Virtual Verduria

Uyseʔ

© 2010 by Mark Rosenfelder · zompist.com

Phonology — Consonants —Vowels —Phonotactics —Stress
Overall structure
Pronouns — Personal pronouns — Demonstratives — Quantifiers and numerals
Nouns —Nouns and noun-verbs —Plurals —Compounds —NP order
Verbs — Basic sentence order —Passive by omission —Negation —Aspectual particles —Modal particles —Imperatives
Adjectives
Some transformations — Questions —Doubled verbs —Ongoing action —Locative verbs —Locatives modifying nouns
Complex sentences — Subordination —Verbs of saying and thinking —Causatives —Conjunctions —Comparatives —Superlatives
Pragmatic particles
The calendar — The day —The year
Sample texts — Conversation —A poem —The care of Powers —The quotable Nyekhen
Lexicon
Writing

Introduction

Uyseʔ is the language of Uytai, the largest and most populous state in Arcél and the center of the temperate-zone civilization. The other Uyseʔic states— Nyandai, Siad βo, Hlüim— speak related languages, and they and the neighboring language families have heavily borrowed from Uyseʔ. The Uytainese syllabographic writing system is the ultimate source of all Arcélian writing (before the colonization of Fananak).

At the risk of offending Uytainese readers, it can’t be said that Uytai is the most advanced nation in southern Arcél; it tends to be conservative and somewhat xenophobic, and Nyandai has long been the leader in technology and finance, as well as interaction with foreign cultures (northern or Ereláean). However, Uytai has a much larger population (and thus considerable wealth and military clout) and dominates in literature, religion, and philosophy.

Uyseʔ has borrowed technical terms from Nyanese, though since this is done via writing, the syllables appear in their Uyseʔ form. E.g. tordzew ‘interest’ was borrowed as turstil. Words from unrelated languages are of course borrowed phonetically— e.g. Tsaʔ ‘the Itseʔ river’, Khepri ‘Kebri’, Fertur ‘Verduria’.

This sketch describes the contemporary standard Uyseʔ of the capital, Srethun. There are significant dialectal differences, as well as important differences from early written Uyseʔ, about 2500 years ago.

Despite these differences, the Uyseʔ writing system binds together the Uyseʔic nations, all of which consider themselves to share one language. Even the Nyanese, who have the strongest independent culture, essentially use the Uyseʔ writing system without local modifications (beyond some local lexemes), and largely use Uyseʔ syntax when writing. This contrasts with the Beic nations which have each derived their own writing systems.

(The writing system is described in a separate document.)

Phonology

Consonants

labial dental palatal velar pharyngeal glottal
stops p
ph		 t
th		 k
kh		 ʔ
affricates ts
fricatives f s ħ h
liquids l r
nasals m n
approximants w y

The important distinction between stops is aspiration, not voicing. E.g phwai ‘auspicious’ is pronounced [phwaj]. The aspiration is much stronger than in English, more like Mandarin. The Siadese and Hlüim are notable for turning these into fricatives, but this is never correct in Uytai. Intervocalic stops are often voiced in Siadese and Nyanese.

H should be pronounced strongly; especially word-initially, it may approach [x].

Ħ is a pharyngeal fricative, as in Arabic. In the sister languages it’s generally a velar fricative.

R is a rolled post-alveolar fricative, like Czech ř.

Most consonants can be followed by y, which palatalizes them to varying degrees.

Vowels

The vowels are i e a o u.

Any vowel can diphthongize with w or y, but I write ai au instead of ay aw; this reflects a difference in sound (the a is lenghtened) and a distinctive treatment in the writing system (final -w and -y are sometimes ignored when assigning phonetics or writing rhyming poetry, but ai au can never rhyme with a).

Vowels are laxed before a final consonant; but they have their full value before liquids:

swi /swi/ ‘sing’
swiʔ /swɪʔ/ ‘sea’
swir /swir/ ‘wax’
 
pho /pho/ ‘river valley’
phot /phɔt/ ‘stink’
phor /phor/ ‘put together’

Phonotactics

The formula for a syllable is:
C+(r,l,w,y)+V+(w,y)+(ʔ,m,n,l,r,t).
As t can end syllables, words like Srethun are ambiguous in my transcription: sret-hun or sre-thun? This is not actually a problem since t + h is pronounced th.

In compounds l + r → r, m + n → nn. This is not indicated in the transcription, except in the word hreram ‘priest’ where the etymological connection to hrel ‘instruct’ is not reflected in the writing system.

Vowels almost never begin a word, though ʔ can. U is an exception (un ‘give’, uy ‘ancestor’), but this derives from wu- which is not otherwise attested.

Stress

Stress is typically on the last syllable: notséʔ, Uytái, Srethún. The exception is semantically vague finals like -ram ‘person’, or the adjectivizers -ne and -ar: páuram, hrétne, Syalénar.

Overall structure

Uyseʔ is isolating, meaning that its morphemes are mostly single syllables and there is no inflectional morphology. Many sentences will consist entirely of single-syllable words:
Kwar hwim phwaun tswai tsor sun frey syal.
you.resp wish bear hunt must fast foot have
If you want to hunt bears, you must have quick feet.
However, this doesn’t mean that there are no compounds; there are plenty. (The writing system does not distinguish compounds from syntactic phrases; in native sources nwai is the basic term for a unit of speech and also a glyph in the writing system, comparable to Mandarin zì, while hoy serves for both compounds and phrases, like Mandarin cí. There’s no term for what we would understand as a ‘word’.)

Most morphemes are independent, but some are bound— either they only appear in compounds (e.g. the hin in hinnar, hintser ‘because of that, because of this’) or they attach so closely to another word that interpolations are highly restricted, e.g. perfective yu-, negative -en.

A very few words are multisyllabic; e.g. hwehew ‘shiver’, keke ‘frequently’, notseʔ ‘notseh cow’. Some of these derive from reduplication; others may be borrowings. Many foreign names are of course multisyllabic (e.g. Fertur for Verduria), but there’s a strong tendency to limit them to two syllables.

A very small number of words are formed by fusion: e.g. ħwiyt ‘want to but be prevented’ = ħwim ‘want’ + net ‘must not’. The frequent -r in the pronouns derives from ar or a lost element: cf. na ‘that’, nar ‘that one’.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

The Uyseʔic languages are known for variation in the pronoun system; each region has its own set, and the pronouns vary over time as well. This section describes those of standard Uyseʔ.

It’s best to think of the personal pronouns as required. Uyseʔ values brevity; the pronouns can be omitted in certain phrases, giving an aphoristic air. But knowing when to do this is something of an art. (One safe place to omit them: several repeated sentences all with the same subject.)

Nominal form
familiar respectful Literary Court
I ħu pyey pyey tse thal
you the kwar koykwar syai ħwen
he ʔu thrau nawar syai nawar
she sil khro nalai syai nalai
Adjective form
familiar respectful Literary Court
my poy poy tsene tse thal nye
your fur koy koyne syai ħwen nye
his yo thoy nane syai nawar nye
her yeʔ khroy nalaine syai nalai nye

The familiar and respectful forms are used in speech; the distinction is similar to that of tu/vous in French. (The respectful forms are the most unmarked, and are thus used in most of the examples in this grammar, but in colloquial speech the familiar forms are more common.)

The general rule for ‘I’ is to use pyey when speaking to anyone you’re on kwar terms with. That is, one does not use asymmetric forms in standard Uyseʔ.

The literary forms are used in writing as well as in some very formal speech registers (such as religious or legal rituals). They’re a remnant of an earlier pronoun system.

The court forms are used to refer formally to royals, nobles, and high officials; these do not preclude the use of titles or grander forms, which is a study in itself. References to commoners use the respectful or literary forms depending on whether one is speaking or writing.

The plural for the familiar and respectful forms is formed by prefixing tul- (note tul + ʔu → tulu). However, this is required only for the third person.

When used, tulpyey ‘we’ generally excludes the listener; pyey kwar (or familiar ħu the) ‘you and I’ is preferred for an inclusive ‘we’.

The 3rd person pronouns should only be used for animates (including institutions or regions conceived as actors, as well as heavenly bodies); for inanimate things use the demonstratives.

Demonstratives

this (adj) tse
this (n) tser
that (adj) na
that (n) nar
then nawal
there nahun
now hit
here mwel
that idea syer
The adjectival forms precede their nouns: tse saur ‘this fish’. They precede adjectives or quantifiers (tse swol lin saur ‘these three happy fish’), but follow subordinate phrases or postpositional phrases (myar min ar tse saur ‘this fish the cat caught’).

Syer stands for a whole clause:

ʔarkhel wir he lye? Pyey syer khlar.
world round be Q / I that.idea believe.not
The world is round? I don’t believe it.

Quantifiers and numerals

none rauʔ
some lyut
many, much pwit
most twer
every ʔar
other wau
such mautne
1 or
2 nre
3 swol
4 tswar
5 phun
6 het
7 swolpret
8 nrepret
9 orpret
10 pret
11 ortsum
12 tsum
13 phunħot
14 tswarħot
15 swolħot
16 nreħot
17 orħot
18 ħot
324 thwau
5832 nrit
104,976 hrowt
1,889,568 tswa
Quantifiers and numerals follow the same basic rules: Though lyut can be used as an indefinite reference (‘someone’), it’s commoner just to omit the argument: Hlau, ‘Someone’s coming’; Poy myet yukwey ‘Someone ate my tofu’.

Numbers can be used in a few more ways:

Nouns

Nouns and noun-verbs

A large number of words can serve equally as nouns or as verbs (like English ‘love’). They are identified in the lexicon as NV noun-verbs; to save space the separate English noun form is omitted— e.g. froy is glossed as ‘know’ though it also means ‘knowledge’. It’s fair to say that the Uytainese conceptualize these as actions: Froy pur he ‘knowledge is good’ could equally be glossed ‘To know is good’.

There are also pure nouns. All derived nouns fit in this category, but also many bare roots. These cannot be used in verbal slots, even if we do so in English— e.g hlim ‘ship’. Verbs can be formed by derivation, of course, e.g. hlimnir ‘send by ship’. Pure nouns are conceptualized as things.

About the only true verb in the language is he ‘be (predicative)’. The state of being, i.e. existing, is expressed with the noun-verb preʔ ‘be (existential)’.

Plurals

Nouns referring to people can be pluralized with tul-: tulhyor ‘fathers’; tulhyaulu ‘the headmen’. This is never obligatory, and isn’t allowed at all with other referents, including animals.

Plurality can be explicitly indicated with the quantifiers, in which case tul- is not used: ʔar hyor ‘all fathers’.

Compounds

Compounds are not evident as such from the Uyseʔ writing system, but can be identified because no other material can be interpolated between the elements.

Compounds fall into a few patterns:

Adjective + noun:
Hentwor shining glory
ħunlai indecent girl = prostitute
Hurtso green river
Khartsiʔ new town
Mwatwor great lord
Pursut good fate
ʔarkhel all corners = Almea
Noun + noun:
hretram power man = magician
swirħat wax stick = candle
Themtai iliu land = Ťrim
thunswiʔ mountain sea = rift valley
Tsopwan river bend
Uytai ancestor land
worso lord house = mansion
theʔthan hand fight = martial arts
Verb + object (including locative + object)
fatħel behind door
twuntai out land = exile
hyausyan top + mother = grandmother
nrewnsye without + guts = coward
Funuy sacrifice to ancestors
fyenhar prepare-man (type of rite)
ħanphor make ford
khulhwai become woman
krimħun bring immorality = seduce
loyhret serve power = magic
Paukhel rule world
pauram speak.for ancestors = king
hluʔtsrat treat evil = abuse
Verb + subject
loylai serve girl
Uykhrai ancestor bless
With the excepton of a few names, the last pattern is limited to a few common nouns.

Some common derivational patterns for nouns:

-ne adjectivizer for pure nouns
-fen state or condition
-wal period of time
-ram person
-so building, place
-ħin device
nrul- study
tsu- diminutive
pwit- many, much

NP order

Uyseʔ is consistently head-final. Thus, demonstratives, quantifiers, adjectives, and relative clauses precede the noun:
na hwai that woman
lyut hwai several women
or pur hwai one good woman
kroy froy ar hwai the woman who knows the sword
Uykhrai twun hwai the woman from Uykhrai

Verbs

Basic sentence order

Unmarked word order is SOV:
Run ħrot yukwey.
dog mouse PAST-eat
The dog ate the mouse.
The normal location for adverbs is after the subject and object, before the verb:
Pauram siʔ yulyew.
king sudden PAST-flee
The king immediately fled.
 
Pyey myet phernur kwey!
I.resp ko.tofu yesterday eat
We ate tofu yesterday!
 
Pyey mwel ħon!
I.resp here stay
Here I stay.
As we’ll see later, this goes for adverbials and postpositional phrases as well.

