Serphelorian Vocabulary

Dreamer's Code
Bellring a Member
Report Mistakes/Typos
Report Easter Eggs

About Masterplans
Santhworld: Program
SW.: Game Designer
SW.: Treasure Shoals
SW.: Lorehold
SW.: Nepris
SW.: Trivia
Santharia: Manthria
Nybelmar: Zhunite Pl.
Sarvonia: Icelands

World Map Overview
Distances in Caelereth
Climate Map of Sarvonia
Continent: Aeruillin
Continent: Akdor
Continent: Cyhalloi
Continent: Nybelmar
Continent: +Details NE
Continent: +Details NW
Continent: +Details SE
Continent: +Details SW
Continent: +Politics
Continent: Sarvonia
Lands: Icelands
Lands: +Tribes
Lands: Caael'heroth
Lands: Iol Peninsula
Lands: Kanapans
Lands: Kuglim Lands
Kingdom: Santharia
Kingdom: +Ancient
Kingdom: +Provinces
Kingdom: +Rivers
Kingdom: +Routes
Details: Manthria
Details: Vardýnn
Details: Ráhaz-Dáth
Details: Silvermarshes

Create Beasts
Create Plants
Create Races/Tribes
Create People
People Nomenclature
Create Places
Create Gods, Myths...
Create Spells/Magic
Create Library Entries
Create Misc. Stuff

Reserving Resources
Arbaon Pictures
Bard Judith Pictures
Eratin Pictures
Faugar Pictures
Grunok's Pictures
Ingeborg Pictures
Isilhir Pictures
Koldar Pictures
Linda Tso Pictures
Quellion Pictures
Quellion Pictures II
Shayan's Pictures
Seeker Pictures
Sheil Pictures
Sheil Pictures II

Proverbs & Sayings
Styrásh (Elvish)
Thergerim (Dwarvish)
Kuglimz'Seitre
Kh'omchr'om (Orcish)
Trollish

[Grunok the Exile]

Finishing up the loose ends here.  This has not progressed for about half a year now, so let's get it up!


Overview

The common Serphelorian dialect is technically termed ‘Sertharian’ by scholars.  It is marked out from other Santharian tribal dialects by its gestural component; its sound is much less distinctive than most dialects, due to the Serphelorians' long history of mixing with other tribes.  The old Sophronian tongue has died out in the centuries since the unification of Santharia, but words once of that language are often peppered through Serphelorian speech.


Sertharian Dialect

Serphelorians can have quite different accents, depending on what area the speaker comes from.  Their Tharian has the more delicate, cultured sounding New Santhalan acccent in those who live within the Rimmerins Ring and in some larger towns, and is more heavy-sounding in other areas.

While their accent can vary, Serphelorians are easily told apart from the other tribes who mingle in Sanguia by their emphatic gesturing.  Nods, hand-waving, eye-rolling, head-waggling, arm-waving, table-thumping, stamping, and any number of more specific, and often less polite gestures are used to emphasise their stories and speech. This marked gestural element to is thought to be linked to the important part many different acted performances of past events play in Serphelorian festivals.

Tharian in Serphelorian areas is also often interspersed with Sophronian words, especially in the army.  Only a few scholars know that language now, but words dealing with concepts like weak and strong, and male and female are known by nearly all Serphelorians, and used in place of the Tharian so frequently that it is part of their dialect.

Sertharian is similar to the Centharian dialect in that short sentences are the norm. The long, illustrative verbiage of the Avennorians is avoided, and that style of speech is poorly thought of among Serphelorians.  Qualifications to sentences (for example, 'sort of', or 'in a manner of speaking') are delivered in separate sentences, often with a joke. 

In an odd contrast to their otherwise bawdy, carefree ways, Serphelorians tend to be quite careful with titles.  One must always call a Kaiarxura or a vaxytha by her title, unless one seeks to start a fight!


Sophronian Language

It might surprise readers to know that several phrases in use across Santharia are actually, in their original form, from the Sophronian language.  That wonderful term ‘firth’, which describes one’s significant other, or in the verb or adjectival form (‘firthing’), describes someone looking for a short-term significant other, or someone behaving as if they were in rather in need of a significant other, comes from the Sertharian ‘phaerth’.  The title ‘Va’, which is so commonly used by female warriors or unmarried women of standing, is the Sertharian title for a woman.  Even the Santharian-wide slang ‘xur’, of course being more or less equivalent to the word ‘fantastic’, comes from the Serphelorian custom of tattooing.

