#lexember2021
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
aeniith · 3 years ago
Text
Lexember, upcoming
Every year, members of the conlang community participate in Lexember, which is a blend of "lexeme" (aka "word") and December. The idea is that every day of December, you add a new entry to your lexicon/dictionary.
I have done it I think every year since 2018, and in 2019 I did Lextreme, which was an ~extreme~ version where I did one new word every day of the year. I will be back on it for 2021, and will be posting entries here and on twitter (handle is @Aeniith_). I'll be using the tag #Lexember and #Lexember2021, so follow those to see others' word entries too!
Here's an example from last year. This word is from Tosi.
fiva [’fiva] [adj] : [1] bright; [2] warm, glowing with fire; [3] famous, well-known; [4] influential, powerful.
Tumblr media
Etymology: Related to fim/fiv “light”, whence may also come fiv “victory”. From Old Tosi fiev.
Example: Vi    gō chu loy               es fiva                zun sōzun vi po       na. 3s.f be most beautiful and well.known person who 3s.f be.loc here “She is the most beautiful and well-known person who’s here”
16 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
16m Lexembr
cair bel /ker bɛl/ [keː bɛw] (of weather) to be fine out, for the conditions outside to be pleasant, warm and sunny; (by extension, of a scene or scenario) to be going well, to turn out well, for people to be getting along or plans to be proceeding apace; (of people) to be content, satisfied or unconcerned, to take no issue; (by extension, pejoratively) to content oneself, to be oblivious to problems and think incorrectly that nothing is lacking or wrong
(An impersonal construction, only taking an optional dative experiencer.)
Etymology: literally "to happen beautiful", formed by analogy to many other uses of impersonal cair: for weather, as in cay ploy/sol "it's raining/sunny"; for events, as in cay je Lun "it's Monday"; and for periods, as in cay set hour "it's been seven hours".
The adjective bel "beautiful" descends uncomplicatedly from Latin bellus "pleasant, charming". The verb cair "to fall, to happen" is a somewhat hybridised descendant from Latin cadĕre "to fall, die, suit, happen" with a Vulgar form cadēre which exhibits a shift in conjugation.
Il amn queldar tras port candon cay bel. /ɪl ˈa.mn̩ kwɛlˈdar traz pɔrt kanˈdɔn ke bɛl/ [ɪˈla.mɐŋ kwɪwˈdɑː tʀaz ˈpɔːt kɐnˈdɔn ke bɛw] 3p like-3p dine-inf through door whenever fall-s beautiful They like to dine outside when it's fine out.
---
page taken from the appendices of Jout Boral a Toð Cainç "Borlish Constructions for All Occasions", a popular tourist's phrasebook for the Borlish language published in 1987 by the Ausbagn Outland Edifice.
Tumblr media
10 notes · View notes
emptymanuscript · 3 years ago
Text
Lexember 10th, Rank 1 Dimensions
awshawb ( ɔʃɔb ) - big, long, huge, etc., of sizable measure.
ashawbeng ( ɑʃɔbəŋ ) - far, a long distance, a huge amount in between, etc. Meaning to possess a sizable measure.
beng ( bəŋ ) - near, close, a tiny ditance, a small amount in between, etc. Meaning to possess a minimal measure. Also impolite slang for "easy." As in "that person is easy." but extended from that to "easy" in general, not hard to get what you want from it because it's just a little distance between you and it.
beneb ( bənəb ) - small, tiny, little, etc. of a minimal measure.
seeoreles ( sioRələs ) - many, lots of a thing, multitude, a great number or with great frequency or both. Often.
2 notes · View notes
vacuousversifer · 3 years ago
Text
Lexember: 1 Dec 2021
Ulia Loena is actually very polysemic! I just made the endonym for the language today, so I'll cover that!
