Recovering The Ancient Tongue Of The Elves.

[Sporadic 2799]

More Elven Language Resources:
 

Spoiler

Elvish forum thread: https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/19254-recovering-the-ancient-tongue-of-the-elves/
Contains all seed words, affixes and grammar rules you'll need to grow into a master of the Elven Tongue

 

 

 

Elvish Wiki Page: https://wiki.lordofthecraft.net/index.php?title=Ancient_Elven
Contains many words, affixes, common combinations and sentences you can learn. Useful if you're looking for a specific word.
 

 

Elf up your name: https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/28394-elf-up-your-name/

 

Go here one of the many ready-to-use Elvish names for your character!

 

 

FOREWORD

Proceed respectfully reader, for you are about to learn of the oldest and most enigmatic language ever spoken within our world. Of a tongue that has all but vanished into obscurity. A tongue our forebearers have hidden like a secret, and was only recently extricated by shrewd scholars. A tongue that is said to hold magic in its very diction...

My friends, we know little of the ancient Elves, and much remains riddled and ambiguous. To even hope to complete our knowledge of their language is laughable, preposterous. Progress, however little, I present to you in this tome.

My findings rest upon three pillars. The first of these are the scriptures of Aerin Lissar, an elven scholar who has yet to return from his latest journey. The second are my own findings from my field work as an archaeologists, uncovering ancient civilizations and their secrets. The third, reader, is you. The secrets of the elven tongue are lost, but not forgotten, and my guess remains that a few of you, whoever you are, hold the pieces that will help complete this puzzle. If this is the case, I ask you to present them, for the sake of educating and advancing the population of Asulon.

My wish remains that you treat this tome with the respect that it deserves. And as you read on, I hope your thirst for knowledge shall be quenched.



ELVEN WORDS
This incomplete list is sorted in common alphabetical order. Notations are added where required.
Note: Only the stem of a verb is written in this list of words



AFFIXES
Affixes served a very important purpose in the Elven language. You are recommended to learn of them and their purpose before anything else, for many words are formed by the addition of affixes to the so-called 'seed words', which are listed below.
We further discuss our findings on affixes in the grammatical section of this volume. Furthermore, words deserving extra explanation will be handled in the 'curious words' section.

Note: The dash indicates the location of the seed word to the affix.


ac- (aca-) Honorific for an accursed.
ah- (ahe-): Honorific for reverence. Often used in front of names to denote sainthood.
ael-: Vile, unnatural, beastly.
-al: -Designates the completion of an action
-an: many, full of -Mostly designates plurality

an*h- (a/o/i/e/u): To direct (up/down/left/right/rotate) (more on this in 'curious words')

av-: wandering

ay: for

-ante (-nte): Last

div-: Empty, devoid of (antecendent to -an)
-ento (-nto): next
-ehya: and - used at the beginning of a sentence for 'but...'
el- (ele-): - Changes a noun into a pronoun, making it a title of someone, or possibly something.
fi-: new, anew - Often used as prefix, but not exclusively.
heya- (hey-): what, how, who
il- (ilu-): with
-ii: little Designated the diminutive form. Plural: iian.
-ir: - Designates the purpose of someone
iyl-: this usually a prefix, though not exclusively.
iyul-: that usually a prefix, though not exclusively.
-leh: -Designates affiliation
ma- (mar-): very -Intensifier. More on this in 'curious words'
-n: - Sometimes put behind an adjective or verb to create a noun.
-ne (-ane): not - A suffix used to indicate the negative.
-onn: from, born, kin - Often a suffix, but not always. More on this in 'curious words'.
par- (pra-): before, pre-
res- (re-): wayward, capricious, unpredictable
-sae: Spreading, development management. - More on this in 'curious words'
tal- (tali-): Part (of) - More on this in 'curious words'
u-: or - Always a prefix and always used with apostrophe
-yem (-hyem): again -Can be used to make a 're-' family of verbs
vul- (vule-): clever, intuitive, deceptive.




SEED WORDS
These words make up the brunt of the Elven language, and may be modified by various affixes to create new words.

acal: valuable, golden, cursed - From ac-al: Completion of the word ac: Cursed. Beware of this double meaning. Because of this double meaning, Elves of old may give those they wish ill a nugget of gold to declare their hostility. The gesture was often wasted on other races, who considered the gold a tribute.
acalin: shop
acaln: gold
(a)chikr: (without the a:) ***** - denotes a woman who murders her children (or neglects them to death), which is considered a horrible crime due to the value of fertility and the rarity of Elf children. Without the 'a', the word degenerates into a grave insult. Know that intentional cursing in Elven attracts ill-willing aspects.
(a)dil: needy, desiring, wanton - When one forfeits the 'a' it becomes as of a vice
(a)dont: requesting, awaiting - Without the 'a' it becomes 'demanding', -er makes verb as always

adont’ahern: please - requesting blessing

adri: evil, immoral, hate
(a)elor: abomination, faithless, demon. -Denotes any non-humanoid of intelligence. Without the 'a' the word becomes an insult to call someone disfigured. Know that intentional cursing in Elven attracts ill-willing aspects.
Aengul: Aengul - race of semi-divine beings affiliated with light.
aetah: age
aeth: aether
aher: to bless.
ahern: blessing.

