Tag: Direction

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jānnien

jaannien

jānnien

the East.

The second sentence of the Babel text:

il ñatta jarēþa rūānnie il ñatta jamāesa japōññe sū jekiēn xīnār il aþ ñatta āke jamāramma;

contains the word rūānnie which is rū– + ānnie, the stem for “east”. rūānnie therefore means “from the east” and rā– + ānnie or rānnie means “to the east”. There is also sū– + ānnie for “at/in the east” but the form is sūānnien with a final –n like the singular noun jānnien. All the compass direction words follow this pattern more or less. The final –n is akin to the -(e)n suffix used with clan names when they are turned into stative nouns.

The word occurs in the first clause of the second sentence. The clause is ñatta jarēþa rūānnie. ñatta is the relational ñi inflected for a 3rd person paucal (or collective in this usage) agent. jarēþa is a singular noun that means “journey”. So the first clause can be translated as “they made a journey from the east”.

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ansīrien

ansiirien

ansīrien

of the North. This word is derived from the root –sīr– which means “dry”.

Of our two characters in the story, one is the North Wind, mūrāna masīrien and the other is the Sun malō. I covered the word for wind, usually inanimate, earlier, and the word for sun, always animate, shortly after that.

se mūrāna masīrien; se malō;
The North Wind; the Sun.

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āñ, rājāñ, & rūjāñ

aanj

āñ

The modifier āñ is related to the word jāña, “middle”, So, āñ generally concerns itself with middle-ness. Combined with the directional prepositions, rā and rū, the concept becomes less clear. For example, rā NP āñ means, predictably, into the middle of NP or amid/amidst/among NP. If the NP is a large area, however, it can mean throughout NP. rū NP āñ, in contrast, means around NP or surrounding NP. So, with rā, āñ denotes a space (NP) and the thing spoken of is inside that space, not near an edge, and possibly in multiple spots inside that space. With rū, āñ again denotes a space (NP), but now the thing spoken of is specifically not inside that space, but rather outside of it, at multiple spots outside of it.

raajaanj

rājāñ

rājāñ is rā NP āñ without a specified location, and so means ‘to the middle’, ‘to among’, or ‘throughout’.

ruujaanj

rūjāñ

Likewise rūjāñ is rū NP āñ without a specified location, and so means ‘surrounding’ or ‘around’.

Examples:

ñamma sāim makkepōlien rā anmārwi āñ pēxa
They became scattered throughout the world.
[pēxa is there for emphasis]

ñi sāim rū sāen āñ;
They gathered around him.

Note: That’s it for motion and direction, for now anyway. Feel free to ask questions about anything I didn’t cover. Next up, kinship and clan words, for a bit. After that, I’m not sure. Leave me a suggestion.

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ālme, rājālme, & rūjālme

aalme

ālme

The modifier ālme is related to the noun jālme, which means ‘ford, crossing’. So the central definition of ālme denotes crossing something long and narrow from one side to the other, very much like ‘across’. ālme has expanded its range to include crossing any area, from one side of the area to the other side of the area. One border to the area must also be crossed. So one can start inside the area (at the edge, but inside) and cross to outside the area, or from outside the area to the opposite inside edge of the area, or from outside the area through the area and across the next border to outside the area again.

rā NP ālme is across NP and rū NP ālme is from across NP.

raajaalme

rājālme

rājālme is rā NP ālme without a specified location, and so means ‘across’.

ruujaalme
rūjālme

Likewise rūjālme is rū NP ālme without a specified location, and so means ‘from across’.

ñi jahāþa rā jatōna ālme tō-kēñ;
Why did the “chicken” cross the road?

tō ñi rājakiē;
To get to the other side.

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kiē, rājakiē, & rūjakiē

kiee

kiē

The modifier kiē refers to the observer’s other side of something, so something behind something else. This makes kiē partially synonymous with īr. The difference is that kiē refers to the observer’s position, and īr does not. If something has an obvious back, then use īr, otherwise use kiē. So, rā NP kiē is to the other side of NP and rū NP kiē is from the other side of NP.

raajakiee

rājakiē

rājakiē is rā NP kiē without a specified location, and so means ‘to the other side’.

ruujakiee

rūjakiē

Likewise rūjakiē is rū NP kiē without a specified location, and so means ‘from the other side’.

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nū, rājanū, & rūjanū

nuu

nū

The modifier nū refers to the observer’s side of something, so something in front of something else. This makes nū partially synonymous with hāl. The difference is that nū refers to the observer’s position, and hāl does not. If something has an obvious front, then use hāl, otherwise use nū. So, rā NP nū is to this side of NP and rū NP nū is from this side of NP.

raajanuu

rājanū

rājanū is rā NP nū without a specified location, and so means ‘to this side’.

ruujanuu

rūjanū

Likewise rūjanū is rū NP nū without a specified location, and so means ‘from this side’.

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ēmma & rūjēmma

eemma

ēmma

The modifier ēmma refers to the outside of something. So, rū NP ēmma is from the outside of NP or out of NP. The expected expression rā NP ēmma is not used. The word ēmma is related to yesterday’s word mē.

ruujeemma

rūjēmma

Likewise rūjēmma is rū NP ēmma without a specified location, and so means ‘out’. The expected expression rājēmma is not used.

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mē & rājamē

mee

mē

The modifier mē refers to the inside of something. So, rā NP mē is into NP. The expected expression rū NP mē is not used.

raajamee

rājamē

rājamē is rā NP mē without a specified location, and so means ‘into’. The expected expression rūjamē is not used.

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tā, rājatā, & rūjatā

taa

tā

The modifier tā refers to the bottom of something. So, rā NP tā is to the bottom of NP or under NP and rū NP tā is from the bottom of NP.

raajataa

rājatā

rājatā is rā NP tā without a specified location, and so means ‘to the bottom’ or ‘under’.

ruujataa

rūjatā

Likewise rūjatā is rū NP tā without a specified location, and so means ‘from the bottom’ or ‘from under’.

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ōl, rājōl, & rūjōl

ool

ōl

The modifier ōl refers to the top of something. This is related to the word sōlle ‘head’. Rā NP ōl is to the top of NP or over NP and rū NP ōl is from the top of NP or from above NP.

raajool

rājōl

rājōl is rā NP ōl without a specified location, and so means ‘to the top’ or ‘over’.

ruujool

rūjōl

Likewise rūjōl is rū NP ōl without a specified location, and so means ‘from the top’ or ‘from above’.