Any constituent (NP or AdvP) can be topicalized by fronting it and marking with sru:

Ħrot sru run yukwey.
mouse TOPIC dog PAST-eat
The mouse was eaten by the dog.
 
Phernur sru sut so yuthu.
yesterday TOPIC fate house PAST-in
Yesterday fate entered my home.
A vocative is marked with the particle a, and is normally fronted. In speech, vocatives are very common, especially speaking to superiors.
Ritram a, pyey na ʔar nwai sraut.
teacher VOC / I.resp that every word forget
Teacher, I’ve forgotten all those words.
If the vocative is also the subject, the subject need not be repeated.

Existential verbs, or those denoting an appearance or disappearance, come first:

Preʔ tsiʔ. Twey pauram.
exist city / not.exist king
There is a city. There’s no king.

Passive by omission

If an argument of a transitive verb is omitted, the meaning is passive:
Photram pauram yukhyuʔ.
barbarian king PAST-defeat
The barbarians defeated the king.
 
Pauram yukhyuʔ.
king PAST-defeat
The king was defeated.
We can do this with some verbs (“The ball broke the window / The window broke”), but it’s a general feature of Uyseʔ.

(To be precise— there are other reasons a subject may be omitted in Uyseʔ, such as it being already given in the immediate context.)

Verbs with an optional object are trickier; the general rule is that animate referents are taken as subjects, others as objects.

Feyram sluʔ fruʔ.
peasant pell.beer drink
The peasant is drinking beer.
 
Feyram fruʔ.
The peasant is drinking.
 
Sluʔ fruʔ.
The beer was drunk.
There’s no equivalent of our ‘by’ clause that restores the subject to a passive; but topicalization can be used instead:
Sluʔ sru feyram yufruʔ.
The beer was drunk by the peasant.

Negation

A verb is negated with -en (or -ʔen after a vowel: thet ‘make’ → theten ‘doesn’t make’, pau ‘rule’ → pauʔen ‘doesn’t rule’. But some verbs have dedicated negatives, e.g. twey ‘not exist’, phim ‘not want’, khlar ‘not believe’.

A negated verb can be used as a noun: Froyʔen khowm ‘Not-knowing is bad’.

Aspectual particles

Uyseʔ does not modify verbs for tense, but has a rich set of aspectual particles, which precede the verb.
yu- change of state, perfective Khro lyot yuprow.
She already made you dinner.
Pyey pham yunron.
I finished reading the book.
khuy change of state (internal) Kwar har hit khuy he.
You’re a man now.
Tyut khuy rewm.
The boy got lost.
ħwer beginning, inchoative Khro ħwer swi.
She started to sing.
sor event experienced at least once Pyey thluy sor kwey.
I‘ve had squid.
nrau- done a little; tried; softens imperatives Pyey leyseʔ nrauseʔ.
I speak a little Lé.
Tulpyey nrautsyofruʔ.
We’ll be doing some drinking.
lyoy did occasionally (more than once, not habitually) Kwar Phettai thu lyoy friw.
you.resp Phetai in occasionally travel
You’ve been to Phetai a few times.
keke do frequently Hwai keke nron ar tsam hrol tsun?
woman frequently read SUB matter normal Q
Is it normal for a woman to read so much?
kew do at intervals Tyut kewkheʔ.
young,boy AT.INTERVALS cough
The boy would cough now and then.
prum   did so far, got as far as Tulpyey hyutpham prum ħruy.
PL-I.resp manuscript AS.FAR.AS write
We got as far as writing the manuscript.
Some of the English glosses use the past tense, but this isn’t present in the Uyseʔ— cf. Pyey pham wennur yunron ‘I’ll finish reading the book tomorrow’.

Yu- and khuy both indicate a change of state, but the latter implies that the change proceeds from within. Compare the example with Kwar har hit yuhe ‘You’ve been made a man’. Khuy isn’t used with transitives with an explicit subject; when used with passives, as in the second example, it makes the meaning reflexive—the implication is that the boy being lost is his own fault.

The aspect particles (except for yu- and nrau-) can be separately negated or modified. Compare:

Hwai kekeʔen kwey.
woman FREQUENTLY-NOT eat
The woman eats not-frequently (i.e. she eats infrequently).
Hwai keke kweyen.
woman FREQUENTLY eat-NOT
The woman not-eats frequently (i.e. she often fails to eat).

Khro ħwer ruy swi.
she.resp begin good sing
She began to sing well.
Khro ruy ħwer swi.
she.resp good begin sing
She well-began to sing (idiomatically: she finally started singing).
Note the very useful soren ‘not even once, never’.

With yu- negation can be said to apply chiefly to the perfective: Pyey pham yunronen just says that I didn’t finish reading the book; it doesn’t deny that I read some of it. Nrau- is similar: Pyey pham nrau nronensays that I didn’t read a little— i.e. I didn’t even start, I didn’t give it a try.

Modal particles

There is also a wide range of modal particles:
mur can (is able to) Tulpyey mur senruy.
We can work it out.
kwor should (in speaker’s estimation) Kwar tur kwor un.
You should return the jewel.
siw should (in actor’s estimation); feels obliged to Khro siw lyew.
She felt she had to flee.
tsor must (in speaker’s estimation) Wor tsor twuntai.
The lord must be exiled.
fyaul must (by external obligation; speaker is neutral) Lai fyaul wimhar.
The girl was forced to marry.
net must not Kwar ħrel net tsimseʔ.
You must not mention the war.
fuy is afraid to, hesitates to Hwai fuy seʔ.
The woman was afraid to speak.
ħur has permission to Pyey poy theʔ ħur senħrin?
May I lower my hands?
thwom   dares to Kwar wor thwom tswaut lye?
You dare to lie to the lord?
pwir might, is possibly Nyanram pwir fuy.
The Nyanese might be frightened.
syom speaker’s wish Thrau syom hyaur.
I wish he’d go.
ħwim want to, is willing to Kwar tse har ħwim wimhar lye?
Do you want to marry this man?
foy intend to Pyey tulthrau fat foy fau.
I’m going to sneak behind them.
ħwiyt would like to but there is some constraint or opposition Pyey ħ wiyt hyaur.
I’d like to go (but can’t).
fyen is preparing to, is ready to Non he, pyey fyen phoyn.
Yeah, I’m ready to bounce.
khloy is going to Nam khloy ħum.
The boy will fail.
Again, either the modal or the main verb can be negated or modified:
Lai fyaulen wimhar.
girl must-not marry
The girl must-not marry (i.e. she isn’t forced to do it)
Lai fyaul wimharen.
girl must marry-not
The girl must not-marry (i.e. she is obliged by someone to stay single)
The modifiers include aspect particles, so one can distinguish e.g.
Loylai ħwer ħur hyaur.
serve-girl begin may leave
The maid just got permission to leave.
Loylai ħur ħwer hyaur.
serve-girl may begin leave
The maid has permission to begin leaving.
The logic isn’t difficult: the modifier applies to whatever comes next. It’s English that confuses things by allowing negative hopping— e.g. “I don’t think you should go” really means “I think you should not-go.” This can only be Pyey hroy khar kwor hyauren, with the negative modifying hyau ‘go’.

Don’t use the perfective on modals as a way to match English’s tense marking. We distinguish ‘I can dance’ from ‘I could dance (at the time)’, but both are properly rendered by Pyey murnyun. It would simply sound bizarre to say *Pyey yumur nyun.

Khloy is used for relatively certain events. Use one of the other modals if you can; e.g. Wor wennur foy hyaur ‘The lord will go tomorrow’ uses the intentive foy as it’s an expression of the subject’s will. Wor wennur khloy hyaur would be a prediction or a deduction.

Imperatives

Imperatives are expressed using modal expressions. The most peremptory is tsor ‘must (speaker’s estimation)’; almost any of the others can be used to soften the request. The choice of personal pronoun is also important here.
The na ħel tsor men!
you.fam that door must close
You (fam.) must close that door!

Kwar photram kwor ħor.
you.resp barbarian should pay
You (resp.) should pay the barbarian.

Syai ħwen fruʔ pwir kriʔ lye?
HON honor drink might choose Q
Milord will perhaps select a beverage?
Imperatives can be softened with the aspect clitic nrau ‘a little’:
Kwar lyut tyun welhyan tsor nraukwey!
you some portion salmon must little-eat
You must try some salmon! (lit., must eat a little)
Also see hyur under Pragmatic Particles, which doesn’t require a modal.

In an emergency— and by extension, to be insulting— one can omit the pronoun and modal, but add the question particle lye:

Ħel men lye! Nau riʔ lye!
door shut Q / fire extinquish Q
Shut the door! Put out the fire!

Adjectives

These are of two kinds, roots (e.g. pet ‘old’, kwaʔ ‘foreign’) and derived words (kranne ‘virtuous’, syalenar ‘not having’).

Useful affixes:

-ar adjectivizer for NVs; often comparable to our past participle
-ne adjectivizer for pure nouns
-fen state or condition
-wal period of time
-ram person nominalizer: fretram crazy person
sen- causative
-enar negative adjectivizer
If one of the nominalizers is added to a derived adjective, -ne drops out; e.g. syunne hrau ‘sweet voice’ → Syunhrau (a name).

Compare kharwal ‘youth, the period when one is young’, kharfen ‘novelty, the state of being young or new’.

Nouns and noun-verbs can’t be used directly as modifiers; use subordination instead. Or to be more precise, concatenation forms compounds, not phrases. E.g. ‘river town’ can be tso nye tsiʔ (subordinated clause) or Tsotsiʔ (compound name).

A causative like senkhar ‘make new’ acts like any other verb, except that the negative -en is applied to the first syllable: senenkhar ‘not make new’.

Some transformations

Questions

Yes-no questions are formed by the sentence-final particle lye:
Tulpyey ħram nrewn lye?
PL-I.resp gram.squash lack Q
Are we out of squash?

Kwar fatħel tswen lye?
you.resp cabal loyal Q
Are you loyal to the Cabal?
However, he ‘be’ has a separate interrogative verb tsun:
Syai ħwen fret tsun?
HON honor crazy be.Q
Is milord crazy?
The standard answers are Non he ‘yes’ and Heʔen ‘no’.
The interrogative pronouns are:
tsem who(m), what
ħwon where
fiʔ when
noy what (sentence)
twoʔ how many
These stay in their grammatically appropriate spot:
Tsem lyut tyun khet ħwim?
who some part pie want
Who wants some pie?

Na lyat tsem ʔum?
that rifter who bite
Who is that rifter biting?

Koy syan fiʔ hlau?
your.resp mother when come
When is your mother coming?

Pet mwor ħwon syiw?
old whale where sleep
Where is the old whale sleeping?

Kwar twoʔ har yutswun?
you.resp how.many men PAST-kill
How many men have you killed?
Noy substitutes for an entire sentence; see Conjunctions below. For now, note Phrem noy ‘Why?’

Doubled verbs

Some verbs can be used to modify another, expressing manner, aspect, or result. As we’ll see, these aren’t compounds as material can come between the verbs.

As they’re considered modifiers, they come before the verb.

hyet finish +khul become → become completely
+krat cut → cut to pieces
tswun   to death +kwul strangle → strangle to death
+phut hit → beat to death
hyut scatter, spread +khu throw → throw all about
+tsom reside → live all around here
prow cook +pwaʔ boil → cook by boiling
+thren mix → stir-fry
wot cross +khut walk → walk across
+fyuy swim → swim across
keʔ give (someone) +khu throw → toss (to someone to keep)
+triʔ discard → get rid of (by giving away)
tur back; return; reciprocal   +khut walk → walk back
+khu throw → throw back
hlau come +ħwa carry → bring (here)
+khu throw → throw here
pe undo +hahat wrap → unwrap
+kram tie → untie
Examples:
Pyey na nyanram ħwim tswun phut.
I.resp that Nyan-man wish kill hit
I mean to beat that Nyanese to death.

Met hyut yutha.
seed scatter PAST-fall
The seeds fell all about.
Aspects, modals, and negative -en are applied only to the second verb: hyet ħwer krat ‘begin to cut to pieces’; wot khuten ‘didn’t walk across’.

Ongoing action

A sentence can have two concatenated verb phrases: S O1 V1 O2 V2. The sense is “S did VP2 while doing VP1.” For instance:
Lai tyurram rul rai yuhwaut.
girl customer speak skirt PAST-remove
The girl removed her clothes while speaking to the customers.
In theory both verbs can be fully modified, but usually only the second is— after all, the entire embedded phrase can be considered an aspectual modifier. However, the first verb can be negated:
Kwar lyot prowen tsem hluʔ?
you.resp dinner cook-NOT what do
What did you do while not making dinner?
The first verb need not have an object.
Kho hwehew ħel yuphow.
she.resp shake door PAST-open
She opened the door, shaking.
The doubled verbs discussed above can be seen as lexicalized instances of this pattern.