The root word is loenu, a verb meaning to say, mention, assert, display, call or pray (already a lot but I like it). By changing the final vowel, it changes part of speech
loena (noun form): word, display, prary za loena (za means "place"): library, auditorium wefe loena (wefe means "big"): book, tome ota loena (ota means "animal"): person, human, book worm pake loena (pake means "all"): dictionary, lexicon visa loena (visa means "tool"): dictionary, thesaurus, lexicon ulia loena (ulia means "thing"): endonym
And those are just the nouns! As for the adjectives we have loene (the -e means adjective): wordy, showing, hopeful, smart, knowledgable ulia loena (this ties into Ulia Loena): relating to Ulia Loena
And then the lonely adverb loeno: wordfully, showfully, hopefully
And that's all! I know a single root can be changed to be a lot of stuff, but that was a goal of Ulia Loena! Thanks for your time!
2 notes · View notes
cretaceousoverbs · 3 years ago
Text
Lexember 2021
Ideas I'm considering for #Lexember:
- Salutations - Meals, food, drink; fresh, rotten, etc. - Fire, firemaking, metalworking - Water, water wheels, windmills - Names for flocks of birds, dinosaurs - A study of plurals (they're semi-regular, I'm not sure how :) )
2 notes · View notes
aeniith · 3 years ago
Text
#Lexember Dec 5
My Circadian rhythm is totally destroyed by the utter lack of light here, so these are gonna be coming at...whenever I can muster up the energy to do them. But I wanted to come back to Ori because it’s been a while.
Ori:
nyenta [ɲɛnta] (v) : 1. try, attempt; 2. reach (for) ; (3) grapple with (physically or figuratively)
Example: Nyillet but nyentace peli.
‘We are trying to find a new house’
15 notes · View notes
aeniith · 3 years ago
Text
Dec 28-29 #Lexember !
Here are the last two days of #Lexember! I am still filling out Ori's vocabulary.
Dec 28 Ori:
calun [ˡkalun] (v): release, let go of Etymology: From lun- ‘hand’ and ca- ‘negative’. Example: Calununtani! ‘I’m free!’ ~ Dec 29 Ori:
casulline [kasu'l:ine] (adj): difficult, not easy; inconvenient, awkward Etymology: From ca- 'negative' sullin- 'flow' and the adj. suffix -e.
Example: Tra tolluyas casullines rya, de es calsani bin. 'This work is difficult, but I *will* finish it'
11 notes · View notes
aeniith · 3 years ago
Text
Dec 1 Lexember
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
10 notes · View notes
aeniith · 3 years ago
Text
#Lexember Dec 2!
Ok, this one is a little late because I fell asleep. Ẃyŝó dä pato beluzim. :P
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Dec 2
Rílin
mua [ˈmua] mua : (v tr) 1. bring close, draw in; 2. cuddle, snuggle.
Etymology: From mu ‘near, close’ and the verbalizing suffix -a.
Examples:
Muaky tañ trelóset laíe trelótimky. “Bring that chair closer so that I can sit down.”
Né muabíky tañ ẃylaet, kraíñakatíky! “If you try to cuddle that little thing, you may get bitten!”
Derived and related terms: muasé [muˈase] (adj) ‘cuddly’ muamóír̂ [muˈamoiʂ] ‘nearby places, environs, surroundings’
9 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
4m Lexembr
coronc /koˈrɔnk/ [kʊˈʀɔŋk] pretender, claimant to a throne; impostor, fraud, person under a false identity or professing false qualifications; hypocrite, person whose words and deeds diverge
Etymology: uncertain, but old—the first meaning of "claimant" is attested from the ninth century during the ascendancy of Dane Borland. One theory proposes a connection with coroun "crown, kingship" < Latin corōna "garland, wreath, crown", perhaps via a diminutive *corōnucula, although the accent being on the second syllable is hard to explain (we would expect coronoil). Another links it to the Dane rule and suggests dissimilation from earlier *conong < Norse konungr "king".
