Kílta Lexember 16: máchumórama "the middle of nowhere"

There was a recent /r/conlangs post about different language's ways of saying something like "the middle of nowhere." Some are a bit vulgar, and a lot involve animal, or the devil.

My old work office had a very boring view, but due to how the lighting worked at the building, I always had a few spider webs there, to catch the bugs attracted to the evening lighting. So, I had a very close view to the work of the spiders, and their battle with the wasps. I kept track of the spiders a bit in my conlang diary, as something to talk about other than the weather. In part because of this, Kílta has a proverb, a close translation of the Latin lupus est homo homini, man is wolf to man, that is, people prey on other people. In the Kílta, I've simply put spiders into the role of the wolf, kor në kor kë mácha no.

With spiders as wolves in mind, I decided my "middle of nowhere" phrase would involve them:

máchumórama /maː.tʃu.moːˈræ.ma/ (the) middle of nowhere < mácha spider + móro sing + -ama location derivation

So, "where the spiders sing." It is nicely alliterative.

Símur në ta si máchumórama nen vuttë onno?
3PL TOP this ACC middle.of.nowhere LOC why build.PFV
Why did they build this in the middle of nowhere?

An alternate, fuller, phrasing has even more alliteration:

Máchur mórátin ummul
spider.PL sing.PCPL.IPFV forest
the forest where the spiders sing

Kílta has contextually-oriented participles, which can take on a locative sense with place words.

Kílta Lexember 15: lapin líkkis "junk food"

A phrasal entry today, from words that already existed:

lapin líkkis junk food < lapin empty + líkkis food

Nothing too exotic here.

Ha në lapin líkkis si kwilë sanët, ichunëho hír.
1SG TOP empty food ACC too.much eat.CVB.PFV, feel.unsatisfied PTCL
I ate too much junk food and feel gross.

Ichunëho is defined as feel unsatisfied despite normal consumption. It can be used with non-food items, such as a book that didn't live up to expectations, but when used in reference to actual food it implies that not only are you not satisfied, you don't feel well.

The postverbal particle hír is used for narrative cohesion, and means something like as you'd expect. It is used more often in Kílta than I use as you'd expect in English.

Kílta Lexember 14: kiummin "spooky, eery"

And old one from my ever-growing list of words to create:

kiummin /kiˈum.min/ spooky, eery, creepy

It has no etymology.

I wanted a particular word to intensify this notion, beyond just very. Physical sensations are good place to go for this, so I went with inesui "icily."

Ummul në kinta kiummin no.
forest TOP night spooky be.PFV
At night the forest is spooky.

Eman në inesui kiummin máha si cholat máko më re.
child TOP icily creepy story ACC hear.INF want.PFV NEG PTCL
The child didn't want to hear a super creepy story.

I'm leaning toward making any statements about other people's internal state (mental or otherwise) require the particle re, which hedges it a bit.

Kiummin is a good match for topicalized infinitive clauses:

Ël tu si mítat në kiummin chaso.
3SG those ACC say.INF TOP spook do.PFV
It got spooky when she said that.

Kílta Lexember 13: issét "footpath, sidewalk"

Basic vocabulary again today:

issét /ˈis.seːt/ footpath, sidewalk < issa road, way + -ét lexical diminutive

Kílta has normal diminutives which can be used freely on anything, as well as fossilized diminutives which only occur as (non-productive) word derivation elements, sometimes without the non-diminutive root being used in the language at all.

Avur në issét nen erniënto.
avur në issét nen er-niënt-o
1PL TOP footpath nen TRANS-depart-PFV
We left on the footpath.

Uhítot si issét li úri avësso.
snow ACC sidewalk ABL just.now remove.PFV
I just removed snow from the sidewalk.

Kílta Lexember 12: chítas "regret, remorse"

Today's word has a modestly interesting etymology, but it kicked off a bunch of new polysemy for some adjectives:

chítas /ˈtʃiː․tas/ regret, remorse < chíto bite, chew + -as abstract nominalizer

Part of the motivation for this is that chíto also means sting when insects do it.

As is normal with emotion nouns, the verb relo bear, carry is used when one's experiencing it. I use the ablative li for the matter about which one has regrets, and the dative kë for a person who has been wronged.

Mannur në nirika li chítas si relo më.
3PL TOP war ABL regret ACC carry.PFV NEG
They don't regret the war.

Ëlá në atta kë chítas si relo.
3PL TOP father DAT regret ACC carry.PFV
They have regrets about their father.

Regrets have standard lexical collocations, generally adjectives, like: sincere, deep, etc., so I needed to cover that a bit. For a sincere regret, I just chose tásin true. That word is also used to mean something like equal to the task, which is more the sense I was drawing on here.

For other intensity terms I went back to the original meaning of chíto bite, and went with nútokin strong for deep regrets. Kwimin weak can mean mild regret, but more carries the sense of insincere regret. I'm not going to give examples of all of them, but one should give the flavor:

Nútokin chítas ël si sikwa mai nuto.
strong regret 3SG ACC house LAT impel.PFV
Deep regret(s) sent him home.

Nuto covers urge, set in motion, impel, etc.

Kílta Lexember 11: insen - "sink, basin"

More basic household vocabulary today:

insen /ˈin․sen/ sink, basin < in- augmentative + sen cup, bowl

This derivation is pretty transparent.

Insen mai manur si salki re.
sink LAT vegetable.PL ACC place.IMP PTCL
Put the vegetables in(to) the sink.

Imperatives are moderated with the particle re.

Insen si këspin mata li riëlainat no.
sink ACC hot water ABL fill.INF be.PFV
I'll fill the sink with hot water.

The simple future, INF + no, is practically confined to first person subjects, so the subject is unambiguous here. Also Kílta has separate temperature words for water and food. Mahin hot would be used for things or the weather.

Kílta Lexember 10: válekwa "sinecure"

Today I'm going a bit more specialized for Kílta, but still using the derivation I've used a previous post, the -i/ekwa room and building suffix:

válekwa /βaːˈle․kʷa/ sinecure < vál perquisite, privilege + -i/ekwa room, building suffix 

Here I'm using a common enough metonymy of a place for the things that go on there. In this case, it's referring to some sort of official position (possibly governmental, but it could be business, and probably organized crime) that someone has but for which they aren't expected to accomplish much if any work. The position exists to confer wealth and power.

Because it's derived from a location term, expressions with will tend to refer to that origin.

Sím në ronin válekwa nen úri vëchësto.
sím në ronin válekwa nen úri vëch-ëst-o
3SG TOP high sinecure LOC just.now remain-INCH-PFV
He just got a valuable sinecure.

The adjective ronin high is often associated with positions of power (again, a common enough conceptual metaphor). The verb vëcho means remain at the core, but is used for expressions meaning live, dwell.

One might also get kutta vë válekwa a vassal's sinecure, a valuable position that requires the continued patronage of some powerful figure. Any sinecure might be like this, but in this expression the position is precarious.

I still need to work out some nice phrasing for when someone is evicted from a sinecure.