ahernan: thank you - blessings
akal: valuable, golden - less ominous
akaleh: wealth, money, valuables
akalin: shop
akaln: gold - less ominous way to speak of gold.

allim: sin  - allimar: to sin; alliman: sinful

andria: hope

annyer: to dance
Asul: sun
ata: ugly, tainted
athri: serpent, snake
(a)iler: Wizard, conjurer, heretic -Any wizard or spiritual humanoid that's not a druid. When one forfeits the 'a' in the word it becomes an insult. It should be noted that the word 'Ailer' is not used for your everyday magic user, but reserved for a powerful, exclusive brand of spellcasters.
alor: salmon -aloronn/alonn: salty

 

amana: virtuoso
ame: forest

annil: guiding -anniler: to guide, direct

ante: Last

arche: infrequent, sporadic, rare
(a)rhil: just fair (without the a:) vengeful, scorned.
aver: to wander, to roam around aimlessly, to be confused
avern: wanderer, confused person
ayal: yellow
ay(i)lu: liked, likable - may(i)lu: loved. The 'i' is optional, but may not be used if the object is not a person.
ayla: good

barbu: dark, black, hedgehog
berr: bow
belou: pink
beloun: pig

bida: to drink
bilok: to create, to make

bilokonn: to fornicate
Bortu: dwarf

(a)caele: sky. - The plural, caelan, is used to reference to the Seven skies and with that, God. The lack of an 'a' in front makes the word disrespectful or insulting.
celia: star
ceru: strong, mighty

chae: tea
chirr: wolf
chul: to must
cihi: city
cinh: to stop, to cease
ciw: to sleep

crua: hurting, suffering - which makes cruan: pain

Daemon: Daemon - race of semi-divines affiliated with smoke and fire.

Diraar: Guard/Sentinel - A soldier or guard who's job is to uphold a set of laws and overwatch them.

dion: long - dionne: short

divu: empty
drui: Druid
draoi: Evil/corrupted druid. Warlock. Sorcerer.

ehier: to find

enaer: guest

enet: time

ento: next
ern: to can, to be able to
eth: end, to end, to die -word can be a noun, passive verb and active verb depending on usage
evar: to protect, preserve
eyr: to use, apply

faesu: horse
fer: tool - This word creates a wide array of words for various tools, such as torches and pickaxes. They are discussed further in 'curious words'.

fenn: ice

feta: cold

fih: to eat, to feed
fin: region
fiyem: reborn, renewed, revitalized

fyu: full

 

hae: her
haelun: mother
haler: to promise, to pledge

harriel: square
heial: circle, council
hier: near
hileia: Peace. - Has no plural

hiuw: to twitch, to move
hiylu: Healthy / spirited

ibar: white, owl
igne: flame, fire - igne'sae: destruction, war, leur'igne: hearth, fireplace

irham: industry
iheiuh: wind
iheiuhii: voice, breath
ihn: stick
ihnsil: spear, lance
ikur: wrought, cold, gray
ikurn: iron
ikru: foolish
iller: to give, to grand
ilueth: demon

ilum: glowing - when something only reflects light. ilumr: to glow.

 

inde: history

inder: to read, study, memorize

indor: book

irrin: glass

ito: to, here, within - Can also be a suffix. More on this in 'curious words'

itone: you're welcome - lliterally: to nothing
iyat: thought
iyath: to think

iylanh: to place

 

kae: me
kalem: Malin's year, - Roughly 26 Anthos years, denotes the length of a High Prince's reign.

kaliri: Event, party
karim: Fortday, - The measure of time from one Dwarven sleeping cycle to the next, roughly 24 Anthos days.
karimir: hero

karin(ah): sunrise, - Also used to speak of day
kathir: foe
ker: dark, sunset - Also used to speak of night
kerir: villain

khel: darkness - Strictly a noun
kina: murdered, killed, death, in mortal danger-a noun used for someone who is marked for death by someone or something.
krafeh: corpse

krey: single. kreyn - pair.