Cascif parmist vos coronc remainn e lou blasmaust noc? /kaˈxɪf parˈmɪst vo koˈrɔnk reˈme.nn̩ e lu blaˈsmost nɔk/ [kɐˈçɪf pɐːˈmɪst vo kʊˈʀɔŋk ʀɪˈme.nɐn e lu blɐˈzmost nɔk] why allow.pst-2p 2p pretender stay-3p and 3p condemn neg Why did you permit pretenders to remain without censure?
---
excerpt from Shepherds of Hambrick: the Small History of Dane Borland, a 2008 book intended for the lay audience and published by Cordin Editions (with the original Borlish title being Acr a Sauð Vellig "Acres of Docile Ewes"). Its author, Sconet Ydreç, was commissioned to write the text by her institution, the department for Concurrence History at the New School in Vithor, where she specialised in the early tenth century.
…to be distracted by king-in-exile Joðeg and his wife the queen Brenna of Barrow, no matter how intriguing their exploits in Sothbar and latterly overseas in Kent, nor how precious the Brethin copies of Brenna's correspondence with her cousin King Roderick.
What, for example, can we make of the influx of Norse vocabulary in the field of archery from the early ninth century? We see <bers> "target, quarry" in a 834 N parabolic addendum from the Marvil chronicle; soon after are <boger> "archer", <arn> "fletch" and <scutar> "shoot" attested also. What is clear is that the bow and arrow were commonplace weapons available to any freeman in the Dane lands; consider the legend of Fithrischelve, who was said to have to outwitted the far-seer Quasir by striking him with an arrow fired from four thousand paces, beyond even his sight.
Techniques in bowmaking must also have spread rapidly throughout the Dane territories, or at least bows obtained in raids east of Idel made their way expediently westward. Recent unearthings at the Voglat trove include a sapwood bow with carvings some scholars have connected to Mojarick languages, but…
8 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
3m Lexembr
tramou /traˈmu/ [tʀɐ.mu] line, line segment (considered with a specified direction), vector; displacement, difference between two positions; shortfall, insufficiency, extent to which a quota is not met
Etymology: Middle Boral, a jargon borrowing from Middle Cambrick [Welsh] tramωi "movement, transit, course", used (in the form of a Latinised <trāmovis>, as though related to a verb *trāmoveō "I move across") in the fifteenth-century mathematical text Algorisma Geometrica, a treatise on how to perform numerical operations such as addition on geometric objects. The word tramωi itself must derive from Classical British elements trās- "across, completely" and mei- "to go" (see also Kernish tarvoi "carriage").
Tramou aun tagl eð asmuth y dou.
/traˈmu on tɛjl ɛθ azˈmɪθ i du/
[tʀɐˈmu on tɛj‿le‿ðɐzˈmɪθ iˈdu]
vector have-3p length and direction def two
A vector has both size and direction.
Cal porra balanç intermanir ag tramou ny porçonment?
/kal poˈra baˈlants ɪnˌtɛr.maˈnɪr ɛj traˈmu ni ˌpɔr.tsɔnˈmɛnt/
[kaw pʊˈʀɑ bɐˈlants ɪnˌtɛː.mɐˈnɪː‿ʀɛj tʀɐˈmu ni ˌpɔː.dzʊmˈmɛnt]
what can-fut recompense constitute-inf to.def shortfall in.def allocation
How will we make up for the budget shortfall?
---
taken from the supplementary historical notes for the 1849 quire Spheric Reckoning: Usage of the Modern Augrim, a mathematician's reference for performing spherical trigonometry (with application to celestial and terrestrial navigation). The book was published by the d'Aumesty Tellard Guild in Tommarth as part of the preparation for a decade-long project to create as accurate a map of the world as possible.
…the touching places of a given ray and our reference sphere.
The question of precisely who introduced the sun-centred model of the local cosmos to Rome has been long debated; almost all that can be said for certain is that by summer 1552 it was a conversation topic in fora across the city. We can perhaps assume that the sculptor Lorenzo dell'Acchedia was inspired to make his Meccanismi di Helio via his close friend Martèl fi Bacchero, mathematician at the library of Saint Jerome, who was known to frequent the public debates.