Ditransitives also follow this pattern. For instance, “to give X to Y” becomes Y keʔ X un, literally “give X, while benefitting Y”.

Poy sram pyey keʔ tse wow yuun.
my.resp brother I.resp help this ring PAST-give
My brother gave me this ring.

Locative verbs

locative noun
thu in, to inside
twun out outside
tran in front of front
fat behind behind
hil next to side
purhil on the right of   right side
khowmhil   on the left of left side
tur returning to return
hyau on top of top
syul above space above
khrum below underside
wot across from other side
nyoun surrounding surroundings
ʔel apart from
wot across (from)
keʔ for, to help
fwai using, with tool
rul (speaking) to
ken along with accompaniment
huy among separation
nrewn without lack
thur like similarity
kwen for (purpose) purpose
What we’d express as a prepositional phrase becomes a locative verb in Uyseʔ. These also follow the ongoing action construction:
Loylai ħel fat yaun.
serve-girl door behind listen
The maid is listening behind the door.

Pauram kroy fwai hreram yuħwewn.
king sword use priest PAST-convince
The king convinced the priest with a sword.
The locative verb can be used alone:
Loylai ħel fat. Pauram kroy yufwai.
serve-girl door behind / king sword PAST-use
The maid is behind the door. The king used a sword.
(Don’t add he ‘to be’, as the locative is all the verb you need.)
Used alone, the locative verbs imply only location; the perfective however implies movement:
Loylai ħel yufat.
serve-girl door PAST-behind
The maid went behind the door.
Like all noun-verbs, the locatives can be used as nouns; the meaning as a noun is given in the table above; e.g. kwal nye tur‘the back of the box’, koy frul nye hyau ‘the top of your head’.

Locatives modifying nouns

Locatives can modify a noun, using the subordinator ar:
nel hyau armyar the cat on the mat

Nyantai twun ar phruʔram the thieves from Nyandai

Such modifiers can take aspect and modal particles, showing that they really are verbal expressions:
nel keke hyau ar myar the cat that’s frequently on the mat

Nyantai pwir twun ar phruʔram the thieves who might be from Nyandai

The effect of such clauses is like a relative clause. Compare:
Loylai ħel fat yaun.
serve-girl door behind listen
The maid is listening behind the door.

Ħel fat ar loylai yaun.
door behind SUB serve-girl listen
The maid who’s behind the door is listening.
The genitive nye can be considered a locative verb, but it can’t modify the main verb, only a noun phrase, and it doesn’t use ar. (As a standalone verb it’s nyeyt ‘belong to’.)

The word order of genitive expressions is backwards from English ‘of’, though similar to that of our possessive:

wor nye mwar the lord’s cat
Uytai nye ram the people of Uytai
tyut nye yol the name of the boy
As we saw above, locative compounds follow the pattern VO:
hyauthun top-mountain = summit
fatħel behind the door = conspiracy
Nyekhen of the wolf = a given name.
As with quantifiers, locative and genitive expressions without a head can be taken as referring to “people”:
Pyey Sleʔpho nye thai.
I.resp Siad.βo GEN like
I like Siadese girls. (lit., I like (those) of Siad βo).
However, if there’s a chance of confusion (e.g. in subject position, where the headless phrase might be taken to apply to the object) the head should be inserted.

Complex sentences

Subordination

The formula for subordination is S ar NP:
Har lyai froy.
the man knows too much
→ lyai froy ar har
the man who knows too much

Ħom tai swiʔ nyoun.
big land sea surround
The big land is surrounded by the sea.

→ ħom swiʔ nyoun ar tai
big sea surround SUB land
The big land surrounded by the sea (name of Neinuoi)

Transitive verbs are ambiguous: lyat tswun ar could mean “who killed a rifter” or “that a rifter killed”. The convention is that in case of ambiguity, it’s the direct object that was relativized; that is, lyat tswun ar can only mean “that a rifter killed”. Similarly pyey ħwen ar can only mean ‘that I love’.
To relativize the subject, pronouns can be inserted:
thrau lyat tswun ar har
he.resp rifter kill SUB man
the man who killed a rifter (lit. the man who he killed a rifter)

khro pyey ħwen ar lai
she.resp I.resp love SUB girl
the girl who loves me (lit. the girl who she loves me)

If the nature of the verb prevents ambiguity, this is not necessary: The adjectivizer -ar is simply a cliticized form of such expressions and follows the same rule; thus tswunar is ‘killed’ and ħwenar means ‘loved’, while froyar means ‘known’ when applied to facts, ‘knowing, knowledgeable’ when applied to persons.
Some examples of NPs with subordinated clauses in full sentences:
Syai ħwen twuntai ar wor yutur.
HON honor exile SUB lord PAST-return
The lord you exiled has returned.

Pyey sruyn prow pwaʔ ar fyeʔ kwey.
I.resp only cook boil SUB meat eat
I only eat meat that’s been boiled.

Nar thrau poy lit krimħun ar har he!
that.one man my.resp wife seduce SUB man be
That’s the man who seduced my wife!

If the main noun is simple and predictable (e.g. ram ‘person/people’, proy ‘thing’) it can be omitted (the missing noun is marked as 0 in the gloss):
Pyey kwey ar ħwim.
I.resp eat SUB 0 want
I want something to eat.

Kwar swel ar yuhyaur.
you.resp seek SUB 0 PAST-leave
The one you’re looking for just left.

However, this is avoided before another NP, as it would be taken as modifying that NP. Compare:
Or wey syal ar har nyan lai ħwen.
one arm have SUB man pretty girl love
The man with one arm loves the pretty girl.

Or wey syal ar nyan lai ħwen.
one arm have SUB pretty girl love
The pretty girl with one arm is in love.

Time expressions are formed by subordination to a temporal noun such as phernur ‘yesterday’ or the catchall nawal ‘then’:
Pyey khro or thin kwai ar phernur ħwer ħwen.
I she one time see SUB yesterday begin love
I fell in love with her yesterday, when I first saw her.
Here note that ‘see’ has no explicit arguments at all, as they’re just the same as the main clause. Arguments are optional if they can be supplied from context.
Time is conceived as flowing upward, so khrumnur ‘before’ is literally ‘below-time’; syulnur ‘after’ is ‘above-time’; cf. also khrumnyer ‘morning’, syulnyer ‘afternoon’.

Recall that an object may be fronted with the topic particle sru; this comes in useful when the subordinate clause is long, or simply to make the sentence flow better.

Fretuy ħrew ar nawal sru tai khuy hwehew.
mad.ancestor wake SUB then TOPIC nation change.state shiver
When the mad ancestors awake, the kingdom shivers.
Similarly, location adverbials (as distinct from locative verbs) are formed by subordination to a locative adverb such as nahun ‘there’:
Thrau throy so tso pwan ar nahun yumwum.
he his house river bends SUB there build.PAST
He built his house where the river bends.

Verbs of saying and thinking

The general formula for direct reported speech or thought is simply X verb S, with no explicit marking of the proposition. For instance:
Ħwenar uy yuseʔ, pauram khloy tsre.
honored ancestor PAST-say / king FUT die
The honored ancestor said, “The king is going to die.”
If the addressee is given, use rul instead: Ħwenar uy khrumkeʔ yurul... “The honored ancestor said to the minister...”

Indirect speech uses the special subordinator swai:

Ħwenar uy yuseʔ swai pauram khloy tsre.
honored ancestor PAST-say SUB king FUT die
The honored ancestor said that the king was going to die.
In indirect speech we adjust the tenses to the time of narrative—note is becoming was in the glosses. This isn’t done in Uyseʔ; the tenses remain those chosen by the speaker.

Causatives

Causatives look similar to verbs of speaking; the formula is X verb S where verb is a causative verb such as krem ‘cause’, ħril ‘force’, ħwewn ‘persuade’, ħur ‘permit’, or rit ‘teach’, and S is a sentence telling what was caused.
Syailit krem pyey myet prow.
queen cause I.resp ko.tofu cook
The queen made me cook tofu.

Pyey nrau ħwewn purhret hyaur.
I.resp try persuade good-power leave
I’ll try to persuade the spirit to leave.

These can be seen as pivot constructions— e.g. pyey in the first example is the object of krem ‘cause’ and the subject of prow ‘cook’.

Conjunctions

If arguments are short (single words), they can simply be concatenated:
Wor khoyt notseʔ saim syal.
lord sheep notseh sammule have
The lord owns sheep, notseh cattle, and sammules.

Pyey hyor syan ħwen.
I.resp father mother love
I love my father and my mother.
This is more colloquial than literary, since outside of speech it isn’t always clear which arguments go together— technically the last example could be “My father and I love my mother.” One can of course topicalize the whole list: Hyor syan sru pyey ħwen.

If a group of conjoints all use one of the common suffixes ram, tai, seʔ (people, land, language), it can be omitted from all but the last:

Pyey nyan phet sleʔseʔ mur seʔ.
I.resp Nyan Pheʔ Siad-speech can speak
I can speak Nyanese, Pheseʔ, and Siadese.
A related pair of referents uses the formula X Y nrar; since mother and father are a couple, the above example could also be Pyey hyor syan nrar ħwen. But if the lord lost his sammules, it wouldn’t be appropriate to say *Wor khoyt notseʔ nrar syal since sheep and cattle aren’t a natural couple.

Alternatively one can use ken ‘with’. As it’s originally a locative verb, one can say X (Y ken) or (X ken) Y; the latter is more common, perhaps because it clearly distinguishes the NPs. If there are more than two conjoints, ken is repeated for each.

Nwunram ken thakahnram ken ħrinram poy swaum ħret thu he.
Fananaki and Ōkmisan and elcari 1s.gen enemy west in be
The Fananaki, the Ōkmisan, and the elcari are our enemies to the west.
For disjunctions one can similarly use huy ‘among’:
Koyne sol huy koyne tsyanlai foy phwut.
your.resp son among your.resp mistresss intend betray
Your son or your mistress will betray you.
Verbs can be conjoined this way also: he huy heʔen ‘to be or not to be’. However, entire clauses shouldn’t be conjoined this way.

Entire clauses use the formula cj S cj S, where the conjunctions are taken from the following:

condition / consequent khyet Shinnar T if S then T
cause / inference phrem Shinnar T because of S, now T
so statement / inference maut Sphrem T it’s so S that T
statement / analogy pwer Sslor T S just as T
action / later action phaur Sħwet T first S then T
denial / statement tyaur Skwon T not S because T; you’d think S but T
statement / conjoint pwer Snreken T both S and T
statement / surprise pwer Skwon T S, but T
statement / alternative pwer Sorken T either S or T (exclusive or)
denial / another denial tyaur Srauken T neither S nor T
Some but not all of these can be reversed. Note that hinnar changes to hintser in this case.
consequent / condition hintser Tkhyet S T given S; if S then T
inference / cause hintser Tphrem S T because of S
inference / so statement phrem Tmaut S T, because it’s so S
action / earlier action ħwet Tphaur S T and previously S
statement / denial kwon T tyaur S T and so not S
analogy / statement slor Tpwer S just as T, S
Khyet kyauso mwum hinnar uy hlau.
if temple build therefore ancestor come
If you build the temple, the ancestors will come.

Phrem kwar pauram khweʔ hinnar kwar pil.
because you.resp king annoy therefore you.resp imprison
You annoyed the king, so you are in jail.

Maut Uykhrai tswaum he phrem rauʔ hyaur.
so Uykhrai crowded be therefore no.one go
Uykhrai is so crowded that no one goes there.

Pwer Syalenar fret he orken sautram he.
possible.case Syalenar crazy be alternative wise-man be
Either Syalenar was crazy, or he was a sage.

Tyaur khro lin he kwon frim thwil.
denial she.resp happy be but still plot
You’d think she’d be happy, but she is still plotting.
Don’t look for an equivalent of the conditional or subjunctive, or add modal particles— the modality is already implied by the conjunctions. E.g. in the first example, the first clause is just kyauso mwum ‘build the temple’; khyet alone is enough to imply that the temple wasn’t actually built. (If it was and you’re drawing a logical consequence, use phrem...hinnar instead.)

Similarly, be careful with tyaur which is itself a negative: tyaur S means that S isn’t true.

If the conjoined predicates are very similar, identical elements can be removed:

Pwer Syalenar fret he orken sautram.
possible.case Syalenar crazy be alternative wise-man
Syalenar was either crazy, or a sage.

Tyaur pyey saur kweyen rauken fyeʔ.
denial I.resp fish eat-NOT also.not meat
I eat neither fish nor meat.
But don’t apply the conjunctions to just the differing elements: *Syalenar pwer fret orken sautram he would be baffling.