 

lae: him
lar: sturdy, steadfast.

lari: female
lareh: boulder, mountain, rock

larebil: anvil
larueth: netherrack
laureh: chosen, favored, noble
laurir: Noble
len: song

lenaern: inn
lenniel: melody

lensuloem: seed, fruit
lent: to (over)grow
lenti: growth, moss.
lentos: brown
leyu: graceful, beautiful.

liewyn: smile - liewynh: to smile, liewyn'saer: to entertain, to amuse; maliewynh: to laugh
lle: kindness, good intention

lie: dishonest, untrue, false, deceitful -lien: lie , liear: to lie; maliear: to betray (malieir: traitor)
llir: friend
lin: home, place -linan'sae: town
linoronn: nomad

llum: sorrowful, mourning - llum'saer: to sadden

llun: sorry

llyt: aggressive, intimidating, -llyth: to strike

lom: to fragment, to splinter
lomi: fragment, splinter, pebble
lomal: flint

luci: grape - lucionn: sour

luer:  to imprison, to cage 

luerlent: flowerpot

lye: we - Used to speak of elves, a people, or even the world as a whole. Often misused.

lyu: silent - leads to the words lyun: silence; lyuer: to silence and lyu'saer: to censor 

 

mabidar: to suck

maehr: wisdom, knowledge
maelu: to know

magara: cave/cavern
mahnih: wall

mal: male
Mali: elf/elven - Word is both singular and plural, noun and adjective.

Malin: Father of Elves - Literal translation is "King"
maln: father

marn: more
marenne: less

masuleh: anvil

maya: redeeming mayan: redemption, mayar: to redeem
medi: helping, helpful

metta: bird
meracahe: balance

merku: peach
miar: lava miar'sae: griefing, harming, spiting
mira: warm
miruel: red

mordu: titan

mya: mercy

myumier: to carry, to bring

 

ne: no

nae: you
naeri: devout one, cleric
narn: to walk, travel through
nealu: to teach
nor: land - nor'sae: farming

 

o: why

ohn: like (similar to) - Either a prefix or stand-alone
oment: to meet
okar: to safeguard
okarn: oasis

orrar: to hunt
othelu: sharp

 

pario: to fail
parir: harbinger

paronn: old maparonn: ancient

pern: potato

parsaer: to conceive, to kindle. "to have an idea". 

perith: to remember

puer: to write, to draw, to scribble.

puerith: to write down (of books), to memorize. to record (more formal than 'puer')

 

riv: claw 

riurn: swamp

raell: carrot, root, herb. (refers to subterranean parts of plants possessing healing or nourishing properties)

san: word, news - saner: to speak
saneyr: to debate, discuss. - saneyir: debater, public speaker, orator.
salum: to feel, to sense

seth: void

sew: soup, stew
siimah: tower
sil: sword
siol: lone, lonely
sirame: Honor; connection to the forest. - Has no plural

siru: mushroom -siruonn: bitter

siyuer: to play
sohae: devout one, cleric - In a militant or executive sense. sohaer: ruler (through teachings, more positive than uthir.)

suika: sugar -
sul: light - strictly a noun.

suloem: beginning

suluell: end, apocalypse

sulier: to see
sulii: eye
sulirrin: glowstone

 

sumana: savant

taeleh: mind
taelu: to learn

tahorran: hawk

tahu: high

tahn: peak, height
talar: horizon - considered a place between the heavens and earth;
talareh: stone - evolved from the words tali and lareh.
taliyna: body, living being, aspect -'taliiyna' can be used to denoted the physical parts that allow the body to live, i.e. organ, heart, mind and blood

taliiyh: to bleed

taliyu: secret
Talonnii: family, blood(line) - always capped
tarem: Elven week -Equivalent to 7 'karim'
tayna: life, energy of living

taynei: green

taynuel: vitality, energetic, alive (noun or adverb dependent on positioning)

tenna: until

tennallar: ocean

terh: to grind, process, churn - wehn'tehral: bread; valein'tehral: cheese; raell'tehral: salve, potion), luci'terhal: wine

tillun: forgive

tiuth: triangle - the triangular shape is found as a symbol for oppression, unlike the circle, which is used to describe (just) councils; - taliuth: oppressor

thruer: to explode
thrur: explosive, volatile
thrurn: explosive, dynamite
thill: pure, refined, delicate
thilln: silver
thul: raw, unrefined, brusque

thulith: metal
thuln: ore, raw material

ti: yes
tilru: serving, submissive
tir: law
tos: desert, wasteland, barren ground - tos'sae: razing
tufer: to construct, to prop
tur: bone
turr: sheep
tuva: everything, all
tuveh: wool, something soft

 

 

uell: countless, many, infinity, 'last'
ueth: nether

uhier: to seek
ulln: rot, withering - strictly a noun.
ullr: rot, decay, wither - Often of dead flora.
ullral: monster, undead -lit: decayed. Used for living beings that have severed themselves from the natural way.

uradh: to scowl. - uradir: naysayer

uriar: to shout

urth: to rule - negative connotation to this word. urthir: ruler; maruthir: tyrant