These words and more are commonly used in Sertharian speech.  A list follows which may be of assistance to the traveler in lands where this dialect is spoken.

va – (pl. Vai) woman, grown person.  "Vai from Islia will beat vai from the south at kokdar any day!"
vahn – female (pl. vahna).  "Only vahna should be allowed to become xau-va!"
kahimar – girl (pl. kahimari).  This kahimar will grow into a strong warrior.
rakciel – girl baby: means treasured gift.  "I have named my rakciel Lyzalia."
faeah – (fa-EAH) man (pl. faeahz).  Refers particularly to Serphelorian men, but can be applied to all men.  "That is one handsome faeah."
fahn – male (pl. fahnz).  "That is a very fahn thing to say."
noeh – (naw-eh) boy.  "Be a good noeh and help your father wash the clothes."
ja – weak, weakling.  "You’re too ja to fight me!"
vaxytha – wise woman, often in a position of power.  "I joined the Order of Seyella because the vaxytha told me I must."
Kaiarxura – respected person (usually a woman). "Excuse me Kaiarxura, but may I watch you train?"
xur (slang version) – fantastic, awesome, really impressive.  "Wow, I never thought you would be able to hit that target!  That was xur!"
xau-va – soldier, warrior woman.  Mostly a military term, but can be used for respected non-military warriors.  Despite its gendered nature, this term is used for men as well as women.  "Tajain joined the Order of Seyella and now he is a xau-va!"
katmoh – the Serphelorian concept that one must always protect the weak.  'In the spirit of katmoh, the Serphelorians of the Elverground are quite friendly with the hobbits who are their neighbours.'
phaerth, phaerthing.  As the Tharian ‘firth’, but can also mean one's land.  When used in regard to a person, it is more commonly use by women about their men in Sertharian.  “Get off my phaerth!”, “I’ll welcome (or, ‘I’m walking’) my phaerth tonight” (lascivious), “She’s just saying that ’cos she’s phaerthing”.

The Sophronian language is surprisingly closely related to Kuglimz’Seitre.  The word order is thought to be more or less the same, albeit less strict, and there are some surprising similarities in words across these two language.  For example, the Sophronian word for ‘invalid’ – ill or disabled person - was similar to the word the Kuglimz now use for ‘sheep’.  Scholars of language have speculated that perhaps the lost Mynian language contained a word which was a precursor to both.  Differentiating papers written in the old Serphelorian tongue from works in its northern cousin is quite easy for these researchers, however.  Hyphens are used to form compound words instead of apostrophes and, tellingly, words tied to concepts of battle, morality, and religion are quite different across the two languages.

Below can be found a list of some of the words which have been preserved by scholars.  Many are deductions from currently used words; others have a firmer foundation, having been found in historical documents which were written in both the Sophronian language, and the Glandorian tongue of the Serphelorians’ allies, the Avennorians.  Others still are words recently fallen out of use, or recorded by different elven tribes as the Sophronians made their long journey down the continent of Sarvonia millennia ago.

A
ar – past-suffix (sort of like –ed)
afael – others, in the sense of an outside group.
Avari’afael – short for Aviaria-jou-afael: tribe of the Aviaria.  Thought to be the precursors to the Aerpheronians, although given their use of the word ‘Aviaria’, they may have been elves.

B
beinxau – sister
bvil - arm

C
chrond – agreement
chrondra - symbol of agreement
ceryas - roaming, searching

D
…

E
eb – covering

F
faeah (fa-EAH) – man
fahn – male

G
…

H
(no such letter in Sophronian, except as part of the combination ‘ph’)

I
…

J
ja  - weak, weakling. 
jeinar(z) – daughter(s)
-jou – means ‘of’, and is positioned after a noun.  Indicates belonging, like  ..’s in Tharian.
je – used to denote having potential.  New army recruits are called xau-je (although privately some officers call many of them xau-ja!)
jakatya – weak threat-killing thing – set of actions to protect the weak, or more loosely, war dance
jakat – means something like ‘protector’, but in a more active, aggressive sense
jaeb – weakling covering
Jakat-jou-zaek – lands of the Jakat
jaesap - belonging, indicating ownership

