#jarhof lón

[pourol-of-givraines]

Day 2: The Translator

With the huge, empty book before me, the size of my task had become a little daunting. I decided to make some enquiries about who was a fellow scholar I could talk to about the study of Tajlen. Of those currently living on peak Jarhof, a fellow called Kurhef Ihmont had recently set up rooms in a fishing hut outside the walls to translate some sacred Dualist tablets into the contemporary.

The Kurhef (which I learned is a title of respect, roughly meaning 'elder') was to be found in a hut by one of the fishing lakes outside town, amidst workshops full of people either mending their nets or grinding acorns in the morning mist.

I found Ihmont inside the hut, rushing about sorting piles of stone slabs being carried in by some cheerful kids. The heavy, chiseled tablets required four of them to lift one off a horsecart and deposit it atop or beside the others, slowly filling the small space. Looked like they were only just getting moved in.

Ihmont looked instantly fascinated to see me, who was clearly from far away. In really quite good Olvidois, they peppered me with questions and showed the same unfocused enthusiasm about my story as I had seen them apply to the sorting of their tablets before. They were very excited to hear about my lexicon project and said they'd be extremely willing to help, but having only arrived recently with all this precious luggage, it was all still taking a while to set up. Naturally, I asked whether I could be of any assistance.

Dear reader, negotiating the purchase of nails and planks to put up some shelves in a foreign language is more difficult than you might expect. First order of business was noting down aidik 'nail, bolt' and dojfalt 'plank, piece of wood'. Starting to notice ai- popping up a lot in words for little round stuff.

Speaking to the locals in the mix of languages I've come to expect from most of the residents here, I learned that Ihmont hadn't been here for as little time as I had thought. They had left the big capital city on Tajlen-lón a year ago and lived with various fishing families around this area before recently building the hut I had visited in the morning to move permanently. Tired of responsibilities, Ihmont had chosen to live the rest of their life doing just the work they wanted to do and spreading its joy.

What exactly the locals were juding Ihmont by while telling me this story , I couldn't determine. The most basic of cultural principles are usually not really talked about, simply because they seem so basic to their havers that they never really think about them. Listening to them, you'd think the erstwhile genius and top diplomatic official in the capital had been reduced to a pottering nitwit. Let a man retire. A phrase of a level I am now apparently just about able to understand did stay with me, just because the grammar was fascinating. They said, 'I don't know how this great mind can be so fragile.'

– Yli en tasfalt bjot spolbjimara sakon, lö freilanbyren. Took a nap after transcribing that.

Setting up the shelves turned out a lot easier than bartering for them. Working together, Ihmont explained about their project and about their understanding of the development of the Tajlen language and was especially helpful in pointing out some dialect-related details to the local vocabulary. They said they would still be talking a few days to set up properly, but invited me to come by again as soon as they had really got back into work. From what I understood, they especially had a lot of thoughts about cultural terms to talk about with an outsider. Definitely the speaker with the most diverse Tajlen vocabulary I have met so far. Time for a drink.

Day 2 Tajlen lexicon

dojfalt - n.syn. plank, manmade piece of wood.

aidik - n.syn. nail, bolt. ai- + dik

tasfalt - n. mind, imagination, 腦洞.

spolbjimara - adj. breakable, fragile. see spolyra.

Kurhef - n.nat. respectful title for elders or superiors.

soraidu - n.nat. acorn. sór + aidu

orhof - n.syn. fishing net. ori + hóf

[pourol-of-givraines]

Day 1: Da khet Kroken

Heri's gone off to report on the long mission trip. May be a few days, so she paid our room at the inn for a week ahead with seven silver coins (pohkai bhildik syka).

Poured beer all over the last bits of parchment I had brought with me. My first venture then was an unplanned one onto a market street to find some paper I could write on. After almost falling into the canal on two occasions, I stumbled into a stone building with a massive eagle's feather quill (milu) painted on the door.

I clumsily greeted the figure having tea inside with the farewell words mjált fondbji. They smiled and, probably very slowly on purpose:

– Jomi enhun saira lhai?

What do you need... Oh boy. I first made a square with my hands and then mimed writing.

– Ky amakbji ibör..?, I do writing... Best I could do.

I mimed a square again.

– Karet?, they lifted up a sheet of parchment. Must mean paper.

– Bjot, bjot! Enhun saira karet... ah, kharet.

– Mia... khet rhúl? Enhun sai mhisan rúl, mista?

Visan? Could be a form of nisan, bisan or misan, not that I knew what any of those meant or if they were words. They must have noticed.

– Ket..., one finger in the air, Miiiiiiiisan. Both hands, one foot apart.

Lots and lots of karet! I couldn't manage more than a vigorous nodding. They pulled open a drawer filled with sheets of parchment and also produced a bound notebook from a shelf.

– Misan rúl lö, sjulo lö? I knew this next one.

– Sjulo, tasbyr!, the next one was a complete guess, reibbyr misan?

'How much do I pay?' Hah! Acquired and applied in the same minute.

Notebook purchased and quill sharpened, I now sit back in the downstairs pub and have noted the first two entries of my fresh diary. The barkeep here visits a calligraphy club once a week and was able to give me a few hints for the following lexicon entries.

Day 1 Tajlen lexicon

misan - adj/det. much, many. see lai for usage in questions.

karet - n.syn. paper, parchment.

sjulo - n.syn. bound book.

bjot - interj. Yes!

milu - n.nat. feather, quill.

bildik - n.syn. silver. bíl+dík.

syka - n.syn. coin. likely a Seilian borrowing.

ijyrdran - n.syn. shop, store. ijyr+drán.

[pourol-of-givraines]

Day 0 - Arrival on the First Peak

I fell in love with a stranger. We fell in each other's love. Heri is a missionary from the mountains, I am a learned young man from Givraines, on the lake's south bank. With many sciences learned of and many libraries visited, I was in search of a passion in whose study I can put pen to paper as long as I live. Heri is one, their language is another. Upon their call back to the temple on Peak Jarhof (Jarhof-lón), I decided to come along and begin my journey of learning and documenting the tongue of their people.

After the countless adventures and encounters it has taken us to reach the mountains they call home, we are certainly no longer strangers. The trials it has taken us to come this far would deserve their own book should I ever find the time, but they have consumed me so far that I have barely had time to fully understand the grammar and basic vocabulary of the language they here call Tajlen.

I look out of my window at a city of stone, full of those who speak and more importantly live this language. This diary will attest my lexicographical adventures, now we have arrived in the land of the dernai.

foundational formalities in Tajlen

jöhk sojmi - a warm wind to you. a formal greeting and farewell.

jom - a call to a friend. also consider the vocative -(j)a: Herija!

saikroki mia lö - meaning to be established. a general greeting.

mjált fondbji - a good going (to you). a general farewell.

tasbyr - (I/We) thank you. see tasbyra.

éolt skokbyr - I love (you) a lot. see skokyra.

[pourol-of-givraines]

Foreword

Welcome, reader, to the diary of Pourol of Givraines. Traveling scholar and amateur lexicographer, recently arrived on Jarhof-lón and ambitious to study and publish works on the language of the dernai.

As I write of the process of my own learning and comprehension, a guarantee be expressed that these pages will contain many errors, all attributable to myself.

I will strive to be comprehensive and chronological in my tales. The memories of my journey to this place and I am certain the future impressions it will make upon me are such that this may not always be possible.

The main entries to this diary will be followed by the new entries of that day to my Tajlen lexicon. I presume occasional own thoughts about certain words or other fascinating details will also spring up. Enjoy.