Uruk: Orc

ut: because
uvul: powder

 

vaedrar: to melt

Valah: human
vallei: water

valein: milk
vallel: blue
vallum: crying, griefin
valmir: artist - from purple, the color of art.
valmuel: purple
van: to fare
Velulaei: moon - Named after the moon goddess worshiped by the dark elves.

vihai: whisper
vilut: cow

vira: vigilant, mournful - Traditionally used for attending the wake of vigil for a deceased Elf.

vularale: bat
vull: to deceive, to trick
vuln: fox

 

waleh: to heal

wehn:  grass, grain.

welier: to listen, to hear - rewelier: to repeat, to echo

wy: appendage - more useful are the words that can be formed in combination with 'an*h': anah'wy: head; anoh'wy: foot, anih'wy: left hand, aneh'wy: right hand; anuh'wy: hand (either)

wyl: while

wyn: happy

y: upon
yallr: to live.
yuln: gemstone - Used as the seed for many words, including maleyuln: diamond

CURIOUS WORDS
No doubt you are left with many questions as you skim through the Elven wordlist. Indeed, their mystique and unique language has many intricacies which are not readily understood by those who did not take ample time studying them.

For perusal at your leniency, I have taken apart the words with most reason to spark confusion, and gave them the special attention they require in this section.

ito:
This particle is a means to denote location. However, it has many different meanings, depending on its location and accompanying words in a sentence.

The simplest case:
ito narne: I/he walk(s) here / I/he walk(s) within.

No ambiguity arises here. However, when we add a noun to this:
ame ito narne: The forests walks here
ito ame narne: I/he walk(s) to the forest.
ame'ito narne: I/He walk(s) within the forest

ameto'eyha narne: And I/he walk(s) within the forest
ame'eyha ito narne: And the forest walks here.

Note that the location of ito becomes crucial here. Putting it on the place of a subject aligns it to the meaning 'to'. On the object's location (to understand this, educate yourself on the elven sentence order), the noun 'ame' becomes the subject instead, and ito regains the meaning 'within' or 'here'.

Ito can also be used as a suffix, which is demonstrated by the last examples. In this case, the addition of ito restricts the noun to an object.



This word is also used to create the elvish equivalent to the words 'to be' and 'to have'. This particularly might confuse a novice to the language. To read up on this, I refer you to the grammar section of this tome.




tali-:
This word can do two very different things to the word it is connected to. In the simplest case, it adds the modifier 'part of' to the linked noun. But sometimes, the addition of this prefix creates a whole new word:

talibortu: Part dwarf -> Halfling
talivalah: Part human -> Halfling
tal'uruk: Part Orc -> Goblin.

However, sometimes ambiguity can abound from this word. For example:

taliame: Tree
tal'ame: Part of the forest.

It would seem that in confusing cases, elves add an apostrophe between to denote they mean multiple words rather than a single noun. However, this is not always a safe rule, as it may clash with other rules for using apostrophes. Caution is urged, and ambiguity may indeed arise.



-sae:
This word, meaning the development, spreading or management of something, can be used to create many new words in elvish. Some of these may not seem obvious. Examples include:

nor'sae: development of land -> farming
tos'sae: spreading of desert -> pillaging

The combinations grow even more numerous when we consider that sae can be combined with ir to create sair, lending a word for, exemplum gratia, 'farmer' and 'pillager'. It can also be turned to saean to create a plural (where applicable) and saer, turning the word into the stem of a verb, effectively giving us the words 'to farm' and 'to pillage'.

These further combinations exist almost always wherever a word was created from the suffix sae. Knowledge of this fact will allow the reader much more affluency in this language.




ma-:
Apart from being an intensifier, used at your leisure, the prefix ma- often finds its home in places where the intense use of affix would cause the same affix to start.

An example of this is found in the word 'log': The elves would consider a log 'part of a tree' thus 'part of a part of the forest'. However, talitaliame is NOT a correct word to use in Elven.

Instead, the second tali is implied by the use of the intesifier. Thus:

mataliame: Log

If used in an event where a repeated suffix is used, ma- is placed after the seed word, but before the suffix one wishes to repeat.

Interestingly enough, ma- is one of the rare affixes that does stack on certain occasions, as seen in the word marmatelu.





-onn:

This word is much like tali, in that it can be used to further define a certain word, as well as be used to create a noun of it's own. Also like tali, the inclusion of an apostrophe in a confusing case will imply the speaker is meaning to talk of multiple words.

An example:

ame'onn: Born of the Forest, from the forest.
amonn: wood

The suffix will create a myriad of new words for the advanced speaker. Study of its usage will surely be beneficial.


fer:

grammatically, nothing is strange about this word. However, its uses in combinations are so numerous that a separate section may be devoted to it.

fer'ame: Axe
fer'thuln: Pickaxe
fer'nor: shovel
fer'sul: torch
fer'bilok: hammer
fer'norsae: hoe

fer'puer: quill. Pen. A tool for writing.