One theory traces the arrival of these ideas from the east to a congeries of Morrack scholars returning from a stint in the third Hicma Academy, and in particular a printing found in Tarragon archives—a copy of an addendum to ibn Halwa's 1472 work On the Extent of the Seas (itself notable for being one of the last detailed descriptions of the world's geography before knowledge of the Novomund became widespread).
In any case, it is worth remembering that all models are only approximations. The idea that the gyres [orbits] of the planets might not be (based on; the spectre of gyre sums raises its head once more) circular paths had still not occurred to…
7 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
20m Lexembr
copros /koˈprɔz/ [kʊˈpʀɔz] sulphate, vitriol, ionic compound containing the anion SO₄²⁻; (historical) iron(II) sulphate, green vitriol, the compound with chemical formula FeSO₄
compare cohol /koˈhɔl/ [kʊˈxɔw] sulphide, ionic compound containing the anion S²⁻
Etymology: attested in various European languages from the thirteenth century, adapted from Mediæval Latin cuperosa et al. "metal sulphate, especially copper sulphate", short for aqua cuprosa "water of copper". Originally referring in particular to blue vitriol/copper sulphate, by the Revitalist period it was in most common use for green vitriol/iron sulphate.
Vitriol scencað sur calamin nastisc copros a jast. /ˌvi.triˈɔl xɛnˈkaθ sɪr ˌka.laˈmɪn naˈstɪx koˈprɔz a ʒast/ [ˌvi.tʀɪˈjɔl çɪŋˈkah sɪː ˌka.lɐˈmɪn nɐˈstɪç kʊˈpʀɔz ɐ ˈʒast] vitriol pour-ptcp.pst on calamine bear-s.prs sulphate to zinc Pouring vitriol on calamine produces jast's cuprose. (Sulphuric acid and zinc oxide make zinc sulphate.)
---
cutting from the pages of the 18th of July 1971 edition of Niacer (literally "relating to nests" but here used colloquially to refer to the home), a monthly Sunday magazine sold across Borland whose focus is news and advice concerning household matters, from gardening tips and tricks to recent advances in refrigeration.
…light of recent developments in Mashick I can only advise that you stock up on dried mause and amback [banana and mango] to prepare for the veritable avalanche of sweetbreads and spice stews you will need to cook for so many August picnic sorties.
Yours, Morrig Agat
-
PAX, CHANDLER SOAPS RECALLED
Seven soap and washing-oil products have been removed from shop shelves after customers have reported severe rashes after use. The products (for a full list see insert) include bars form the well-known cleaningware companies Pax and Chandler.
Early reports suggest that the culprit may be an impure batch of natre's laurick cuprose [sodium lauryl sulphate], a foaming substance widely added to soap gels and bars. Efforts to trace the source of the contamination are as yet inconclusive, though the lack of any similar cases reported in the rest of Libya (from where Borland imports the majority of these alchemical products for detaxion)'s export market suggests that the issue may lie with the refining mills at Haldanvion.
This paper's inquiries with Rojanasocce Manufactory and the Ministry of Health have so far been met with stonewalling and deflection; we will turn to the in tesquo investigations of our own collocker Sr Johan pamfey, who…
6 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
9m Lexembr
detaxion /ˌde.takˈsjɔn/ synthesis, amalgamation, combination, creation of something complex or coherent by combining simpler things; transmutation, transfiguration, modification, affecting the structure or composition of a substance or work; (chemical) reaction, conversion, process by which substances are changed into others through combination and decomposition
Etymology: borrowed into Boral in the late sixteenth century from Scholastic Latin dētaxiō "chemical reaction", popular variant of dētactiō by analogy with nouns such as connexiō "junction". This dētactiō is a nominalisation of verb dētingō "I affect, cause to undergo a transformation or reaction", from tangō "I touch, arrive at, affect". The alchemical sense is original; extension to other contexts is in evidence by the time of the Long Peace.