K
kat - to kill a threat, to protect in a very active, agressive sense
kaiar – proven
kai – strong
kahimar – girl
khazi – fingers (sing kha)

L
…

M
moeah – wounded, invalid, sick, incapable

N
noar – port or port town.
noeh – boy (norh-eh)

O
…

PH
phelor – city, particularly capital or major cities.
phael – they
phaek – them

Q
…

R
rakciel – girl baby (means treasured gift)
rond – tame (verb)
Rond-afael – others who tame: Eyelians

S
ser – around, from
Serphelorian – Serphelor means from the city; ‘ian’ was added later by Thiaran speakers, like most tribes’ names.
Sophronia-bvili-kat    protected by the arms of Sophronia


T
Tarranoar – Tarra’s port town

U
…

V
va – woman, grown person
vahn – female

W
…

X
xur – Means any light silvery blue.  Is also slang for awesome (applied to person, particularly women; e.g.: By Armeros, Quesvath was one xur lady!)
xau - warrior

Y
ya – action, set of actions, dance (but to convey a dance, this syllable must be paired with the name of the type of dance, like women’s, men’s, couples’, energetic, etc.)

Z
zaek – land.  Pl. zaeka
zaek-ceryas    roaming-lands
zaek-jaesap   our lands, common lands
zaek-Sophronia-jou      Sophronian lands

[Bard Judith]

Hey, xur entry! 




TELL me that wouldn't be picked up as 'slang' by Tharian youth everywhere....  :rollin

[Grunok the Exile]

Hehe, thanks!  I wouldn't be surprised if 'phaerth' in one of its ah... less literal forms found its way around the kingdom, too 

[Bard Judith]

   I suspect it has transmogrified into the Tharian 'firth'...  let's see....

  "Get off my firth!"
  "Firthin' jealous she-cat..."
  " You plowing your firth tonight?"
 

[Grunok the Exile]

Oooh, fantastic!

I should also probably mention somewhere here that, as this language was descended from that of the Mynians, I have very loosely based it on Kuglimz.  Some examples of things I've borrowed are that the Kuglimz word for man has changed slightly to become the Serphelorian word for woman / grown person, and the word order of Kuglimz has been kept, although it is not strictly followed in these times.

Also, the word for incapable (usually for reason of wounding or illness) is derived from the Kulimz word for sheep... 

[Artimidor Federkiel]

Here's a different idea that maybe makes a good addition especially at the Serphelorians or Sophronians: body language.

I don't know if we have anything like that mentioned in another entry so far, but the importance of body language occured to me the other day when I saw an Italian person talk using hand and feet to express something. As the Serphelorians are a rather open minded tribe, I guess communication via gestures and such would also fit beter to them, than, say, an Erpheronian. - What do you think?

[Grunok the Exile]

Yes, that would work quite well.  I can just see a huge tall Serphelorian woman standing in a tavern, hair flying as her head moves with nodding, telling a bawdy story full of hand-gestures to help with emphasis, particularly in some ways which would make a polite Avennorian squirm...  hehehe.  How I envy you on the continent with so many specific cultures around you to take ideas from!  Having said that, many New Zealanders can pick up the influence of the Maori people in my entries...

When I first read this I thought you meant in a very specific way, like in 'Clan of the Cave Bear' or something.  That would be difficult here because we already have so much elaborated in various submissions, but it might be something to keep in mind as a concept for the Kyranians.  With their veneration of Arvins, it might be useful for them to communicate silently some times.

I will update the top post with this idea 

[Grunok the Exile]

Updated with a clean-up of the information in it so far.

[Grunok the Exile]

[Alysse the Likely]

Cute kitty!

For everyone's information, the orcish language is largely a language of gestures, emphasized with grunting words.  At least, that's the way I tried to develop it in the beginning.  Their vocal chords have trouble with a complex verbal language, and most of their subtleties are indicated with gestures.  For instance, an orc might say "Ka'hnk" ("ka" indicating the subject, who is identified by gesture, and "hnk" being the verb "to bite".  Thus, "ka'hnk" could mean "I bite" (or "I am biting"), "You bite", "He/She/It bites", etc.   An orc could learn to understand basic Tharian, but he/she would have a lot of trouble with complex words (of more than three syllables, say.)