 

fer'llyth: weapon

 

 

fer'len/fer'lenniel: instrument

Other uses can be thought up by the cunning mind. However, bear in mind that the word fer is mostly used to speak of handheld tools, not of crafting tables, anvils or furnaces.

 

 

an*h- (a/o/i/e/u):

By adding one these five vowels into the place of the asterisk the prefix takes on a new usage. This prefix gains many new meanings when combined with other affixes and relies heavily on context. Sentence order is especially important when using this prefix multiple times.

 

Elan*h [a/o/i/e]: North, South, East and West respectively.
anh'sae: expanding, stretching - replacing the apostrophe with a vowel specifies in which direction.
an*h il'an*h: - refers to a diagonal path, defined by the vowel used.

ELVEN GRAMMAR

Sentence Order: The common order of elvish sentences is Subject-object-verb.


Plural nouns: indicated by the suffix -an.


The apostrophe: Used in certain cases and possibly dictates a certain pronunciation.
Current known uses are:

• Denoting certain honorifics (such as sainted)
• Between a modifier and a verb
• Between a word and its suffixes (more on this below).
• With the word 'eyha' (and) to connect sentences and and in terms of a list.

 

 

 

Use of affixes: This has shown to be a very important factor in Elven language. Elves, tend to use multiple affixes to further define their nouns and verbs, rather than using separate words. For these, the following rules exist:

 

 

 

• Most affixes seems to have two forms, depending on wether or not the word it relates to ends or begins with a vowel
• Suffixes often get added with an apostrophe between it and the word.
• If a word has multiple suffixes, there will only be an apostrophe between the full word and its last suffix. The priority in ordering the suffixes remains unknown.
• If a suffix is seperated by the apostrophe, it inflects as if the last letter of the word it relates to was a consonant.

 

 

Recombination of words:
When one understands the heavy use of affixes and their combining to forge words, it is not surprising that the elves relied on a dictionary where this recombination was prevalent in creating new words. Their core words were little, but their abundant use of affixes and linking words still allowed them to describe nearly anything under the sun.

Examples of this are:

narn'vallei: travel'water -> swim
narn'acaele: travel'sky -> fly

par'karinah: Before the sunrise -> Dawn
par'ker: Before the sunset -> Dusk.

uvul'igne: Firepowder -> Ash
uvul'thrurn: Explosive powder -> Gunpowder

We also see this occuring a lot when the word tali is involved.

Many more examples may be discovered by the studious scholar soon. Take heed, however, that any particular combination, while perhaps comprehensible, may not be correct. The language of nature seems very particular on what words may coexist in harmony.


Affiliation: The suffix 'leh (note the apostrophe) designates affiliation, the possession of the object by the subject.
Note: If no object is present, the suffix is implied to mean something similar to 'lives' or 'spirit'. However, it is not placed in translation
Ex: part of a common farewell 'kaean'leh evareh', means 'may (it) protect our spirit' literally, but is translated to 'may (it) protect us'.



Known inflections of the elven verbs:

In this section, the dash indicates the stem of the word.

 

 

• -e: First person singular
• -a: Second person singular
• -e: Third person singular
• -ae: First person plural
• -an: second person plural
• -eyae: Third person plural
• -eh: Optative singular
• -erih: Optative plural
  The optative inflection changes slightly depending on the ending letters of a verb. Most verbs end in -er, but if one ends in -ar the plural inflection of the optative becomes -arih ( the -ar- syllable is not repeated!). A verb ending in -h will have the -h- replaced by the full inflection of the optative (thus eth becoming eteh and eterih. Other irregular verbs have the inflection simply added to the end.
• The stem of a verb functions as a singular imperative.
• The stem of a verb used as a suffix to a noun (apostrophe where required) is a modifier
• The optative serves as a wish ('may' + verb) in most cases. However, adding the negative (-ne) affix after the verb indicates the lack of permission.

 

Pronouns as a subject:
A pronoun is usually not used to denote the subject of a word, as the inflection of the verb itself would usually denote in which person the verb is denoted. However, on occasion a rather critical ambiguity may arise, like in the following example:

ame ignere: The forest burns.

Should we 'assume' a pronoun here, we can suggest that this sentence may also be translated as 'I burn the forest' or even 'he burns the forest'. This ambiguity is too serious to ignore, and therefore we are expected to place another pronoun here as the subject if we wish to denote an action like such:

kae ame ignere: I burn the forest.

Know that a pronoun used as a subject alone never gains the suffix 'leh' (this is possible when it is an object, making the implied translation "spirit".)