Comburnç no's for detaxion con ignifex magn hastous. /kɔmˈbɪ.rn̩ts noz fɔr ˌde.takˈsjɔn kɔn ˌaj.niˈfɛks mɛjn hasˈtuz/ [kʊmˈbɪːnts noz fɔː ˌde.tɐkˈsjɔn kɔn ˌaj.nɪˈfɛks mɛjn hɐˈstuz] burn-nmlz neg=be.3s only synthesis with oxygen very fast Burning is just a very fast reaction with oxygen.
---
excerpt from Albick Medicine in the Workshop Decades, Part V: Alchemick Detaxion, one of the volumes in a series released by the Conster Health Edifice and funded by the anthracite administration's Ministry for Health. This volume was written by Dr Harold Westcamp and published in 1994, with additions by his deixist collaborator Marcathow Cox.
…use copper in their fecundation projects, showing a surprisingly-modern understanding of the unity of zoia [micro-organisms] and edifice life (that is, comprehending that substances noxious to the one were apt to have a similar effect on the other.
But however helpful the counter-zoic properties of copper (as well as the less-effective jast [zinc] and silver), truly safe handiwork could not be achieved without liquid diffruction. Wine and other fermented drinks had been noted as a preventative of infection since the medieval period, and the wider availability of distilled lembick [ethanol] in the sixteenth century allowed Arnoutszen to recommend it in his great treatise.
The advances of the Long Peace led to the discovery of yet more effective solutions. The saltpetre mills (built to provide a source of the gunpowder component in the absence of natural deposits) of Zampanagar and neighbouring Tacday Ancore [1] made use of sea wrack as a raw ingredient. In 1778, according to the reports of the overseer at the Contare mills, a purplish vapour was seen rising from disposal vats in which the waste was treated with vitriol. Named for the colour of the crystalline residue formed as the element accumulated, news of the discovery of tin-sow (literally "indigo element") travelled west over the next decade, and writers in Latin eventually settled on the name janthine, from the…
---
[1] polities in South East Asia, roughly coterminous with southern Vietnam and Cambodia.
5 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
23m Lexembr
colombar /ˌko.lɔmˈbar/ [ˌko.lʊmˈbɑː] to beeline, to travel directly while ignoring established or more easily-traversed routes; to shortcut, skimp, cut corners, to gain a competitive or efficiency advantage especially by taking inappropriate or unsafe measures
also colombant /ˌko.lɔmˈbant/ directly, as the crow flies
Etymology: first as the participial adjective in Middle Boral colombant "in a straight line", derived from noun colomp "pigeon, dove" (modern colom "dove"), presumably in reference to the flight of homing pigeons. The word colom derives uncomplicatedly from Latin columba “dove, pigeon”. The verb per se is attested from the end of the eighteenth century, with the somewhat negative connotations arising in the following decades.
Y fraðr colombaurn dou vars y magler. /i ˈfra.ðr̩ ˌko.lɔmˈbo.rn̩ du varz i mɛjˈlɛr/ [i ˈfʀa.ðɐ ˌko.lʊmˈboːn du vɑːz i mɪjˈlɛː] def brother beeline-pst.3p two toward def butcher The two brothers went straight to the butcher's.
---
excerpt taken from the scholastic quire The Communication Toolset, a 1951 work written (originally in Mozara Spanish [1] as El Herramente de Communicazón) by author Joan Bensaíd through the printing house Quaterno Theorético a Córdoba.
…the potential to significantly accelerate the time to send a missive long distances. But in some cases the distance need not have been particularly great—we can consider the related cases of estuaries and straits.
For example, the towns of Nausçod on Borland and Lagcóch (at this time officially Laicouche in French Guillenne) [2], being only 13 miles apart as the crow flies and the former lying atop a steep promontory, are often within clear view of each other. Before the steeplemesh, to send a letter from the one to the other would require riding to the port at Axbane and taking a ferry, likely to Heller on the mainland and then across again to Texel.