Conjunctions can be nested:

Khyet pauram pyow hinnar pwer kroywar ħwer ħum nreken tsratram purwal.
logical structure = Khyet S hinnar [pwer T nreken U]
because king be.sick therefore both army begin fail and evil men celebrate
Because the king is sick, both the armies falter, and the evil men rejoice.
One can add to someone else’s thought using a conjunction as a connective, and by extension use them for afterthoughts of one’s own. As connectives the meanings are as follows:
hintser   so, therefore X
phrem only because of X
nreken also X
rauken also not X
orken but perhaps X
kwon however
khyet and then
Nyantai tyai he.
—Phrem khepriram tulthrau phral!
Nyandai strong be / because Kebrei-man PL-they.resp support
Nyandai is strong.
—Only because the Kebreni support them!

Syai ħwen troyne he ....kwon lin heʔen.
HON honor rich be / however happy be-not
Milord is rich. But milord is not happy.

Noy is used to form questions with any of these constructions; it stands in for the conjoint you’re eliciting. Either the two-place or one-place constructions can be used.
Phrem noy? / Hintser noy? / Khyet noy?
only.because.of Q.S / therefore Q.S / and.then Q.S
Why? / So what? / What next?

Khyet sairhun mwum hinnar noy?
and.then gymnasium build therefore Q.S
If you build a gymnasium, what will happen?

Tyaur pyey lin he kwon noy?
denial I.resp happy be but Q.S
Why am I not happy?

It has a parallel demonstrative syer ‘that (clause)’, which can be used the same way.
Syai ħwen troyne he. Phrem syer hinnar syai ħwen lin he lye?
HON honor rich be / because that therefore HON honor happy be Q
You are rich. Are you not happy because of that?

Comparatives

The comparative construction has the formula X verb Y VP where the verb of comparison is one of pwi ‘more than’, sloʔ ‘as much as’, nyor ‘less than’.
Poy tsit pwi pyey kwow he.
my.resp sister more.than I.resp fat be
My sister is fatter than I am.

Pyey sloʔ kwar Nyekhen ħwen.
I.resp as.much you Nyekhen love
I love Nyekhen as much as you do.

Sil pwi pyey pwit mirram kwai.
she.resp more.than I.resp many lover see
She has more lovers than I do.

If the comparands are the direct object, use the topicalizer sru:
Pyey sloʔ kwar sru Nyekhen ħwen.
I as.much you TOPIC Nyekhen love
Nyekhen loves me as much as he does you.
One (third-person) conjoint or the other may be omitted if it’s already the topic of discussion:
Poy tsit yusor wimhar. Pwi pyey kwow he.
my.resp sister not-once marry / more.than I fat be
My sister has never married. She’s fatter than I am.

Superlatives

Superlatives are formed with the adverbs khret ‘the most’ or sin ‘the least’:
Na phwaun nyan khret he.
that bear pretty most be
That bear is the prettiest.

Hwaitai myet sin kwey.
woman-land ko.tofu least eat
Belesao eats the least tofu.

Pragmatic particles

There are a few particles, appearing at the beginning of the sentence, with a pragmatic meaning.

Pyur can be said to emphasize relevance. Contexts might include:

Huʔ expresses surprise:
Huʔ pyey froyen lyut mwel he.
surprise I.resp know-not some here be
Huh! I didn’t know anyone was here.
Wa expresses recognition, agreement, or regret:
Wa tyaur syai hwen loyram he kwon wor he.
ah neither HON honor servant be however lord be
Ah, you’re not the servant, you’re the lord.
Priw marks dispreferred responses:
Kwar poy tsyanmwen hlau lye?
—Priw pyey poy hilsyan fyaul hyaur.
you.resp my.resp party come Q
well I.resp my uncle must go
You’re coming to my party?
—Er... I have to go see my uncle.

Ferturram thakan mwan lye?
—Priw tulthrau hlim fwai hlau.
Verduria-person horse sit Q
well PL-they.resp boat use come
The Verdurians ride horses?
—Well, they come here by boat.

ʔo stalls for time or holds the floor; as such it can occur anywhere in the sentence.
Hwaitai nye pautsiʔ.... ʔo... Hwaitaitsiʔ he lye?
woman-land GEN capital / er / woman-land-city be Q
The capital of Belesao is... uh... Belesao City?
Kwel has several meanings, but always has a feeling of de haut en bas:
Hyur (literally ‘beg’) is equivalent to our ‘please’:
Hyur kwar koy koyt syan hyaur.
beg you.resp your.resp wretched mother go
Please visit your poor mother.

The calendar

The day

Uytai has an unusual way of measuring time within the day (nur), dating to ancient times: clocks are started at dawn (reʔ), run for 18 hours, and stop sometime in the evening— time simply isn’t recorded in the middle of the night.

The time between dawn and dusk is divided into 14 hours (nurtyun); thus they’re about 51 minutes long. They’re numbered and named thusly:

hour name gloss
1 reʔ dawn
2 - 6 khrumnyer morning
7 nyer noon
8 - 14 syulnyer afternoon
15 tsyen dusk
16 - 18 mwen evening
That is, the entire first hour (or thin nurtyun) is referred to as reʔ, and the clock begins with 1, not 0.

The system seems to have been devised after the invention of water clocks (nurħin) which needed to be reset each day, and which could keep track of the early evening hours as well. When the last water ran out at or before the 18th hour— ħot thin nurtyun, about 9:25 p.m.—decent people should be in bed. The night time (phran) was the nrewnson nurtyun, the uncounted hours.

The time before dawn is also called khrumreʔ ‘below-dawn’, as time is conceived as flowing upward.

As it happens astronomers had early on found it useful to count the uncounted hours—but they did so by counting 36 hours from dusk to dusk. Their reckoning is called nrulkraune nurtyun ‘astronomical hours’. When an even finer measure was needed, the nurtyun was divided into 18 again, creating a tsunur of a little less than three minutes.

The year

Days are organized into kraiwal, periods of about 17 days matching the period of the second moon Iliacáš (Krai). The first day of this period is orkrai, generally a holiday and often used as a market day; it corresponds to when Iliacáš is full. The remaining days can be numbered, e.g. tswar thin nur ‘the fourth day’.

The year is divided into six seasons (ʔaut), 54 or 55 days long:

khlaut winter
krit planting
pyol late spring
ħrain summer
tsyor early fall
mait harvest
There are about 17 kraiwal in a year, so a bit more than 3 per season. They’re numbered within the season, e.g. pyol nye nre thin kraiwal ‘the second kraiwal of late spring’.

For other purposes the periods of Iliažë (Trau) are also counted— the 28-day trauwal. The full moon (ortrau) is also a holiday, generally with a a civic cast. A little more than once a year the two full moons are separated by just one day, huywon (‘between the moons’); naturally this produces a raucous three-day holiday.

Sample texts

Conversation

The following conversation, from a comic piece by the contemporary writer Miltsiʔ, from Swiʔkyau, was chosen to showcase colloquial speech, including common greetings and closings.
HANHAR. Linram a, koykwar keʔ khrai.
Linram voc / you.lit for blessing (a common semiformal greeting)
Hanhar: Good morning, Linram.

LINRAM. Hyaunim khrai.
boss blessing (a more colloquial form)
Linram: Hello, boss.

HANHAR. Koy hyorsyan phen he lye?
your parent safe be Q (a nearly mandatory polite inquiry)
H: Your parents are well?

LINRAM. Hyaunim a, mwai phen.
boss / very safe
L: Quite well, boss.

HANHAR. Linram a, myiwar rauʔthal he. Kwar thalkwai lye, kwar swirħat yukwim?
Linram voc / rot-SUB idiot be / you remember Q / you candle PERF-order
When the preliminaries are over, the boss’s tone suddenly changes.
H: You festering half-wit, Linram. Do you remember ordering candlesticks?

LINRAM. Pyey ʔo... yukwim. Non he, yukwim.
I um PERF-order / true be / PERF-order
Note the repetition of the verb rather than our use of an auxiliary ‘do’.
L: Er... I believe I did that. Yes, I did.

HANHAR. Kwar... twoʔ... khim... yu... kwim?
you how.many of.them PERF-order
The number can’t be used alone, except for people; thus the use of khim ‘of them’.
H: How... many... did... you... order?

LINRAM. Syai a, ħotorpret khim.
sir voc / 18-9 of.them
L: 162, sir.

HANHAR. Kwar tsyir thalkwai lye?
you for.sure remember Q
H: You’re certain.

LINRAM. Syai a, ʔo... pyey mur laur. Ħrinħruy theʔne kwor he...
sir voc / um I can check / note at.hand should be
L: I... I can check, sir. The record should be right here...

HANHAR. Linram a, pyey khram kwar keʔ mur threw. Kwar ħotorpret khim yukwimen. Thwauorpret yukwin.
Linram voc / I trouble you give can remove / you 18-9 of.them PERF-order-not / 182-9 PERF-order
H: I can save you the trouble, Linram. You didn’t order 162. You ordered 2916.

LINRAM. Huʔ hon lye? Sroy ħrul he.
(surprise) true Q / much seem be
L: Really, sir? That seems like a lot.

HANHAR. Phlaʔar lyat nye pon a, tsyir he! Nar tse khrumnyer yuhlau. Thwauorpret swirħat!
drool-SUB rifter of ass voc / certain be / that.one this morning PERF-come / 182-9 candle
The last NP is an afterthought, but this can also be viewed as a case of backing, with nar ‘that one’ left in its place.
H: Of course it’s a lot, you drooling rifter bottom! They arrived this morning. 2916 candleticks!

LINRAM. Syai a, pyey lyai fwar. Ħot ken thwau ħrul sroy thur.
sir voc / I too.much regret / 18 with 182 seem much be.similar
“X is similar to Y” is expressed using a conjoined subject. Ken isn’t mandatory but it’s safer to keep numbers apart so it’s clear they’re conjoined, not added.
L: Ah... I’m sorry, sir. ‘18’ sounds a lot like ‘324’...

HANHAR. Nar... tsem seʔ? Pyur thwauorpret swirħat tsem fwai he?
that.one / what say / look 182-9 candle what for be
H: It... what? Listen, Linram, what are we going to do with 2916 candlesticks?

LINRAM. ʔo... khrumso sinseʔ ruy senhen.
um office at.least very illuminate
L: Um... the building will be well lit, at least.

HANHAR. Pyey kwor krem kwar nar kwey. Nur keʔ or khim, nrepret fyat ar wal!
I should cause you that.one eat / day for one of.them / eight year of time
H: I should have you eat them. One a day, for the next eight years!

LINRAM. ʔo... syai a, pyey fwar.
um sir voc / I regret
L: Er... I am sorry, sir.

HANHAR. Linram a, phen he. Koykwar uy nron.
Linram voc / safe be / you.lit ancestor watch
These are formalized expressions— a common polite farewell.
H: Goodbye, Linram! The ancestors watch you.

LINRAM. Hyaunim nron, phen he.
boss watch / safe be
The standard response.
L: Yours as well, boss, goodbye.

A poem

The following unnamed poem is by one Heyfai, a Srethunese poet of about 3050, and is fairly typical of Uytainese poetry: terse, evocative of single moments and perceptions, focussed on the natural world, and a little bittersweet.

Poetry (ħrinhroy) in Uyseʔ is normally rhymed, wth a fixed number of syllables (nwai) per line (phil). This particular poem is in the form known as tswar ler het ‘four by six’, i.e. 6 lines of 4 syllables each. Tswar ler or four-syllable lines are the most popular verse form, conducive to representing a phrase or short sentence. (Het ler or six-syllable lines are the next commonest.) There’s a slight pause at the end of a line; the first sentence of the poem is five words long, and the pause adds a sense of anticipation, highlighting the next word, tha ‘fall’.

The Uytainese tendency to omit unnecessary words is encouraged in poetry.

Note that Uyseʔ is written right to left.

Myom hyau phrau hew
tha khyet pyey ħrew
ʔar proy him he
tsyur suʔ hanne
hew he hyaunyen
raumfen unen

branch top heavy snow
fall in.that.case I.resp wake
all thing silent be
white cold pure
snow be bedcover
warm-ness give-NOT

Heavy snow on the branches
falls, waking me
All is silent
White, cold, and pure
the snow is a blanket
that gives no warmth

 

The care of Powers

Uytai is perhaps the only human culture which has produced clear and straightforward manuals of magic— that is, not obfuscated and dubious arcana like those we have seen in Axunai, but accessible manuals for dealing with the Powers— the purhret— that underlie Uytainese magic. (For an introduction to the Powers, see the stories of Bečagbi and Hensaut.)

The following are extracts from the Nrepret thin ʔarpaune purpham or Eighth Imperial Book of Magic, compiled under the emperor Khairam in 1905. This volume contains much specific advice. Whether it works on our own planet I can’t say, of course, but interested readers may wish to consult the original work, still readily available in Uytai.

The text has been modernized, mostly a matter of replacing archaic terminology and pronouns (note that ‘literary’ forms are used).