Re: Serphlorian language.  I'd just like to mention a couple of things.   The Kuglimz peoples tend to reverse their sentence structure as compared to Tharians  (which is why Alysse talks like Master Yoda--it's her native speech patterns establishing themselves. )  So you may wish to incorporate some of that sentence structure reversal (or not, as you choose).  I do notice the usage of "z" to indicate a plural, and want to point out that the suffix "ang" indicates a negative. For example, one of the worst Kuglimz insults is "Vekk'ang!", "Vekka" being rider and "ang" negating it--thus you have "non-rider".

Well, gotta go, will look at it more later.

Alysse

[Grunok the Exile]

Thanks Alysse! 

Re. Orcish - What are you trying to say about my Tharian? 

Re. sentence structure:  I have actually used that somewhat, though I haven't emphasised it.  You can see it from the titles (in the nomenclature thread), and from some of the words they have, like 'Sophronia-bvili-kat', a word for one of the smaller incarnations of their historical kingdom, which means 'protected by the arms of Sophronia'.  Bvili means arm, kat means 'to kill a threat, to protect in a very active, aggressive sense'.  The word might be lacking a tense modifier, but I'm not sure...

[Grunok the Exile]

Ok, let's get this up!  Comments?   

[Tharoc Wargrider]

Hi Grun 

Even though you don't like Harleys, I look forward to seeing your entries, as you present them in an easy-to-understand way. And us Orcs should stick together, right?

Anyway, I found this particularly interesting, as I've been developing new words for the Orcs for a few months now (I'm gathering them in a notebook, ready to present them when I feel I've got enough), and it's good to see how someone else tackles the subject, especially when it reflects a similar structure to Kh'omchr'om.

Anyway, I saw this,

Differentiating the old Serphelorian tongue from its northern cousin is quite easy, however.  Hyphens are used to connect words instead of apostrophes

and wondered how one differentiates the spoken language? After all, hyphens aren't much use there, are they?

Other than that, I think you're doing a solid job of wrangling this language (or should that be languages?), and I look forward to reading more.

I particularly like the way you have included samples of word-use. Perhaps this is something I could work on for the Orcs. Then again, I would need to create a 'sign language' to go along with it.

[Grunok the Exile]

Thanks, Tharoc!  I have amended the part you mentioned in lime green.  As the only people who can speak it now are Serphelorian scholars (there are quite a few of these, particularly in Chrondra - ooh, that's another entry I should be able to finish!) I thought that I should confine the distinction to the written language.  The spoken language would have very similar markers to Sertharian, as only Serphelorian institutions would teach it!

Regarding your language development, you might also like to look at the Serphelorian nomenclature for some inspiration on how to explain this kind of thing (particularly the second half, dealing with titles - the rest wouldn't be so relevant).    Feel free to bell-ring/email me when you get yours up!  Even if I don't post things for a while, I am always willing to come by!

[Ta`lia of the Seven Jewels]

Hey, Grun, I missed this submission! How could I. Seems I miss all the for me important stuff of your tribe, but well, now I have seen it.
It seems pretty finish to me as well and I admire how you can deal with languages as well, I could not and if it were in German. I fear I have to ask somebody to help me with the Shendar and Stratanian dialect. But, at least I have another source now, for as some of your women came to the desert, they have surely influenced the language as well, especially the northern tribe.

   About this Board
   Dev Introduction
   Developer's 1x1
   Technical Forum Stuff
   Advanced Forum Help
   Testing Thread
   Where's the game?

Advanced search

[Members]

Members Total Members: 1019 Latest: lolanixon Stats Total Posts: 144590 Total Topics: 11052 Online Today: 29 Online Ever: 700 (23 January 2020, 20:05:39) Users Online Users: 0 Guests: 32 Total: 32

[Artimidor]

	Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2005, Simple Machines TinyPortal v0.9.8 © Bloc
Theme based on Cerberus with Risen adjustments by Bloc and Krelia Modified By Artimidor for The Santharian Dream