Infinitive:
An infinitive can be made by tying two verbs together with an apostrophe and adding an 'o' ('or-') prefix to the second verb (the infinitive). The first verb is usually the assisting verb (possibilities include can, must, will) and needs to be only the stem. The infinitive verb receives the inflections similar to the way to a simple, single verbed sentence would.

By Example:

ito ame ern'onarna: You can travel to the woods

An infinitve can also occur without an assisting verb. In this case, you shall add an o prefix to the verb, but no inflection. An example of this:

ito ame onarn: to travel to the woods.

Take note that the infinitive must not be used to express a wish, as only the optative form may serve this purpose.

Past and future tense:

To create a past or future tense, we first need to take notice to the time of day. The words an elf uses for tenses depends on whether it's day or night at the time of speaking.

For a past or future tense, we add one of these four words at the very end of a sentence:

karin'ento: next sunrise
karin'ante: last sunrise
ker'ento: next sunset
ker'ante: last sunset

Though elves have taken to shortening this to karinto, karinte, kento and kente in more casual speech.

If it is night, we use ker'ante for past, and karin'ento for future tense.
If it is day, we use karin'ante for past, and ker'ento for future tense.

This remains true even if the time period one wishes to denote is more than one sunset or sunrise from the time of speaking.




The verbs 'to be' and 'to have'
Before reading this, you might find it beneficial to have read about the word 'ito' in the 'CURIOUS WORDS' section.

Note that:
ito kae: To him / on him
ito kae'leh: To his spirit / on his spirit ('spirit' being implied)

Now, should we place a noun in front of this:
mali ito kae: An elf to him. -In elvish, this is the equivalent of 'He has an elf'.
mali ito kae'leh: An elf to his spirit. The equivalent of 'He is an elf'.

It becomes easy to mix these meanings up. After all, kae'leh is the possessive form and seems the logical candidate for the verb 'to have'.
However, the implied addition of 'spirit' is very important here. Elves speak of their spirit, or essence, as something deeply intimate. When something belongs to you as a person, you have it. But when something belongs to your essence, you are it.



CAPITALIZATION

Elves do not capitalize the word at the beginning of a sentence the way we do in common. Instead, only on a select few occasions are words capitalized, namely:

 

• Names (of persons, places, titles)
• Races (Mali, Valah, etc.)
• Objects of worship (Usul, Velulaei), even when the word's not used to denote the divine being tied to the object
• When denoting aspects of nature (such as Vuln being the aspect fox.)
• Words of significant concepts are sometimes capitalized, such as 'lye', 'talar', 'acaele' and 'tuva'

 

ELVEN FAMILY WORDS

 

Elves value there bloodlines greatly, though do not have individual root words to denote most family relations. Most ways to identify familial relations involve adding suffices and affixes to words.

 

Common words to denote family relations are:

 

haelun: mother

maln: father

mar’haelun: grandmother
mar’maln: grandfather

malii’mal: son (elven son, for other races use that root)
malii’lari: daughter (elven daughter, for other races use that root)
mal’onn: brother
lari’onn: sister
marmal’onn: uncle
marlari’onn: aunt
malii’malonn: nephew
malii’larionn: niece
mal’maronn: cousin (male)
lari’maronn: cousin (female)
 

ELVEN COUNTING

Elves, while their numerical system remains a subject of discussion, were able to write numbers 'in full' like we are. That is to say, they could name numbers of any size in regular conversation.

An Elven number, when expressed in full, consists of multiple words. Each word represents an order of magnitude. They were written in descending order, meaning the largest part of the number came first.

Elves had words for the numbers one to ten, and words for a hundred, a thousand, and so on. To denote multiples of hundred, they would take a number from one to ten, and put it in front of a word denoting an order of magnitude, linking the two with an apostrophe.

Discovered words for elven numbers are as follows:

1: oem
2: niut
3: hael
4: vailu
5: kulin
6: banih
7: laier
8: esun
9: moiel

10: telu
100: matelu [ma-(mar-) a preffix for 'very']
1000: marmatelu



CONVENTIONS OF THE ELVEN LANGUAGE

The elven tongue was almost exclusively spoken. Evidence for this is found in the ruins of Inwe, where the writings of early Dark Elves were in an ancient dialect of the common tongue. The most often used elven words in writing are names such as Mali'nor (now Malinor) and Velulaei.

Whatever caused the language to change so drastically through the ages is not known, but is especially remarkable due to the long lives of elves, which would presumably make evolution of a language go much slower. It is suggested that a taboo on elvish was enforced, though why and by who remains unknown.

It has been rumored that elvish was also the language of nature, which the elves either learned through study or was taught to them by certain deities. They then had the power to converse with nature directly, allowing them to guide the growth of trees and migration of animals as if by magic. If this were true, elvish, assuming someone was capable of mastering the long-forgotten cadence of the words, would be a very potent language indeed.