Koykwar purhret kwau fwai tsor rul; prom nrewnwor ar hoy fwai.
you power respect with must speak / fit.for sovereign SUB term use
Always address the Power with respect— use the terns appropriate to a sovereign.
Kwon koykwar senkhrumar nwalhyur net fwai; wor thur seʔ syer tulnawar nwau.
however you abased pleading must.not use / lord like speak this.idea them bore
Syer refers to the previously mentioned idea (acting with abject supplication).
Yet do not act with abject supplication; to be frank, this will bore them.
Pwer kriʔ koykwar ar purhret koykwar syul mwai he; kwon nawar koykwar nrat thal thu tsor kwau huy thai.
CONJ choose you SUB power you above very be / however he you private mind in must respect or value
The adverbial nrat thal thu ‘in their own mind’ can be used of any person or institution which has its own, inscrutable way of thinking.
The Power which chooses you will be your superior, but on its own level it must respect or appreciate you.

...Koykwar phrut purhret rul syal: koykwar loy ar tai yuun ar phrut.
you goal power address have: you serve SUB country past-give SUB goal
...You have a purpose in dealing with the Power— that given by the State you serve.
Koykwar net foy purhret tse phrut maur— pwer koykwar wor hyur ar rulram heʔen nreken khyet koykwar nwalhyur swolseʔ hinnar ħum.
you must.not expect / power this goal have.interest / both you lord beg SUB envoy be-not and if you supplication emphasize then fail
Do not expect the Power to show much interest in this purpose— you are not an emissary beseeching a lord and will not succeed by focussing attention on your plea.
Nrat thal thu sru tsene hrew pyelar kenkyow huy loyram nye pol he.
private mind in TOPIC our request favored companion or servant of reward be
From the Power’s point of view, our requests are only rewards for a favored companion or servant.
Tsem kwen pol? Sruyn koyne purhret syer mur seʔ.
what for reward / only your power this.idea can say
What are the rewards for? This only your Power can answer.
Tsutsyan pwir he— koykwar nawar thley.
toy might be / you him amuse
It may be a trifle— you amuse them.
Ħrau waut pwir he, koykwar sroy fyor ar waut.
difficult task might be / you a.lot expend SUB task
It may be an arduous and dangerous task which takes much out of you.
Tyaur loyhret lum ħlet thur hlau ħwa kwon tsyunproy hlau ħwa.
not magic success war like come carry because danger come carry
A denial/statement construction: you’d think S but T.
Magic, like war, guarantees peril and not success.

...Purhret sruyn nemene thal he; khyet nawar senkwai, hinnar kwon nawar thet ar keʔkwai he tyaur tser nonpreʔ he.
power only energetic spirit be / if he make-see then therefore he craft SUB reveal be neither this.one real be
...The Power is a spiritual force; if it manifests visually, this is an appearance that it generates, not a reality.
Wau ram nawar pwir kwai huy kwaiʔen; nawar wau proy pwir frun huy frunen.
other person he might see or see-not / he other thing might touch or touch-not
It may or may not be visible to other persons, nor affect physical subtances.
Koykwar kwor laurthal pwer warfen nye ʔarkhel nyor purhun thaiʔar he nreken wauthur.
you should consider both matter of world less-than good-place worthy be and very differ
Consider that the material world is inferior to the Power’s own, and yet alien to it.
Tulpyey fu hil sloʔhyiʔ; pwer tulpyey fu thu themram thur tsomen kwon tulpyey fu thu siʔfrun mur nrauhluʔ nreken tultsene murfen senpir ar fwai, hlim pral ortsam huy, mur fwai.
we water next.to compare / both we water in iliu like live-not but we water in direct can dim.-act also our ability extend tool (boat fishnet example among) can use
We might make an analogy to water: we do not live in water like the iliu, but we can directly act in it to a small extent, and use tools such as boats or fishnets to extend our capabilities.
Koyne hrew hyet hluʔ ar nimthal mautne fwai he.
your request finish do SUB worker such tool be
The Workers who will actually execute your requests are such tools.
Pwer kyor tulnawar warfen ken thal tyun syal nreken tulpyey thur nrum heʔen— tulnawar purhret thet ken triʔ ar fwai he.
both also they matter and spirit part have but we like animal be.not / they power craft and discard SUB tool be
They too have a material and spiritual components, but they are not animals such as ourselves— they are tools which the Power creates and may discard.

The quotable Nyekhen

Nyekhen is a culture hero, an ancient general who has been remembered for 2500 years for his courage, loyalty, and bravado. He was actually Krwŋese; for what’s known of him historically see the Almeopedia.

Though Nyekhen disdained speeches and rhetoric— see the first two quotes— he was as known for his sayings as for his deeds. A selection follows. Compare also to the same sentences translated in the Lé grammar.

Nwai fretuy he; pwer nar mur ħwewn har kroy senphaut kwon muren rit fwai.
word mad-ancestor be / both that.one can convince man sword raise however can-not teach use
Words are devils, which may lead a man to pick up a sword; but they can never teach him to use it.
(Advised by an enemy envoy to surrender)
Hintser har nye nwai sruyn fwuy khyet yo kroy phuy.
therefore man of word only wind if you sword sheath
A man’s words are just wind, if his sword is sheathed.
(After someone advocated using a ruse in battle)
Pyey sruyn orħet fwai. Na ħet: pwi swaum tyai he.
I only one trick use / that trick / more.than enemy strong be
I only use one trick. That trick is to be stronger than the enemy.
(Asked if he had a backup plan in case a charge failed)
Tsre.
die
We die.
(Asked if he ever felt fear)
Khyet kwar kwor krem wau fuy hinnar kwar syer fyaulen kwet.
if you should cause other fear therefore you that.idea must-not worry
Cause fear, and you need never worry about that.

Kwon kroy feyram keʔ un tyaur kroytsya he— slor kwon thrau fra nye hafrul nyim tyaur si he.
however sword poor.man benefit un neither sword.user be / same.way however he feather of headdress dress neither bird be
A farmer may be given a sword, but it no more makes him a soldier than a feathered headdress makes him a bird.

Pwer har thoy hwai phrew ħwim than kwon wau nye nren phepe than.
both man his woman save want fight however other of seize intense fight
Men will fight to save their women, but will fight harder to seize other men’s.

Har nye thai kroyar swaum hluʔ ar syit he. Kuyfen nrewnsye he. ʔar feyram khyuʔ ar mur hluʔ tsrat.
man of value sword-PP enemy deal.with SUB way be / cruel.state coward be / every poor.man win-PP can do evil
The measure of a man is how he faces an armed foe. Cruelty is cowardice: any peasant can abuse the defeated.

Pwer har nit huy nurtyun thu kroy fwai tsre orken pret fyat thu petfen fwai tsre. Tser huy nar fuy lye?
both man moment among hour in sword use die alternative ten year in old-state use die / this.one among that.one fear Q
To die in a moment or an hour from the blade, or over a decade from old age? Which is more to be feared?

(Before his last battle, told that the enemy had more men)
Hintser pwi tulpyey pwit tsrear syal.
therefore more.than we many die-PP have
Then they will have more corpses.

