Friday, December 25, 2020

Kílta Lexember 25: ësta "gift"

Kílta has two separate roots for give, one when the recipient is the first person (me, us), one when the recipient is the non-first person (you, him, her, it, them). When terms are derived from a give word, though, the non-first person recipient one, ëcho, is the one used.

ësta /ˈəs.ta/ gift, present; bribe < ëcho give + -ta nominalizer (with some sound changes)

Emanur në rëtu ëstur si niëmo.
child.PL TOP much.PL gift.PL ACC receive.PFV
The children got many presents.

The usual give verbs, ëcho and tiro, can be used for giving a gift, but the light verb expression ësta si salko (lit., "put/place a gift"), is also regularly used, especially if the gift is not a physical object. With dative for recipient, ablative for the gift.

Ha në ël kë vúkur si ësta si salko.
1SG TOP 3SG DAT silver.PL ACC gift ACC put.PFV
I gave her some money (as a gift)

The adjective luikin heavy is used for a big gift that possibly incurs reciprocal social obligation, and lapin empty for a "small token," a minor gift.

Given the appropriate context, ësta also means a bribe.

Válekos në ëstur së si niëmirë hír.
sinecure-holder TOP gift.PL also ACC receive.IPFV PTCL
The sinecure-holder was of course also taking bribes.

The clause-final particle hír indicates that the statement follows naturally from what has come before.

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Kílta Lexember 24: sussorë "woolgathering, abstracted, absorbed"

A simple but useful adverb today:

sussorë /susˈso.ɾə/ woolgathering, abstracted, absorbed, no etymology

This is almost always used with a posture verb (sit, stand, lie, hang), whether as a predicate or an attribute.

Ton në huchë sussorë sunko tul?
2SG TOP again wollgathering stand.PFV Q
Are you woolgathering again?

Ha në sussorë rinërin mauta si auttët, auníta si chaso.
1SG TOP wollgathering sit.PCPL.PFV cat ACC touch.CVB.PFV, startle ACC do.PFV
I touched the abstracted cat and startled him.

Kílta uses participles for things like relative clauses, "the cat that was woolgathering."

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Kílta Lexember 23: lurusanil "parasite"

Another charming word today:

lurusanil /lu.ɾuˈsæ.nil/ parasite < lur breath, "energy" + sano eat + -il agent noun 

The breath, lur, in Kílta is also used idiomatically to refer to one's personal energy. Usually this is for the personal feeling, but I've grabbed it here for a more general sense.

Maras në lurusanilá si kacho tul?
kitten TOP parasite.PL ACC suffer.PFV Q
Does the kitten have parasites?

Kílta prefers kacho suffer to possession when referring to parasite infestation.

The adjective is lurusanohin parasitic.

Lurusanohin ús mácha si chuvët, akkalët, errelo.
lurusanohin ús mácha si chuv-ët, akkal-ët, er-rel-o
parasitic wasp spider ACC hunt-CVB.PFV, capture-CVB.PFV, TRANS-carry-PFV
A parasitic wasp hunted, captured, and carried away a spider.

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Kílta Lexember 22: mënsekwa "restroom"

More household vocabulary today:

mënsekwa /mənˈse.kʷa/ restroom, bathroom < mënso wash, clean + -e/ikwa room/building suffix

An altogether transparent derivation.

The verb nuto means impel, urge, set in motion. It's used in the detransitive form, with a middle-like sense, to express the need to visit a restroom:

Ha në mënsekwa mai nutiso.
ha në mënsekwa mai nut-is-irë
1SG TOP restroom LAT impel-DETR-IPFV
I have to go to the bathroom.

In normal daily usage, absent other context, just nutiso by itself means the same thing.

Monday, December 21, 2020

Kílta Lexember 21: kwailëmës "sadist"

Kílta has a family of derivations centered on -ëmës "caretaker, cultivator." The word for doctor (or veterinarian) is esëmës, from es health. Today's words start with that:

kwailëmës /kʷaɪ̯ˈlə.məs/ sadist < kwailo hurt + -ëmës "caretaker" derivation

Kwailëmësá útan si ontirë.
sadist.PL matter ACC conduct.IPFV
Sadists are running things.

The light verb expression útan si onto is a fixed idiom meaning "run things."

The standard adjective derivation for -ëmës nouns is -ëmarin. For both the noun and the adjective form, the intensifier word is ívin (adv. ívui) savage.

Ívui kwailëmarin íhamal si ruiso.
savagely sadistic law ACC bind.PFV
They passed a deeply sadistic law.

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Kílta Lexember 20: kuima "snail"

I realized that I didn't have a word for snail, which, I'll admit, isn't a word I use a lot, but sometimes you need to translate a conlanging meme.

kuima /kuˈi.ma/ snail, no etymology

Kuimur rëtu sotur së ën tuimata nen vëcho.
snail.PL many kind.PL also this swamp LOC remain.PFV
Many kinds of snail live in this swamp.

A word I do use more often, however, is slug, which is just lapin kuima a naked snail.

Lapu kuimur në ekiccha si sanár vëcho vukai!
naked.PL snail.PL TOP cabbage ACC eat.CVB.IPFV remain.PFV PTCL
The slugs keep eating the cabbage!

A converb + vëcho is a light verb expression that means continue to, keep on, etc. The post-verbal particle vukai indicates the speaker's displeasure about the situation. 

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Kílta Lexember 19: ósa "form, shape"

More from my terrible backlog:

ósa /ˈoː.sa/ shape, form < onna build, fashion + -sa a "non-productive" nominalizer

This takes the attributive/possessive particle  to indicate a particular shape, and prefers vurpin what kind of to just plain vurin which when asking about shape.

Ën mika vë ósa në uchin no.
this stone ATTR shape TOP strange be.PFV
The shape of this stone is peculiar.

Like many attributes, it is carried rather than simply had,

Mium në vurpin ósa si relo?
toy TOP what.kind.of form ACC bear.IPFV
What's the toy's shape?

I've decided to push on the meaning a bit for a few compounds to refer to states of matter. I almost never talk about that, but since I'm here and the idea occurred to me, I might as well add them:

ahëkósa - gas ("wind-shape")
matusósa - liquid ("water-shape")
saispósa - solid ("wood-shape," where wood is often "matter")
luëkusósa - plasma ("fire-shape")

I am not going to worry about Bose-Einstein Condensates for now.

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