[Sporadic 2799]

The following is OOC:

So yes, the above post contains metagaming. It was the only way I could convey all of the work nanatsuno has shared with us so far. Also, the bulk of this dictionary is accredited to nanatsuno, except for a single phrase of Tolkien elvish (I don't know why people insist on using this.. oh yeah... 'lord of the craft') used by Ezareth and the work of the Arcaeologists of Aegis (which amounts for one word).

It should be noted that nanatsuno's part is inspired by existing languages:

It is loosely based on some asian languages (mostly japanese) grammatically and structurally, on many other languages (from welsh to russian all over europe) phonetically. But almost all separate words aren't presented in earth languages as far as I know.

I have been puzzling to make his grammar and structure make sense, and it's proving difficult, but I did my best. I also added a few meanings and 'unusual conventions' (nothing major) to make the language seem more foreign and exotic, which should help immersion a bit.

The point of this thread isn't that I make up a language of my own. It is for everyone that likes immersion to contribute to, so that we may have better immersion, but also a peer-checked reference that will prevent twenty different types of elvish running together.

So, if you think your character knows some elvish, and you think it'll fit with what we already have presented here (which for convenience's sake may be accepted as official lore, as Availer seemed encouraging towards nanatsuno's original work: http://www.lordofthecraft.net/forum/index.php?/topic/8746-elven-roleplay-phrases/), then please reply here.

[Solan (Elite117) 82]

Excellent work Scholar! It is good to see that Mr. Aerin Lissar's vision of a rebuilt elven language has not been lost.

[Durzio 29]

this is great work! although

im not sure if i appriciate

...the writings of primitive Dark Elves were in an ancient...

dark elves have never been any more or less intelligent than the average wood or high elf.

we certainly werent scratching words onto cave walls like simpletons,we simply chose to adorn our homes with words that carried meaning and power to us.this might fit better,in my opinion:

...the writings of early Dark Elves were in an ancient...

other than that i have no complaints,i think ill start using the words for various races in RP,and maybe at some point in the future,ill contribute :D

[VonEbs 1224]

I helped with the excavation at Inwe, and wgat he meant by primitive was not insulting, it just meant that it was a long time ago.

[Durzio 29]

I helped with the excavation at Inwe, and wgat he meant by primitive was not insulting, it just meant that it was a long time ago.

i understand,which i why i suggest the word early,it seems to easy to take more than one meaning from the word "primative".early seems much more clear cut.

[Sporadic 2799]

i understand,which i why i suggest the word early,it seems to easy to take more than one meaning from the word "primative".early seems much more clear cut.

How one would see anything but admiration for the ancient Elven culture from these scriptures is utterly baffling. But ah, to argue is to waste time better spend on more pressing matters. I comply with your revision.

[Durzio 29]

How one would see anything but admiration for the ancient Elven culture from these scriptures is utterly baffling. But ah, to argue is to waste time better spend on more pressing matters. I comply with your revision.

i thank you,

[Elindor 654]

OOC:Been struggling to bounce between posts. There's more on the original post by Sting than what is here. Could you please update this post to include a whole bunch more words and phrases that have already been assembled, many by yourself. I'm chasing a comprehensive guide to elvish that I don't have to have 2 browsers open to use.

Would like to suggest a few things. Take it or leave it, but as in character I've been trying to adopt using ancient elven words, there's some that I would find useful.

Vileyah: Respectful noun for woman. For ladies of nobility or dear friends.

Hiylu'evar: Traditional greeting. Doubles as a blessing with the assumption that the receiver has been kept healthy in body and spirit.

Sirame (with rolling 'r'): Honour and connection to the forest. It is unwise to offend an elf's sirame.

Hileia: peace

I'm also having a little trouble piecing together sentences. Would this be correct.

omenta'lye tenna ento ame nae'leh evareh

meaning Until next we meet may the forest protect your spirit

[Mechawolf 2]

[Has anyone tried pronouncing these? I'm trying to and might just post videos/black audio videos on my different pronunciation on these words. I'm of course trying to speak these in sentences too. Though easily confused after a few words. XD]

[Sporadic 2799]

OOC:Been struggling to bounce between posts. There's more on the original post by Sting than what is here. Could you please update this post to include a whole bunch more words and phrases that have already been assembled, many by yourself. I'm chasing a comprehensive guide to elvish that I don't have to have 2 browsers open to use.

The point is, Sting's post contains Tolkien's elvish, which we purposely refrain from using here since it clashes with the works of nanatsuno, who has created the original LotC elvish. We try to create an original language here, from which we only have pieces.

(Yeah, I have a few words from Tolkien, and there'll probably be some more of them as we progress, but I try not to copy it directly.)

Would like to suggest a few things. Take it or leave it, but as in character I've been trying to adopt using ancient elven words, there's some that I would find useful.

Vileyah: Respectful noun for woman. For ladies of nobility or dear friends.