After the air-steeples connected the strait (the intermediate baskets only being necessary in conditions of weakened visibility; on clear days the sighting could be accomplished directly via a farseer) in the latter years of the 1830s, no such diversion was necessary, and one could send a letter via the post and receive a reply in less…
---
[1] a language spoken primarily in Andalus but also in neighbouring polities and in immigrant/staddenzen [3] populations worldwide.
[2] roughly corresponding to the Dutch village of De Koog on the island of Texel.
[3] native of one of the polities that grew from early trading posts along the coasts of Cappatia and Africa.
4 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
11m Lexembr
kevlar /keˈvlar/ [kɪˈvlɑː] robbery, burglary, theft, the act of acquiring property illegally; heist, an instance of robbery, especially from an institution such as a bank, museum or other secure stronghold; (by extension) scheme, plot, a complex plan to conduct a likely-illegal activity; (archaic cant or modern humorous, non-finite forms only) to rob, burgle, thieve, to undertake a heist
Also romanç kevlar | heist story, tale in which a heist is central to the plot, especially considered as a subgenre of masquira novels and films
Etymology: disputed. The noun first definite attestation in writing is in the 1793 work An Enumeration of Thieves' Cant (originally in Boral as Enombr a Vanagl Saccacer), describing the slang of the Damvath underworld. Originally referring to any robbery, the narrower sense has been strengthened by its association to fiction; the twentieth century saw kevlar borrowed into many languages to refer to the genre of stories—see English kevler romance, for example.
Possible antedatings to Pentrose/Axbane slang have led some to conjecture a connection to a Welsh *cafelat "act of obtaining", although the phonetic implausibility (the Welsh would have penultimate stress) and the utter lack of outside evidence for this derivative of verb cafel "to get, be given" tally against it. Furthermore, if the intriguing reference to vol quȝralle "quiral (?) theft" in a fourteenth-century record of Jeluðrou court proceedings is an ancestor, the period (before substantial Welsh immigration to the cities of southern Borland) and the location (a minor northern town) rule this theory out definitively.
Unfortunately, the other options are just as easily discarded. Backslang—the practice of generating slang by saying words backwards—from a Germanic cognate of "robbing" (most often suggested is Frisian raovig, but even this is tenuous) is a popular but ultimately unworkable theory. Saxon cüble "luggage, baggage" or the derivation cübler "footman, male servant, especially one tasked with carrying possessions around" also do not quite harmonise with the timeline and the semantics.
Loy paregl ny cour es ajoutað de bon romanç kevlar. /lɔj paˈrijl ni kur ɛz ˌa.ʒuˈtaθ de bɔn roˈmants keˈvlar/ [lɔj pɐˈʀi.jʊ ni ˈkʊː‿ʀɪz ˌa.ʒʊˈtah dɪ ˈbɔn ʀʊˈmans kɪˈvlɑː] place same in=def heart be.3s gratify-ptcp.pst from good story heist The same part of the heart delights in a good heist story.
---
paragraphs excerpted in translation from the Borland vicine mesh [1] distributed library page for masquira romance, as it stood in February 2021 N. Much of it is lifted from books out of withholding, such as fi Javeria's Literary Developments of the Nineteenth Century and Mulcrive's Epics by Steeplepost: the Birth of Masquira in British Mendeva.
…familiar with the quintessentially Albick folk tales of the farmer duke and his masked band.
Although these earlier examples illustrate the timelessness of some of masquira's central tropes (most vitally the eponyous masks!), we do not see the emergence of a distinct genre until the nineteenth century, with the publication in 1860 Portugal of Ezio Carvallo's trevold Tejan de Masquira ou Jalico (released in Boral as Cuscon Reðr Cognit [2], translated by Anscon Polgat). It was Carvallo's works—this first book being only the first in a dozen-strong series—which introduced many of the essential properties of a masquira tale, and first presented them together as a coherent whole.