Lexicon

pt particle
cl clitic
nv noun-verb— when searching, use the verb form!
# quantifier/number
temp   time expression
loc locative
cj conjunction
asp aspect particle
mod modal particle
a pt     vocative
ar pt subordinating particle; as a verb suffix, usually passive
-en cl negation morpheme
fai nv grace
fat loc behind; hidden
fatħel n conspiracy (esp. that behind the 2680 revolution) [‘behind door’]
fatħelram conspirator
fau nv sneak, creep, lurk
hyut fau sneak around
faum nv wonder, marvel
faumne a wonderful, marvellous
fauʔ nv owe something
X Y keʔ Z fauʔ X owes Z to Y
pe fauʔ forgive a debt
fauʔram n debtor
fauʔtsal n debt [‘owe-amount’]
fen n state or condition
Fertur n Verduria [from Kebreni Verdura]
ferturram n Verdurian (person)
fey a poor
feyram poor person, peasant
fi n crime, sin
fil nv stab, pierce, puncture
fim nv fill, pack
fimar a full
fine a sinful, vicious
firam n criminal, sinner
fiʔ temp when
fo n nose
foy nv intend, expect
fra n feather
frai n bag, sack
frauʔ n circle
fraslin n quill; quill pen [‘feather bone’]
fret a mad, crazy
fretuy n mad ancestor, demon
frey n foot
freʔ n cotton
fril n comet
frim adv still
friw nv travel, visit
from a foolish, idiotic
fromram n fool, idiot
froy nv know (things)
frul n head
frun nv touch, affect
fruʔ nv drink
hyet fruʔ drink down, finish (a drink)
fruʔso n tavern, pub [‘drink-house’]
fu n water
fuħin n pump [‘water machine’]
fun nv (offer) sacrifice (to)
Funuy n second emperor of Krwŋ (local Fwnoy) [‘sacrifice to ancestors’]
fur pron your (familiar)
fut a yellow
fuy nv fear, be afraid of
mod be afraid to, hesitate to
fwai nv use, employ; tool
loc with, using
fwar nv be sorry, regret
Pyey lyai fwar I’m so sorry
fwun a dark
fwuy nv wind, breeze; blow
fwuyħin n bellows [‘blow machine’]
fyat n year
fyaul mod must, is forced to
fyen nv prepare, get ready
md get ready to, prepare to
fyenhar n pre-puberty rites and instructions for boys [‘prepare-man’]
fyer n a piebird chick
fyeʔ n meat
fyir n salt
fyirne a salty
fyiʔ nv fly, soar
fyor nv expend, pay (something), make an effort
hyut fyor distribute; spread around
tur fyor pay back, ransom
Pyey sroy fyor It took a lot out of me
fyuy nv swim
hafrul n turban, headdress [‘wrap head’]
hahat nv wrap
pe hahat unwrap
hai n shell
hait nv surprise
ham n wall
han n purity
hanne a pure; moral, right
har n man (adult male); husband
hat nv laugh
he v be, be correct, be the case— copulative, never existential; interrogative is tsun
hen a bright, shining
henkrau n planet [‘bright star’]
Hentwor n first king of Siad βo, locally Hendwor [‘shining glory’]
hereʔ n a plant yielding a bitter extract used to flavor pell beer
het # six
hew nv snow
hey n flower
heʔen v no; it’s not
hil loc next to; side
hilhyor n uncle [‘next to father’]
hilsyan n aunt [‘next to mother’]
him a silent
hinkin n consequence, inference [‘therefore-idea’]
hinnar cj therefore (when following the if clause)
hintser cj therefore (when preceding the if clause)
hit temp now
hlat n bread
hlau nv come, arrive
hlen nv rain
hler n robe, dress
hlim n ship, boat
hlimnir send by ship
hluʔ nv do, act, operate; treat, face, deal with
hyet hluʔ execute, fulfill
tur hluʔ reciprocate
hluʔnwai n verb [‘act word’]
hluʔtsrat nv mistreat, abuse [‘do-evil’]
hon n silk [Lé hōn]
hoy n phrase, term, compound word
hrat a cut, sliced; a river (from its appearance cut into the forest)
hrau n voice; manner of speaking
hre nv flow; deform (with heat or pressure)
hrel nv instruct (esp. religiously), mentor
hren nv doubt, be skeptical
hrenar a dubious, suspicious
hrenne a skeptical
hreram n priest, mentor [‘instructor’]
hret n capability, power
Hretkrau n the planet Hírumor [‘powerful star’]
hretne a powerful; magical
hretram n magician, adept with the purhret [‘power-man’]
hrew nv ask for, request (something)
hreʔ n farm, plot, field
hril nv smell; odor
hrin n long yam
hrol a normal, customary
hrolen a special; unusual
hrom a hard, tough, durable
hromyai n wire [‘hard thread’]
hrowt # 104976 = 18*18*18*18
hroy nv think, believe, opine
hrum nv manhood ordeal
hun n place
hur a green
Hurtso n a river in Uytai [‘green river’]
huy loc among; or
huywon n the holiday between two full moons [‘among moons’]
huʔ pt expression of surprise
hwai n woman
Hwaitai n the Bé lands; Belesao [‘woman-land’]
hwar n the hwar tree; cloth made from its bark
hwaut nv remove (a layer or cover), take off
hyet hwaut strip completely, take it all off
rai hwaut undress
hwehew nv quake, shiver; shake with fear
hyan n flesh, muscle
hyau loc top, on top
hyauhyor n grandfather [‘top-father’]
hyaulu n village headman, chief [‘top of village’]
hyaulyot n supper, late meal [‘upper meal’]
hyaune a upper
hyaunim n boss, foreman, master craftsman [‘top-work’]
hyaunyen n blanket, cover [‘cover-bed’]
hyauphuʔ n despot (title of ħwentai rulers) [‘top leader’]
hyaur nv go, leave, depart; (as transitive) visit, go see
tur hyaur go back, return
hyautsur n cloak, tunic [‘over-shoulder’]
hyausu n top, blouse, shirt [‘top-cloth’]
hyausyan n grandmother [‘top-mother’]
hyausye n chest ornament [‘over-heart’]
hyauthun n mountaintop, summit, peak
hyel n chair, stool
hyem n calm, inner peace
Hyemsur n the religion of Syalenar, dating to the 1800s
hyemne a calm, peaceful
hyet nv finish, end
hyetħoy nv eat breakfast [‘finish-fast’]
hyin n penis
hyiʔ nv test, try out, attempt; draft
hyor n father
hyorsyan n parent, parents [‘father-mother’]
hyur nv beg
pt please
hyurram n beggar
hyut nv scatter, spread
hyutpham n manuscript [‘test book’]
hyuʔ nv breathe
ħai n ash, ashes
ħal n sand
Ħalnret n a port in Nyandai, locally Gondre [‘sandy shore’]
ħan n ford
ħanphor nv ford [‘make-ford’]
ħar n bay, inlet
Ħartsiʔ n the main city of Siad βo, locally Ɣardze [‘bay town’]
ħat n stick, rod
ħaun nv kiss
ħaur nv clean, wash
ħaurar a clean, washed
ħel n door
ħen n spirit, heart; quiet or feminine part of soul
ħenne a spiritual; passive; feminine
ħet nv trick, scheme
ħew n skin
ħin n machine, device
ħit nv freeze
ħo n the ko bean
ħol nv meet
ħolram n bourgeois; from a family entitled to a ħolso seat [‘meeting person’]
ħolso n Nyanese city council [‘meeting house’]
ħolwor n councillor [‘meeting lord’]
ħom a big, large
Ħomswiʔnyounar(tai) n Neinuoi [‘big surrounded-by-sea (land)’]
Ħomtso n chief river of Uytai [‘big river’]
ħon nv stay, remain
ħor nv pay (someone)
hyet ħor pay off, completely pay
hlau ħor pay (to the speaker)
ħot # eighteen
ħoy nv fast, refrain
ħrain n summer
ħram n gram, a squash
ħrau a difficult, hard
ħrauʔen a easy
ħrel n war
ħret n west
ħrew nv wake
ħril nv force, impel
ħrin a short, low
ħrinhroy n poem [‘short thought’]
ħrinħruy nv record, note [‘short write’]
ħrinram n dwarf, elcar [‘short person’]
ħrit n mocassin, soft shoe
ħriw a sour, acidic
ħrot n mouse
ħroy nv (feel) shame (for wrongdoing), repent
ħroyar a shameful. scandalous
ħroyne a shame-faced, repentant
ħrul adv seemingly, seem to be
ħrun a in pieces (of wood, documents, machines, etc.); scrap
ħrunmon n brush [‘scrap wood’]
Ħrunmon Nrulso the Uytainese academy of magic
ħruy nv scrape; write
ħu pron I (familiar)
ħul nv heal, cure
ħum nv fail, flop
ħwer ħum falter
ħun a indecency, immorality
ħunne a indecent, immoral
ħunlai n whore, prostitute [‘indecent girl’]
ħunlainin n red light district [‘whore neighborhood’]
ħur mod may (has permission to); permit, allow
ħwa nv carry, bear
hlau ħwa bring (here)
ħwen nv love, honor
ħwenar a beloved, respected, venerated
ħwentai n patriotism; despotic movement of 3200s
Ħwentet n first emperor of Uytai
ħwer asp inchoative
ħwet cj then, later
ħwewn nv convince, persuade
ħwim nv want, be willing to; negated by phim
ħwiyt mod want to but can’t [ħwim + net]
ħwon loc where
ħwul nv (make) peace; (archaic) truce
pe ħwul break a truce
keke asp frequently, habitually
ken loc along with, and; accompany
kenkyow n companion [‘accompany-friend’]
ker nv roll
kew asp at intervals
keʔ nv benefit, help; give (someone)
loc for, to; per
keʔram n assistant; leader of a Hyemsurist school [‘helper’]
keʔkwai nv reveal, make appear [‘sight-give’]
keʔwim nv trade [‘give-obtain’]
khar a new, young
kharfen n novelty
Kharkhel n Ereláe [‘new world’]
kharwal n youth
Khartsiʔ n the capital of ancient Saitai, native Khɔrči [‘new town’]
khe pt father of
khel n corner, niche; one of the cardinal directions
khen n wolf
Khepri n Kebri [Kebreni]
kher n yard, enclosure; geometric figure
Khesur n first king of the middle period (2680) [‘father of social harmony’]
khet n pie, torte; a shallow bowl
khew n hat, cap
kheʔ nv cough
khim n of the aforementioned, e.g. lyut khim ‘some of them’
khlar nv disbelieve, think not
khlau a slow
khlaut n winter
khloy mod general future particle
khofen n stupidity
khol nv high hat or helmet of royalty; to be crowned, to accede
khokho a stupid, dumb
khoram n stupid person, dunce
khowm a bad, malevolent
khowmhil loc to the left, on the left side
khoyt n sheep
khoʔ nv eclipse
khrai nv bless
Koykwar keʔ khrai common semiformal greeting
(NP) khrai a more colloquial greeting
khram nv bother, hassle; (archaic) turmoil
khraʔ n bark; hard peel or rind
khret adv the most
khrit a smooth
khro pron she (respectful)
khroy pron her (respectful)
khrum loc below, under
khrumkeʔ n minister, steward [‘under-help’]
khrumne a lower
khrumnyer n morning [‘below-noon’]
khrumnur temp before, previous to [‘below-time’]
khrumne a low, base
khrumreʔ n pre-dawn, the hour(s) before dawn
khrumso n ministry, office; official or commercial building [‘minister house’]
khruʔ n window
khu nv throw
keʔkhu toss away (to someone)
khul nv become, turn into
khulhar n coming of age ceremony for boys, at 15 [‘become-man’]
khulhwai n coming of age ceremony for girls, at puberty [‘become-woman’]
khur n a notseh ox
khut nv walk
hlau khut come, arrive by walking
tur khut walk back, walk home
khutsyit n road, street [‘walk-way’]
khuy asp change of state (internal)
khuʔ n kind, type
khuʔnwai n adjective, modifier [‘type-word’]
khwai n wing
khwel n a large fruit, orange and tart inside, with a yellow skin
khweʔ nv annoy, aggravate
khwiʔ a angry, mad
khwiʔfen n anger, wrath
khwoy n trash, slag
khwur a black
khyai n pride
khyaine a proud
khyal nv burn, roast
khyet cj if; in that case
khyuʔ nv win, defeat; victory
kin n idea, concept; sentence
kit n ice
klaʔ nv hope
klim nv taste; nibble
klimlyot n appetizer, hors d’oeuvre [‘nibble-meal’]
klur nv find, discover
kloy n a papyrus-like paper; the reed it comes from; document, page
ko n metal
kol nv push
kor nv submit; be a vassal; hold public office
korar a prone; vassal, non-independent
koren a free, independent
korram n vassal (lord); public official
kortai n vassal or incorporated nation
koy pron your
koykwar pron you (literary) [‘your’ + kwar]
koyne pron your (literary)
koyt a poor, wretched, miserable
Krai n the moon Iliacáš
kraiwal n month (17-day period of Iliacáš)
kram nv tie, knot
pe kram untie
kran n virtue, decency
kranne a virtuous, decent
Krantet n the capital of Nyandai [‘virtuous god’]
krat nv cut
hyet krat cut to pieces
krau n star
kraur n root
krem nv cause, make (someone)
kren nv fold, bend
kret nv spin (thread)
kretkwer n spindle [‘spin-wheel’]
kreʔ n millet
krim nv bring (something), fetch
tur krim bring back
krimħun nv seduce, lead astray [‘bring immorality’]
krit nv sow, plant; early spring
kritsil nv invest [‘sow money’]
kritsilwar n group of investors [‘invest body’]
kriʔ nv choose, select
kroy n sword, blade
kroyar a armed
kroytsya n swordsman, soldier
kroywar n army [‘sword body’]
Krun n the ancient city and nation of Krwŋ in northern Uytai
kruy n belly, abdomen
kur n cup
kuy a cruel, malicious
kwai nv see
kwal n box, chest, trunk
kwar pron you (respectful)
kwau nv respect
kwaʔ a outside, foreign
kwaʔram n foreigner
kwaʔtai n foreign lands, abroad
kwaʔtet n Dnetic spirits [‘foreign gods’]
kwel pt just so you know (friendly warning)
kwen nv follow; come in exchange
Run pyey hlau yukwen The dog followed me home
loc in return for, because of
kwer n wheel
kwet nv worry (about), concern
kwey nv eat
hyet kwey eat up, eat everything
kwim nv order, send for
kwin n hair
kwol a unchaste; immoral, sinful
kwolen a chaste; moral, abstemious
kwon cj however
kwor mod should, ought to
kwow a fat
kwul nv strangle
tswun kwul strangle to death
kyam n castle, fort
kyau n holy place, shrine
kyaune a holy, sacred
kyauso n temple
kyor adv also, too
kyow n friend
lai n maiden, girl
lairam n procurer, operator of a brothel
lalya n baby
laur nv check, test, confirm
