Samstag, 8. November 2014
Tarra on Anthologica
I've started to put my Tarra material on Anthologica. I especially like it that it has a dictionary template. After doing nothing here for six years, it's time to get some Tarra stuff documented!
Samstag, 23. August 2008
Tarran Etymologies: Gospel
Gospel
Tautisca words: suyaudimun, wandílin, ewangelin
When the Tauta came into contact with Christianity in the 4th - 5th century AD, they loaned the word Lat. evangelium in the form it seems to have been pronounced in the contemporary Romance dialect of the Southern coast. The pronunciation seems to have been something like [van'dʲɛʎu], which must have been rendered in Southern Tautisca as ['vandijeljin > 'vandijilin]. This in turn was taken over by the Central dialects as ['wandi:lin], with the regular substitutions of /w/ for Southern /v/ and /i:/ for Southern /i(j)i/. The word relatively quickly broadened its meaning to "bible, Christian doctrine, Christianity", and wandíliscus became a synonym for cristian(isc)us "Christian", especially among pagans.
As part of his tendency to coin words based on native material instead of using loans, St. Ambrósis rendered "gospel" in his bible translation of 750-780 by suyaudimun (from su- "good" and yaudimun, gen. -munus n. "message". Although not all his coinages were successful, this one was, probably due to the extended range of meanings that wandílin had acquired and due to its prominent use by pagans. Suyaudimun has remained the common word for "gospel" since the 8th century. Wandílin and wandíliscus in the meanings "Christianity , Christian" remained in use:
1) In the pagan far North until the 13th/14th century. From there, the word entered Ilan (as n. fyndî, adj. fyndilis) designing at first adherents to fedisca Christianity and later the Tauta in general. The words also remain in use in the Tautisca boreal woodland dialects, designating non-woodlanders.
2) In the Caprupisca and some other Eastern mountain dialects, the words came to be used as an ethnonym to designate the Christianised tribes that today speak Mədan.
Especially in theological literature, Latin evangelium is occasionally loaned in the form ewangelin; this is a learned borrowing without wider currency in the written or spoken language.
The Romance form [van'dʲɛʎu] that is behind wandílin has survived in Ilan fynzei "bible, scripture"; in the meaning of "gospel" all Modern Tarran Romance languages use direct loans from Latin (LR [ɛvɔn'ʤɛl:u]) or forms loaned from Latin through Lemba Romana (Mədan [vun'ʤɛlu], Ilan [efanyzeu]).
Dienstag, 19. August 2008
Introduction
In this blog I'll post about Tarra, an island that may exist in this or any potential alternative universe, about its peoples, and the languages spoken there. As my main interests are history, linguistics, and conlanging, expect my posts to be preoccupied with linguistic and historical topics.
Tarra has been settled by at least three waves of immigration from Earth, using paths we can only speculate about - the pious Tarrans ascribe the establishment and disruption of the connections to God's will; more Sci-Fi minded persons suspect aliens playing with interdimensional portals. In any case, the first known inhabitants of Tarra were hunter-gatherers who spoke an unidentified language, probably not Indo-European (IE). The second wave of settlement were speakers of an IE language with Western characteristics, who seem to have entered Tarra in the Early Bronze Age and displaced the first inhabitants from the fertile Central, Southern and Western parts of the island into the marginal environments of the Eastern mountains, the boreal woodlands, and the outlying islands to the West and South. These IE speakers developed into the nation of Tauta.
The third and last known wave were the Romans, who discovered the island in the 2nd century AD and later conquered the South of Tarra and introduced Christianity. In the 5th century AD the connection to Earth was lost, and since then the peoples of Tarra have been isolated.
These peoples are:
1) The Tauta ("Nation"), whose members are called Tautínai and their language tautisca, the dominant nation on Tarra; the Tautínai practice a peculiar brand of Christianity called fedisca and are organised into feudal principalities and monastic republics based on religious orders (frátriás).
2) The speakers of a Romance language that is simply referred to as Lemba Romana (LR); they form a minority in the cities and a majority in the countryside in the Southern part of Tarra and on the islands to the South, ruled by a Tautisca elite. Like all speakers of Romance languages on Tarra, they are overwhelmingly Catholic. Some LR dialects are also spoken on the Southeastern coast of Tarra, an area which is not under Tauta control, but ruled by changing Məda:n clans.
3) The speakers of Məda:n, likewise a Romance language, in the Eastern and Southern parts of the Eastern mountains, they are organised in tribes /clans (u'ʤo:n) led by chiefs (brə'do:r), sometimes allied to, more frequently fighting with their Tauta neighbors, and often also fighting among themselves.
4) The speakers of Ilan, a Romance language as well, spoken on a group of islands off the Western coast of Tarra called Î dy refî; these islands form a loose polity ruled by the clergy, nobles, and quasi-elected judges.
Tarra has been settled by at least three waves of immigration from Earth, using paths we can only speculate about - the pious Tarrans ascribe the establishment and disruption of the connections to God's will; more Sci-Fi minded persons suspect aliens playing with interdimensional portals. In any case, the first known inhabitants of Tarra were hunter-gatherers who spoke an unidentified language, probably not Indo-European (IE). The second wave of settlement were speakers of an IE language with Western characteristics, who seem to have entered Tarra in the Early Bronze Age and displaced the first inhabitants from the fertile Central, Southern and Western parts of the island into the marginal environments of the Eastern mountains, the boreal woodlands, and the outlying islands to the West and South. These IE speakers developed into the nation of Tauta.
The third and last known wave were the Romans, who discovered the island in the 2nd century AD and later conquered the South of Tarra and introduced Christianity. In the 5th century AD the connection to Earth was lost, and since then the peoples of Tarra have been isolated.
These peoples are:
1) The Tauta ("Nation"), whose members are called Tautínai and their language tautisca, the dominant nation on Tarra; the Tautínai practice a peculiar brand of Christianity called fedisca and are organised into feudal principalities and monastic republics based on religious orders (frátriás).
2) The speakers of a Romance language that is simply referred to as Lemba Romana (LR); they form a minority in the cities and a majority in the countryside in the Southern part of Tarra and on the islands to the South, ruled by a Tautisca elite. Like all speakers of Romance languages on Tarra, they are overwhelmingly Catholic. Some LR dialects are also spoken on the Southeastern coast of Tarra, an area which is not under Tauta control, but ruled by changing Məda:n clans.
3) The speakers of Məda:n, likewise a Romance language, in the Eastern and Southern parts of the Eastern mountains, they are organised in tribes /clans (u'ʤo:n) led by chiefs (brə'do:r), sometimes allied to, more frequently fighting with their Tauta neighbors, and often also fighting among themselves.
4) The speakers of Ilan, a Romance language as well, spoken on a group of islands off the Western coast of Tarra called Î dy refî; these islands form a loose polity ruled by the clergy, nobles, and quasi-elected judges.
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