heir        so, very
het         no (to a negative question, or for emphasis)
hi          yes
hie         ouch
hiweth      mist
hol         six
holleholle  thinking or stalling noise, "hmm"
howei       is coming
huei        guard
huer        west
hure        five
ia          okay
in          your
irro        was
isa         hush!
ishe        spirit
islavanye   is covering
islavo      has covered (both used of colors in the sky)
jandaha     (Elen.) savage, violently primitive
Jasho-ren   high priestess
jen         (Elen.) creature
jiach’ar    (Elen.) astral or spiritual attack
jost        heart

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Aeshie glossary A-D


(Anybody know how to make a two-column post work in html? This is not beautiful.)

Glossary

'a          of
-ach        recipient of action (see kashach)
achabe      spreading
Adrastai    (Elen.) ranger or scout
Aerai       (Elen.) high queen
ai          light
ai'ne       small light, like a candle flame ("my light")
ai'osha     River of Light (a philosophical construct and type of energy)
als         that/which
ama         blood
amache      laying low (defeating), may connote first blood drawn
ame         or
anda        color
aranthi     white, 5 petaled flower that smells like honey
are         three
-ari        (Elen.) the people
arianai     (Elen.) wickedness (naughtiness)
Arias'tama  (Elen.) "badass"
asha        spirit
Ashan'rai   (Elen.) high prince
Ashkoho     spirit-father; adoptive father or sponsor into a sect
Ashmiera    spirit-mother; adoptive mother or sponsor into a sect
aulo        gem
aut(i)      eye(s)
ave         now
ba          in-law
baca        crazy
bastach     the dead
bastai      death
be          it
besove      charging
bi          he
blohuepi    plant with magical use
bo          where
bochara     victor
cesh        goodbye as an imperative: go away
ceshach     someone who is gone, and good riddance
ceshai      goodbye forever
ceshtai     someone who is gone, regrettably (possibly dead or gone permanently)
ceshye      goodbye for now
ceshtanen   (Elen.) Unmade
chairen     (Elen.) a working magical group
chi         why
chura       female sexual fluids
dan         South
da’n        proper, traditional
dara/daro   aunt/uncle
demii       astral equivalent of a Siamese cat.  pl demiie
den'shrai   (Elen.) I appreciate the help
deshen      little brother (affectionate)
Des'tai     (Elen.) "the Way." The natural flow of how things should be.
done        dawn
dorai       (Elen.) love/duty to loved ones
drachona    dragon
Draconai    all dragons, "dragondom"
Dur         Lord (title, used with name)
Dur Andrai  Lord of Battles (general)
Dur Bastai  Lord of Death

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Gweron vs. Gaver

The human name for the god of war and craft (and humanity) is Gweron. In aeshie this originally mutated into "Gaveron," because gwe is not a sound natural to that language. However, after the battle between Gweron and Marduk, the aeshie who followed Marduk refused to pronounce the full name, because in their tongue, -ran, -ren or -ron is a name ending that denotes high honor. For them the name shortened to "Gaver."

Aeshie Dictionary Part 1: Introduction


Pre-introductory note: As anyone interested in linguistics will probably understand, this is forever a work in progress. Just today (September 2), for example, I have realized that there are two words for "why." I do not yet know what distinguishes one from the other.

Because of length, I will be posting the dictionary in installments, then linking them all up for better navigation.

Introduction

While I was originally writing the book and exploring the language, I was in online communication with a community called the Elenari, which was likewise working with its own unique language. We discovered enough similarities between the two to theorize that Elenari and Shiri (the outside-fiction name of the aeshie language) could be members of the same linguistic family, like Spanish and French are both Romance languages. Thus, words marked Elen. in the glossary are in origin Elenari words I deemed similar enough to their likely Shiri equivalents for inclusion here. I am therefore indebted to the Elenari for that time of mutual linguistic and cultural enrichment.


Pronunciation Guide

‘                       brief glottal stop or slight extension of the previous syllable
A                     as in father
Ae                   as ‘ay’ in bay
Ai                    as the ‘i’ in binary
B                     as in book
C                     as in can
Ch                   voiceless velar fricative (X in IPA); as in German buch
D                     as in dance
E                      as in bet
F                      as in father
G                     as in get
H                     very soft, without stop or emphasis
I                       as ‘ee’ in bee
Ia, ie, io           as ‘ya,’ ‘ye,’ and ‘yo’
J                       as ‘zhy.’ Nearest English equivalent would be as ‘z’ in azure
K                     as in kept
L                      as in lake
M                     as in made
N                     as in nose
O                     as in nose
Oi                    as ‘oy’ in toy. The two sounds are often given equal weight.
P                      as in pot
Qu                   as in queen
R                     lightly flipped, as in Spanish
S                      as in sit: often aspirated into sh
Sh                    as in shine
St                     always ‘sh’ + ‘t’, as in brushed
T                      as in tin. Ideally slightly softened, between English ‘t’ and ‘d’
U                     as ‘oo’ in cool
Ua, ue, ui         as ‘wa,’ ‘we,’ and ‘wi’
V                     as in very
Y                     as in yes
Z                      as in zoo

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Wee linguistic fact

The poem "Jaeren's Lament," though given in English, follows a traditional form for aeshie prophetic or magical poetry in which each line ends with its verb. A less strict version of the same form appears in aeshie in "The Charge of Kalwain."