For example, Jalico almost singlehandedly creates the conceit of the kevler [heist] in which our protagonist must obtain a valuable item by means of a complicated scheme involving trickery and deception; note that the word itself would not be applied to the trope for some time, as it is of Borlish origin. Often an item of jewellery, masquira is often said to run parallel to the older Cathayan tradition of tapsue (magpie) tales. We can also connect the two traditions by their adoption by tovarick…
---
[1] A portion of the global mesh [Internet], usually qualified with a geographical term. [2] And for example in Kentish as We Arive in Unwemmed [immaculate] Clothes.
4 notes · View notes
jackhkeynes · 3 years ago
Text
15m Lexembr
nau /no/ (obsolete or poetic) ship, boat, sea-faring vessel powered by oar or perhaps sail; (obsolete) nave, the middle or body of a church building usually containing the pews; (archaic or dialect) navel, bellybutton, indentation remaining in the abdomen of mammals from where the umbilicus was attached before birth; (dialect, by extension) indentation, hole, result of drilling with an auger; (archaic or historical) bowl, dish, boat, utensil with a handle and spout used for serving and pouring sauces such as gravy; (with bel in the phrase bel nau) saying, affirmation, profession, creed, words and promises as opposed to material acts
particularly bel nau /bɛl no/ [ˌbɛwˈno] fine words, promises or flattery usually viewed as empty, insincere or hypocritical; literally "beautiful creed".
Etymology: in most senses originally from Latin nāvis "ship; nave of a church", both senses of which survive unmolested into various Old Boral forms nau, naf, nof etc (though some of these are likely imported from Old French). The form naf for "nave" wins out by the end of fifteenth century, while the form nau is retained primarily for the innovative use "dish with handle for sauce"; this presumably is motivated by the similar shape.
Meanwhile, in the western dialects of Sothbar et al, the Old English nafola "navel" enters Boral as nau(l) in the same sense. The meaning of "navel, indentation" is occasionally seen in other dialects (perhaps motivated by the hollow shape of a bowl) but never catches on completely.
The jump to "aphorism, short witticism (usually in bel nau)" is less clear. There are extant 1760s ceramics with sayings written around the rim, but the causality here could flow in either direction: it is either that sayings were first likened to a pouring sauce dish and the ceramics are a reference thereto, or else some enterprising potter decided to decorate their wares in this way and the semantic shift of nau comes afterwards.
Alcot y bel nau, tu pos ja traiçon me dar. /alˈkɔt i bɛl no | ti pɔz ʒa treˈdzɔn me dar/ [��ˈgɔt i ˌbɛwˈno | ti ˈpoʒ ʒa tʀɪˈdzɔn mɪ ˈdɑː] how.much def pretty words | 2s may.sbj still betrayal 1s.obl give-inf Whatever you say, you might yet betray me.
--
lifted in translation from the pages of the diary of Nadàlla fi Carol [c. 1576 - 1641 N], eldest daughter of the town reverend in Santrafew [1] during its initial growth. Her records, surviving due to a misclassification leading them to be archived with accounting books, are an invaluable view into the close perspective of the early town.
1592 Nascentiæ, Friday 15th August
…another argument with Dembro and his masons over the reconstruction of the nave after one of the butresses failed last year. The temporary pine roofing has been rather noticeable and Father's talks with Dembro have led him to believe the simplest thing would be to take down some of the stonework from the surviving side and give the nave a fully wooden roof.
This idea had barely been set to parchment before the ediculate [2] crowd were up in arms, and Zocala came downriver from her acreages by moshone [canoe] for the first time all year. None of us have yet seen the new husband except Father for the wedding, but she was this time alone*. Given that she finds her worship elsewhere I can hardly see it is her affair whatever the nave…
---
[1] Named for the archangel Saint Raphael, patron of travellers and medical practitioners, Santrafew (Markish /sənˈtɹa.fəw/) is one of the earliest and most northerly New Provincial settlements, located at the mouth of the Becouin River [the Charles River]. It is roughly coterminous with Boston in Massachusetts.
[2] A Christian sect with an unsteady relationship to the Roman popes; their practices centred in particular holy places and monuments.
*here likely meaning she was accompanied by at least two maidservants.
4 notes · View notes