Hiylu'evar: Traditional greeting. Doubles as a blessing with the assumption that the receiver has been kept healthy in body and spirit.

Sirame (with rolling 'r'): Honour and connection to the forest. It is unwise to offend an elf's sirame.

Hileia: peace

Ah, thank you very much. It was contributions like this I was looking for :)

I will try to implement this into the original language as I have time. I warn you in advance, though, that I won't add every word due to consistency reasons. Once I implement it, I'll be glad to answer PMs about why some contributions weren't chosen.

I'm also having a little trouble piecing together sentences. Would this be correct.

omenta'lye tenna ento ame nae'leh evareh

meaning Until next we meet may the forest protect your spirit

Nanatsuno has stated:

"Ame nae'leh evareh" - "May the forest protect you".

'Spirit' is implied and need not be directly translated. It's there for grammatical reasons (nae'leh is a possessive tense, it's used in this sentence but there's no noun to possess, hence the implied 'spirit')

But yes, this sentence is correct :)

[Has anyone tried pronouncing these? I'm trying to and might just post videos/black audio videos on my different pronunciation on these words. I'm of course trying to speak these in sentences too. Though easily confused after a few words. XD]

Oh wow, well that would be a cool contribution. However, the point is that the pronunciation of the elvish language is lost to all but a select few, who guard it jealously.

The lore reason for this is that the Elven language is the language of nature. Elves used it to speak directly to trees and animals, which is the root of their potent magics. The OOC reason is because I don't want to have to worry about pronunciation as well ;) (grammar is tough enough).

[Elindor 654]

I think a huge help would be in understanding sentence structures. I beleive that the first word is normally the subject...? and the last word is the ownership...? And somewhere in there is a connection between the owner and the subject.

i.e. That dog has a puffy tail: Puffy tail has that dog

Its not like yoda, it just might appear a bit that way.

[Durzio 29]

((I would really like to see the vocabulary fleshed out,Id like to help with this.if there's a word that doesn't exist,do I just make up a word that sounds elvish? What syllables do they favor? [such as English favoring R's S's and E's] what is the common stressing of syllables? [English tends to stress the first syllable] all of these will help me create words that fit,and it makes pronunciation a lot easier

Like the word for moon

Velulaei

It looks to me like the stress is on the second syllable

Which would make it pronounced phoneticaly as

veh-LU-lie

If that's correct then maybe there is a trend for stress On the second syllable? Things like this help make better words,and make it easier for others to read.

And then grammar structure is an entire other story lol >.< ))

[Sporadic 2799]

I think a huge help would be in understanding sentence structures. I beleive that the first word is normally the subject...? and the last word is the ownership...? And somewhere in there is a connection between the owner and the subject.

i.e. That dog has a puffy tail: Puffy tail has that dog

Its not like yoda, it just might appear a bit that way.

Structurally, the language is like japanese (as per nanatsuno). This means subject-object-verb, or 'that dog fluffy tail has'. I see no reason not to keep this.

((I would really like to see the vocabulary fleshed out,Id like to help with this.if there's a word that doesn't exist,do I just make up a word that sounds elvish? What syllables do they favor? [such as English favoring R's S's and E's] what is the common stressing of syllables? [English tends to stress the first syllable] all of these will help me create words that fit,and it makes pronunciation a lot easier

Like the word for moon

Velulaei

It looks to me like the stress is on the second syllable

Which would make it pronounced phoneticaly as

veh-LU-lie

If that's correct then maybe there is a trend for stress On the second syllable? Things like this help make better words,and make it easier for others to read.

And then grammar structure is an entire other story lol >.< ))

You can suggest words as you see fit and this will be heartily welcomed. If possible, you can cleverly derive words from existing things. Possibly nanatsuno did the same, as illustrated by this quote:

Uruk, ancient Sumerian city...Sumer...desert...orcs...that's sooo fitting!

Bortu, gemgrade and quality of diamond...rough and gritty...dwarves!

Valah, is that a referance to Walha/vlach? Valah becoming a exonym the elves use for humans?

Of course, you don't have to be a walking encyclopedia to come up with words, but deriving them from something can be good inspiration and add this twinge of recognition to readers.

I made Velulaei myself. It's a contraction from 'Velut Luna', the second line of the well-known 'O Fortuna' poem. For those who never studied latin, it means 'like the moon'. Hence being the name for a moon goddess. However, I always imagined it is pronounced veluLAEI, placing stress on the third syllable.

But as I said, I try not to worry about pronunciation. It is 'too difficult for modern mortals to understand'. Your character will probably mispronounce it if they want to use elvish IG, but nobody will be able to tell IC or OOC.

[VonEbs 1224]

Well, I am planning on using "Thavor" for my family name, and I though it is borrowed from D&D, it means woodpecker.