hyet laur check thoroughly (implies success)
laurthal nv consider, contemplate, ponder [‘check (in) mind’]
ler n square; (math) times
leyseʔ n the Lé language
leʔ n beetle
lin a happy, content
lit n wife
liw n leaf
lor n manner, style
loy nv serve, obey
loyhret n magic, service to the purhret [‘serve-power’]
loylai n maid, maidservant [‘serve-girl’]
loyram n servant
lu n village, settlement
lum nv succeed, accomplish
lyai adv too much
lyan n vagina, vulva
lyat n rifter; stubby nose
lyatseʔ n rifter pidgin [‘rifter talk’]
lyaun n neck
lyaur nv cry
lye pt question particle
lyel n light
lyew nv flee, escape
hyet lyew get away
hyut lyew scatter in all directions
tur lyew run back (home)
lyil n tongue
lyor a glad, content
Lyortso n the main river of Siad βo, locally Yurdzo [‘glad river’]
lyot n dinner (usually at noon), lunch, meal
lyoy asp occasionally but not habitually
lyum n potato
lyur nv paint
lyurnyau n painting (physical object)
lyurtsya n painter
lyut # some, a few
mait nv harvest; yield; late fall
mama nv babble, jabber
man a bold, brave
maur nv show interest in; care for; occupy oneself with (argument structure opposite ours: X interests Y = Y X maur)
maurar a interesting, valuable
maut cj to such an extent
mautne a such, that kind
men nv close, shut
hyet men shut completely (e.g. a door or valve)
mer n fruit
met n seed, grain
mey n meigrass
meʔ n bean; pill
mil nv live, be alive
min nv catch, trap
mir nv attend; woo, court
mirlai n girlfriend, beloved
mirram n boyfriend, beloved
mon n wood
moy n milk (animal or human)
mum n lip
mur mod can, able to
murfen n ability, capacity [‘can-ness’]
murwal n opportunity, time (to act) [‘can-time’]
mwai adv very, quite
mwan nv sit; ride
hlau mwan come (by horse)
ħwer mwan sit down
mwat a great
Mwatwor n legendary king of Srethun; also used as a title [‘great lord’]
mwel adv here
mwen n evening
mweʔ n platform, stage, daïs
mwor n whale
mwum nv build, construct
myar n cat
myet n ko tofu
myiw nv rot, ferment, fester
hyet myiw fall apart (from rot)
myiwar a rotten, fermented
myom n branch
myul a wet, moist
myulnwet n ink [‘wet soot’]
na a that
nahun adv where (location subordinator)
nalai pron she (literary) [‘that girl’]
nalaine pron her (literary) [nalai + adj.]
nam n noob; boy in process of fyenhar; cadet, recruit, apprentice
nane pron his (literary) [‘that’ + adj.]
nar n that one
nau n fire
naur nv hurt, damage
nawal temp when (time subordinator)
nawar pron he (literary) [‘that body’]
-ne cl adjectivizer for nouns
nel n mat, pad
neme nv move; energy
nemene a dynamic, alive; non-material
net mod must not
nim nv work; job
nimthal n worker (servant to Powers) [‘work spirit’]
nin n neighborhood, quarter, zone
nir nv send (something)
nirtet nv bless (divinely)
nit n moment, instance
non a true, right, correct
non he yes, right
non srai ‘correct form’ (of glyphs), i.e the earliest
nonen a false, wrong, incorrect
nonkin n fact, a true statement
nonpreʔ a real, actual [‘true-exist’]
notseʔ n the notseh cow
noy cj why
nrai n blood
nral nv break; be jumbled or jagged
hyet nral break apart, break completely
Nralanthun n the eastern mountains [‘broken mountains’]
nrar n a pair, a couple; both
nrat a one’s own, private; peculiar
nrat thal thu on someone’s own terms, in their own mind
nrau asp a little; tried to
nv try to
nraun nv lie, recline
ħwer nraun lie down
nre # two
nreħot # sixteen
nreken cj and (in both-and clauses)
nren nv seize, loot
nrepret # eight
nret n coast, shore
nreʔ nv answer, respond
nrewn nv lack, be out of
loc without
nrewnson a uncounted (because of difficulty, or no one’s gotten round to it)
nrewnsye n coward
nrewnwor n sovereign, independent [‘without lord’]
nri a soft; weak
nrit # 5832 =18*18*18
nriw n louse
nron nv observe, watch; read
Koykwar uy nron The ancestors watch you (a common closing)
(voc) nron (the standard response)
nroy n table, desk
nrul nv learn, study
nrulkher n geometry [‘study of figures’]
nrulkrau n astronomy [‘study of stars’]
nrulkraune a astronomical
nrullyur n painting [‘study of paint’]
nrulnonsrai n etymology [‘study of correct shapes’]
nrulso n study center, school, salon [‘learning house’]
nrulswi n music [‘study of singing’]
nrulthya n art, architecture [‘study of decoration’]
nrultyun n lesson [‘study hour’]
nrulwar n science [‘study of bodies’]
nrum n animal, beast
nur n day, daytime; time
nurħin n clock [‘day-machine’]
nurtyun n hour (the Uytainese hour is 6/7 of ours) [‘day-fraction’]
nwai n word, syllable, glyph, symbol
nwal a prone, prostate; oppressed, devastated
nwalhyur nv supplicate, implore, plead[‘prone-beg’]
nwau nv bore, tire
nwauar a bored, tired
nwaune a boring, tedious
nwet n soot
nwiʔ n lake, lagoon
nwu n smoke
nwun n soil, earth, mud; brown
nwunlo n promiscuous woman, ‘man-izer’
nwunram n the Tžuro or Fananaki [‘brown people’]
nwunseʔ n the Fananaki language
nyai n breast, chest
nyaisu n poncho, short top [‘breast-cloth’]
nyan a pretty, lovely
nyanlai n pretty girl, darling, sweetheart
nyanram n Nyanese, someone from Nyandai
Nyantai n a country southwest of Uytai, locally Nyandai [‘pretty land’]
Nyanteʔ n the Nyan peninsula
Nyanthun n the mountains of Nyan
nyat nv dry
nyatar n dried meat
nyau n image, picture
nye pt genitive particle
Nyekhen n a Krwŋgese culture hero [‘(son) of wolf’]
Nyekyau n first emperor of Krwŋ, locally Nyekyɔu
nyen n bed
nyer n noon; zenith, high point; the noon hour; (planets) opposition
nyet n (extended) family
nyew nv sew
nyeyt nv belong to
nyil a thin (not fat), lanky
nyim nv dress, put on
Nyoi n a river in Phetai
nyor cj less than
nyoun loc surround, be surrounded
nyounne a surrounding
nyoy nv offer, sell
nyoytsal n selling price (i.e. before haggling) [‘offer-amount’]
Nyuam n barbarian conquerors of Uytai in the 2300s [Mnese]
nyun nv dance
nyunlai dancing girl
or # one
or thin first
orħot # seventeen
orken cj or (in either-or clauses)
orkrai n the first day of a kraiwal; full Iliacáš
orpret # nine
ortrau n the first day of a trauwal; full moon (of Iliažë)
ortsam n example, instance, case [‘one thing’]
ortsam huy for example
ortsum # eleven
pat n snake
pau nv rule; (archaic) interpret, speak (for the ancestors)
Paukhel n first large-scale ruler; title of late Krwŋese emperors [‘rule-world’]
pauram n king, ruler; (archaic) spokesman (for the ancestors)
pautsiʔ n capital [‘king-city’]
pautyun n tribute, taxation [‘king’s portion’]
pauʔen n the attitude of questioning or limiting authority [‘not-ruling’]
pe nv undo, cancel (an edict or operation)
pema nv translate, interpret [‘un-babble’]
pemaram n translator
pet a old
petfen n (old) age, senility
pethet nv unmake, destroy [‘un-make’]
pey nv be precious (to), be valuable
peyne a precious, valuable
pha nv reject, refuse
phai n the piebird, a species of poultry
pham n strip (not clothes), peel; book
phamhret n lore, cantrips [‘book power’]
phamkrat nv strip (off), peel [‘peel-cut’]
tswun pham flay
phau n jar, amphora
phaul n liver
phaur cj first (in first...then constructions)
phaut a tall, high; long (in time)
phautfen n height
phautwal n length (in time); time
phel n pell (grain)
phen a safe; healthy, doing all right
Phen he Goodbye
phepe a intense, hard
adv harder, all the more so
pher a previous, former, earlier
phernur temp yesterday [‘previous day’]
Phet n the chief city on the Tsyeʔ; locally Pheʔ
Phettai n The region southwest of Uytai, locally Phetai [‘Phet land’]
phil n line, row; line of verse
philne a straight, linear
phim mod not want
phlat nv send a message or letter
phlaʔ nv drool, slobber; (slang) jabber, talk like an idiot
phlem n back (of body)
phlet n room, cell
pho n river valley
phol nv skip
phor nv put together (without much effort), jury-rig; cf. thet
prow phor throw together something to eat
pe phor take apart
phot nv stink, be filthy
photram n barbarian [‘stinky people’]
phow nv open
hyet phow completely open (e.g. a door or valve)
phoyn nv bounce
tur phoyn rebound
phral nv support, hold up
phran n night; darkness
phrau a heavy
phre nv take care of (someone); show compassion
phrem cj because of; therefore
phremkin n reason [‘because-idea’]
phret n the tsai (tea) plant, or its leaves
phrew nv save, rescue
phrut n target, goal
phruʔ nv steal
phruʔram n thief
phum nv dig
phun # five
phunħot # thirteen
phut nv hit, beat
tswun phut beat to death
phuy nv sheath, sheathe
phuʔ nv lead, manage, conduct
phuʔram n leader, manager
phwai a auspicious
phwaun n bear (animal)
phwer n cougar, mountain lion
phwiʔ nv take, grab
phwut nv betray
pil nv imprison, jail
pilhun n prison, jail
pir a long (in space)
pirfen n length, extent, size; space or room (something takes up)
Pirthunswiʔ n the Smë rift lake [‘long rift lake’]
pluʔ nv suck
pol n reward, prize
pon n ass, buttocks
poy pron my (familiar, respectful)
prai a beautiful; perfect
pral n net, web
pran nv gladden, comfort
prau n luxury, extravagance
praune a luxurious, extravagant; expensive
prem n hill
pret # ten
preʔ nv exist, (existential) be, there is/are; negated by twey
prin nv hide
prinenar a hidden; sheer, transparent
prinphlat nv spy (on) [‘hide-message’]
priw pt well... (marks dispreferreds)
prom nv fit, be appropriate to
prow nv cook
proy n thing, object, item
prul n wagon, cart
prum asp got as far as
loc as far as
pruym n boot
pruʔ n tail
pur a good, virtuous, benevolent
purhil loc to the right, on the right side
purhret n spiritual power, vyoža [‘good power’]
purhun n the spiritual world, the world of the Powers [‘good place’]
purpau n pragmatism, reform [‘good rule’]
purpham n manual of magic [‘good book’]
Pursut n a city on the upper Homtso, capital of Krwŋ [‘good fate’]
Purtyai n an epic king [‘good-strong’]
puruy n good ancestor
purwal nv celebrate, rejoice [‘good time’]
puy n hammer
pwan a strange, odd; eerie
pwat n path, trail
pwatkloy n map [‘path-paper’]
pwaʔ nv boil
prow pwaʔ cook by boiling, simmer
pwan nv bend
hyet pwan bend flat
pwanar a bent, crooked
Pwanpho n a city in Siad βo, locally Puempo [‘bent valley’]
pwer cj introduces both-and or either-or clauses
pweʔ n fermented ko sauce (similar to soy sauce)
pwi cj more than
pwir mod might; possibly
pwirne a possible
pwit # many, much
pwithril a smelly, odorous [‘much odor’]
pwitkwin a hairy [‘much hair’]
pwittsal n column of numbers; list, array
pwityoʔ a eventful, bustling [‘much event’]
pyau nv jump
pyauhroy nv provoke (thought or reactions); a sudden intellectual leap [‘jump-thought’]
pyel nv favor, benefit; be partial to
pyelar a favorite, preferred
pyer nv provide, distribute, outift
pyerso n shop; (archaic) depot, storehouse [‘provide-house’]
pyey pron I (respectful, literary)
pyey kwar you and I
pyiʔ nv pull
pyol n late spring
pyor a last, final
pyow nv be sick
tswun pyow die from an illness
pyowar a sick, ill
pyowram n sick man; patient
pyul a hot, warm
pyun n east
Pyunkhrai n the capital of Hlüim, locally Püŋȟrey
pyur pt look! (pragmatic particle of relevance)
rai n skirt; clothes in general
ram n person, people
rauken cj nor (in neither-nor clauses)
raum a warm, pleasant. comfortable
rauʔ # none, not any; zero
rauʔthal n idiot, half-wit [‘no-mind’]
rem n key
ren nv dream
rewm nv lose
reʔ n dawn, sunrise; the dawn hour
rit nv teach, instruct
ritram n teacher
ritwar n spiritual sexual practices of magicians [‘body teaching’]
riʔ nv put out, douse, extinguish
hyet riʔ completely extinguish
rom n eye
roʔ n stand (be standing)
ħwer roʔ stand up
rul nv speak (to), talk to, address, deal with
tur rul reply (to)
rulram n ambassador, envoy, emissary [‘speak-person’]
rum nv feel
run n dog
ruy a good, appropriate, fine; well; (with inchoative) finally, at last
sai n forest, woods
saim n the sammule (similar to a donkey)
sair nv exercise, sport, play (games of athletic skill)
sairhun n gymnasium, sports arena
Saitai n an ancient kingdom on the upper Ħomtso, native Sɔitsɔi [‘forest land’]
saiʔ nv grow
san a smart, intelligent
sanfen n intelligence
saur n fish
saut a wise
sautram n sage, wise man
sen- pt causative for adjectives
senhan nv purify
senhen nv brighten; illuminate, light
senħrin nv lower, shorten [‘make short’]
senkhol nv crown, make someone king
senkhrum nv abase [‘make low’]
senkwai nv make visible [‘make see’]
senor nv unite, join [‘make one’]
senphaut nv raise, lift [‘make high’]
senpir nv lengthen, extend (in space) [‘make long’]
senprai nv beautify, perfect [‘make beautiful’]
senruy nv fix, make good, work it out [‘make good’]
sewl nv float
ser a far (away), distant
serthune a deep inside; secret, esoteric
set n knife
seʔ nv speak (words); speech, language
si n bird
sil pron she (familiar)
sim n cheapness, miserliness
simar a cheap; miserly
simram n miser
sin adv the least
sinseʔ adv at least; you gotta admit [‘least-say’]
sit a sharp
siw mod should, obliged to
siʔ a immediate, sudden
siʔfrun a direct, straightforward [‘sudden touch’]
slai nv run, dash, rush
hyut slai run all around
hlau slai run here, come running
slaum a dirty
slet n step, level
sleʔ a rich, fertile
Sleʔpho n a country east of Uytai, locally Siad βo [‘fertile valley’]
sleʔseʔ n Siadese
sleʔso n financial bubble [after Nyanese entrepreneur Sleso]
slin n bone
slor cj in the same way
slorfen n conventionality, sameness
slorħruy nv copy (a text), publish [‘same-write’]
slorne a same, similar; conventional
slorthet nv copy, reproduce (an item) [‘same-craft’]
sloʔ cj as much as
sloʔhyiʔ nv compare [‘as much as-test’]
X Y Z hil sloʔhyiʔ X compares Y to Z
sluy n a type of songbird similar to a sparrow [from its cry]
sluʔ n pell beer
so n house, home; (in combinations) building, place
sol n son, heir
sollai n daughter, heiress [‘heir-girl’]
Solsrin n greatest emperor of Krwŋ, locally Susirn [‘son of heaven’]
son nv count, measure; population (amount)
sonhoy n numeral [‘counting term’]
someʔ n the Sumë or Smë people; a jacket or coat
sor asp at least once
soren asp not once, never
srai n form, frame, shape
sraine a (of men) muscular, buff; (of women) shapely
sral n rub, stroke
sram n brother
sraun n silver
sraut nv forget
hyet sraut forget entirely
srem nv ask (something), inquire
sret nv bury
srin n sky, heavens
Srethun n capital of Uytai [‘burial place’]
srintet n sun, Ënomai [‘sky-god’]
srintetrun n the planet Vereon [‘sun-dog’]
srit nv squeeze
sroy adv much, a lot
sru pt topic particle
srut n peach
sruyn a only, just
su n cloth, fabric
sun a fast, quick
Suntso n a river in northern Uytai [‘fast river’]
Sunwon n the moon Naunai [‘fast moon’]
sur n social harmony
sut n fate, luck
suʔ a cold
swai pt subordinator for indirect speech
swal a rough, bumpy
swar nv bring, lead to
tur swar bring back
Swarkhyuʔ n second king of Siad βo, locally Swarγuy
swaum n enemy
swaur nv wander, roam; meander
swel nv look for, search for, seek
sweʔ nv smile
swi nv sing, song
swir n wax
swirħat n candle [‘wax stick’]
swiʔ n sea
swiʔko n iron [‘sea metal’]
Swiʔkyau n a city in the delta [‘sea shrine’]
swiʔnyim n armor [earlier swiʔkonyim ‘ironwear’]
swol # three
Swolan n a fundamentalist revival in the 1500s or similar movements later [‘three -an’, i.e. han, kran, twan ‘purity, virtue, vigor’]
swolħot # fifteen
swolseʔ nv emphasize, underline [‘say three times’]
swom a dull, blunt
syai pt general honorific
syai ħwen you (court form)
syailit n queen, wife of a noble [‘high-wife’]
syal nv have, possess, own
syalen n rejection (of desire or material goods), austerity [‘not having’]
Syalenar n founder of the Hyemsur religion [‘who doesn’t have’]
syan n mother
syaum nv wipe, sweep
sye n heart; courage, guts; active or masculine part of soul
syene a courageous; active; masculine
syer pron that idea
syit n way, method
N VP ar syit the way for N to VP
syitfen n set of procedures, system
syiw nv sleep
syol nv fog, be foggy
syom mod speaker’s desire
syu n spot; defect, flaw
syul loc above, over
syulnur temp after, later than
syulnyer n afternoon [‘after noon’]
syun n honey
syunne a sweet, mellifluous
syuʔ n bow
tai n land, country, nation, kingdom
taum n brain
tet n supernatural being, god
Tetyauthun n the mountains north of Uytai [‘god’s teeth mountains’]
teʔ n peninsula
tha nv fall, drop
tswun tha fall to one’s death
keʔ tha toss (something to someone)
thai nv value, appreciate; worth
thaiʔar a worthy, valuable
thakan n horse [Ōkmisan htāknejig]
thakanram n the Ōkmisan [‘horse people’]
thal n spirit, mind
tse thal I (court form)
thalħul nv counsel, admonish, advice
thalħulram n council, cabinet
thalkwai nv remember, recall
than nv fight; combat
thanen n pacifism, tolerance [‘not-fighting’]
thau n shoe
the pron you (familiar)
thel n leg
thelram n recruiter, provider of workers [‘leg person’]
them a blue
themram n iliu [‘blue person’]
Themtai n a nation southeast of Uytai, locally Ťrim [‘iliu land’]
themtet n the planet Vlerëi [‘blue god’]
thes n grass
thet nv make (with effort), craft, produce, create
thethlim n shipyard; name of a city [‘make-ship’]
thettsal n cost [‘produce-amount’]
theʔ n hand
theʔne a at hand, right here
theʔthan n unarmed combat, martial arts [‘hand fight’]
thin n instance, occasion, numerical order
thir nv weave; braid
thirħin n loom [‘weave machine’]
thiʔ nv disgust, nauseate
thiʔpha nv hate, abhor [‘disgust-reject’]
thley nv be amused by (argument structure opposite ours: X amuses Y = Y X thley)
thleyne a amusing, funny
thluy n squid
thluʔ nv vomit
tho a near, close
thon a solid; grave; careful, well-constructed
thot nv drip, percolate; distill
thotar a distilled
thotfruʔ n distilled liquor
thoy pron his (respectful)
thoʔ n, a gold
Feyram nye thoʔ millet [‘poor man’s gold’, for its resistance to spoilage]
thrau pron he (respectful)
thren nv mix, stir, shake
hyet thren mix completely
threw nv remove (an item or obstacle)
threy n stone, rock
thrum nv conquer, occupy
thu loc in, inside, into; to (cities, countries, etc); enter
thul n a small tree with bright pink flowers in the spring
thun n mountain
thune a interior, inner
thunswiʔ n rift lake [‘mountain sea’]
thur nv be similar (takes a conjoined subject); (colloq.) do well enough
loc like
thurfen n similarity; example, related case
thuym n ear
thuʔ nv order, decree; a law
thwau # 324 (18*18)
thweʔ nv hold, grip
thwil nv plot, intrigue, store grudges
thwom mod dare
thya nv adorn, decorate, beautify
thyaram n artist, architect
thyau n ko milk
toħu n parchment [Lé dółu]
tor n finger, toe
tran loc front
Trau n the moon Iliažë
trauwal n month (28-day period of Iliažë)
trem n merchandise, cargo
tren n eagle
treʔ nv empty, unpack
treʔar a empty, emptied
trin nv put, place, set
hyut trin set out all around
tur trin put back
triʔ nv discard, throw away
keʔ triʔ give away
pe triʔ retrieve, recover
trom a sad
troy n prosperity, riches
troyne n rich, prosperous
Troynye n a city in Nyandai, locally Tloyne [‘(place) of prosperity’]
trum n edge, border
tsai n tea
tsal n number, amount
tsalwor n base (for exponentiation)
tsam n matter, subject, case
tsar nv laud, praise; an ancient honor for generals and kings
tsat nv point to, indicate; refer, mean
tsau nv turn, rotate
tsauħin n lathe [‘rotate machine’]
tsaun # half
Tsaʔ n the Itseʔ river [Dnetic]
tse a this
tsem pron who, what
Tsem seʔ Say what?
tsemnwai n pronoun [‘who-word’]
tsene pron my (literary) [‘this’ adj.]
tser n this one
tset n amphora, jug
tsil n money, coin
tsim a small, little
tsimseʔ nv mention [‘little say’]
Tsimtyet n an island to the southwest; locally Tsemeʔ [‘little island’]
tsin n joy, delight
tsir nv tell a story
tsirram n storyteller
tsit n sister
tsiʔ n city, town
tso n river
tsom nv live, reside
hyut tsom live all around here
tson nv need
Tsopwan n a city [‘river bends’]
tsor mod must (in speaker’s opinion)
tsoy n food
tsoʔ nv cloud, be cloudy
tsu- cl diminutive
Tsuam n the nation of Čwam [possibly Dnetic in origin]
tsuamsu n trousers [‘Čwamese cloth’]
tsufrai n pouch [‘little bag’]
tsum # twelve
tsumweʔ n plate, dish [dim. of 'platform']
tsun nv buzz, hum
tsunur n 1/18 of a nurtyun
tsuphau n small jar, bottle [dim. of ‘bottle’]
tsur n shoulder; nape of neck
tsutho n underwear [‘near’ + dim.]
tsutsyan n toy; trifle, diversion [‘play’ + dim.]
tsustun n fly [‘little buzz’]
tsuyt n stomach
tsuʔ n insect, bug
tsrat a evil, wrong
tsratram n villain, criminal [‘evil person’]
tsraum a wide, thick
tsre nv die
tsrear a dead
n corpse, dead body
tsrin nv (feel) shame (for being exposed or foolish), be embarrassed
tsrinar a embarrassing, foolish; prurient
tsrinne a embarrassed; exposed
tsun v is it? (question form of he)
tswa # 1889568 = 185
tswai nv hunt
tswar # four
tswarħot # fourteen
tswaum a dense, crowded
tswaut nv lie, mislead, deceive
tswautthet nv fake, counterfeit
tswautthetar a fake, false, counterfeit
tswen nv be loyal (to)
tswiʔ nv scratch
tswun nv kill
tsya n craftsman, artist, expert
Tsyai n the planet Išira
tsyan nv play, amuse oneself; game
tsyanlai n mistress [‘play-girl’]
tsyanmwen n party, dinner party
tsyar n type of flower, much like impatiens
tsyen n dusk, sunset; the dusk hour
Tsyeʔ n the main river of Phoy Tai
tsyir adv certainly, for sure
tsyo nv ferment, brew (beer or wine)
tsyoar a fermented, alcoholic
tsyofruʔ nv drink (alcoholic drinks)
hyet tsyofruʔ get drunk
tsyor n early fall
tsyun a dangerous
tsyunproy n danger, peril, something dangerous
tsyur a white
tsyurram n loan shark [‘white man’]
tsutsyan nv joke; trifle [dim. of ‘play’]
Tueʔ n a city in Phetai [túeʔ, local form of twot ‘river fork’]
-tul cl plural morpheme
tulu pron they (m.)
tur loc go back, return
turnon nv restore, return to its rightful state or owner; Uytainese Restoration
turtsil n interest (financial) [calque on Nyanese tordzew]
twan n vigor, toughness, hardiness
twer # most
twey nv doesn’t exist, there are none
twor n glory
twot n river fork; the name of a city
twoʔ # how many (interrogative for quantifiers)
twun loc out, outside; coming from
twunne a outer, exterior
twuntai nv exile, ban [‘out of the country’]
tur twuntai deport
twur n rope, cord
tyai a strong
tyaun nv split, divide
tyaunar a split, divided
tyaur cj introduces neither-nor or not-because clauses
tyet n island
tyim n dust
tyol nv present (a child to its father)
tyolar n child [‘presented’]
tyun n part, portion, fraction
tyur nv buy, purchase
keʔ tyur get (as a gift for someone)
tyurram n customer, client, buyer
tyurtsal n purchase price (what something is sold for) [‘buy-amount’]
tyut n young boy (i.e. before puberty)
un nv give (something)
tur un give back, return
pe un take back
uy n ancestor
Uykhrai n a city on the Ħomtso [‘ancestor-blessed’]
uyhret n the magical powers of ancestors [‘ancestor-power’]
uyħwa n standard-bearer, herald [‘ancestor-bearer’]
Uyram n the ancient Uyseʔic peoples [‘ancestor people’]
Uyseʔ n the Uytainese language [‘ancestor speech’]
Uytai n the name of the country [‘ancestors’ land’]
uytaine a Uytainese, of Uytai
Uytairam n Uytainese person or people [‘Uytai person’]
uytyun n tithe, temple’s share of produce
uywar n a token representing an ancestor (originally their skeleton) [‘ancestor body’]
wa pt ah, oh
wal n period of time, stage
wan a sure; accurate
war n body; group, corps
warfen n physicality; matter (as opposed to spirit) [‘body-ness’]
warfen nye ʔarkhel the physical plane
warne a physical; scientific
wau # other
waum nv like, appreciate
waur nv swell, expand
waut nv (do a) task, job
wauthur nv differ
X Y wauthur X and Y are different
wel a red
welhyan n salmon [‘red flesh’]
weltsai n the highest quality of tea [‘red tea’, after the bags used by Kyowne]
wen a next, later
wennur temp tomorrow [‘next day’]
wey n arm
weyram n procurer of mercenaries [‘arm man’; cf. thelram]
wim nv acquire, obtain, get, come to have
keʔ wim acquire (for someone else)
wimhar nv marry (a man)
wimhwai nv marry (a woman)
wir a round, curved
won n moon
wor n lord, baron
wor thur seʔ speaking freely (like a lord); frankly
worso n mansion, lord’s residence; the capital of Čwam [‘lord-house’]
wot nv cross
loc across (from)
wotne a opposite
wow n ring
woʔ n mouth
yai n thread, string
yan a whole, entire; (astron.) full
yau n tooth
yaun nv hear, listen
yaur n egg
yet n human
yeʔ pron her (familiar)
yin nv add, attach
yit a narrow, thin
yo pron of him, his
yol nv name, call, be called
yolhoy n name [‘naming term’]
yon a important, notable
yonram n oligarch, VIP [‘important person’]
yor n spear
yoy nv keep
yoʔ nv happen; event
yu asp perfective, change of state (external)
yul nv subtract, remove (a part)
yun nv grind, pound
yunħin n mill [‘grind machine’]
yur nv rest, stop (somewhere); camp
yurnur n holiday; vacation
yurso n inn [‘rest-house’]
yut n tree
yuyuʔ n worm
yuʔ n cunt (obscene term)
ʔar # every, all
ʔarfroy nv understand [‘know all’]
ʔarkhel n the world, Almea [‘all corners (of the world)’]
ʔarkhrum n government, administration [‘all ministries’]
ʔarpaune a imperial [‘all-rule’ + -ne]
ʔarpauram n emperor (later Uytainese term) [‘all-ruler’]
ʔaun a sacred, holy
ʔaut n season
ʔel nv separate
loc apart from
ʔelne a lonely, alone
ʔet n disfigurement, abnormality
ʔetne a disfigured, ugly
ʔo pt er, um
ʔu pron he (familiar)
ʔum nv bite, chew
Virtual Verduria