Nanshilae

Base Nanshilae Common acceptable oyf toova adult meged adventure secoona adventurer secoonayt afraid pehood agile zerees alcohol aylcol all awl ally hoovaire'ray also gem although off And V' anger, wrath ath angry kaos animal kaya any oyzeh arm zeroe armed im neshet armor sheeryoona arrow hootz as kemoo assassin ra'tzay'rin aunt looda back (of torso) laav bad ras balance mayzen bandit goonva bartender bermen battle ray beautiful yoofeh beer birya behind (preposition) meleh big goodel blade lehev border ganool boring mishemeh both stay boy yeledel bow keeshen brave ement bright vehir brother ookt bush see But eval by, near ooleyad chest, container mik chest, torso toors child yeled comfortable naeen correct nookan Council Mithoeatzeth cousin vanloond Damn! Zoozah danger seeknah dangerous seeknalah dark hoosekh darkness hooseh danger sicanath dangerous sicanatheh daughter vat day yoom dew Tal drink stot dwarf, dwarven Karak eight shmoe either za oo za Elf (sing.), Elven Nanshi elven (language) Nanshilae ever laylom exciting rigooshah expensive yookar Fall stova family mespah fast moohar father oovu field Nan fire firia fish quitha five maysh food ookal for besvel forest Yeritath forsaken Karna four bah friend hoovaire friendly havera from M' fruit piriarn full of Sh' full Sha girl yeledela god, deity heem good toova goodbye oo'good'toova (short for "oohev goodel toova", i.e. Love well) gratitude, thanks dotah grove noritath hair sayr half hitzi hand yed happy naia haven, safe place cornath (implies an inside area) haven, safe place ranos (implies an outside area of fields) haven, safe place sha'l (implies an outside area of forest) He/She Loo/Lah healthy loobritah heart Cha her loah here foe hers shooloah Hey! ey! him loe his/its shooloe house of Thayt' house Thayt How Ayt human adom hungry riayva husband nanshileesh'oohevith I Eni if in in B' inner bina in the B'Le' journey lensoa keep (small castle) renathae Land of... T' (short for Tan') last ooharan leaf lonovan left (direction) smool less pihoot little (as in, "a little bit") kootzet long erooha Look out! sic! magic manaena magical manaenahat man (adult elven male) nanshileesh maybe/perhaps laylai me ni mine shooli missing oevard moon levena more ood most yootir mother aym mother-in-law aym'oohevith much/many hoormay neice vat'ookt (daughter of brother) neice vat'ooktan (daughter of sister) neither gem li nephew van'ookt (son of brother) nephew van'ooktan (son of sister) never naylom new hoodas next leebah night lieulia (pronounced LOO-lee-ah) nine taysh No li Nor nui now shav Oh no! li shav! OK! fen toova! old yur on ool once poam on the oolle one hod Or oo Orc vlook Order Sedera ours shoolu out hootz outer hootzeh passage aek pleasant, nice pelail poor aynee potion Leshtoneth powerful hezook quickly moohir raven oorayv rich aysheer right (direction) yemol road, i.e. way Der'ek of passage safe moog Sea Nir season zamin seven sheev shadow tzeleth shield megen short ketzir sick noleh sister ooktan six shaysh slow lot slowly lotet small kooten smart kokom snow shelega so cas something medoovar son van song sher spice zonoya Spring aviviya star kohav stranger gartha stronghold, castle gwenverae stupid toopaysh Summer kaytza sun Reth sword hareva tavern, inn faav ten esra than kemoo thank you dot'ooli, dotah shooli (my gratitude) that, which D' the Le' theirs shooloom them loom there shoom They Loom thing doovar thirsty tzoomah this za three loash time zemanath tired aiyef tourist teeyar town, -ton (like -eth (ending) English names haveEdmonTON) trade (noun) zvidurat traveler oollensoa tree etzeth two shta ugly moocoah uncle loond undead mooteran D'Lulecet (sing.) mooteranen D'Lulecetu (pl.) us lenu very mod watcher, guard shemath water maima way Dera We Nethnu weak hoolas weapon neshet Welcome Pelail What Meh When Mitayn Where Eyeh whether ayloo while b'zemanath' _____ Who Meen Why lima wife nanshileeshan'oohevith wind roo wine yeyin Winter hirefya with im woman (adult elven female) nanshileeshan wonderful naialah wrong sheg Yes fen yet bes you (pl) tem you ta young tooir yours (pl) shoolem yours shool

Base language

The elves of Avlis were created by a god named Dru'El. In his mortal life, he was a human who got instructions from the elven god Corellon Larethian on how to make elves when he became a god.

Dru'El was fascinated by the spirit population that used to inhabit Avlis before the time of the gods. Unfortunately, most (almost all) of them were wiped out in the battle between the nine gods and the evil Negerai invader god which nearly destroyed Avlis in the beginning. The population of spirits was low to begin with because even before the major deities ascended to godhood, the Negerai had gated in hoards of Ta'Nari which began to EAT the spirits. Smile

Still, Dru'El wanted the language of his elven people to be the same language that was once spoken by the benevolent nature spirits that inhabited the world. He made due with whatever fragments could be found and filled in the rest himself. Thus, the elven language on Avlis today is a derivative of the spirit language and therefore differs greatly from elven languages on other worlds such as Krynn or Toril or Middle Earth.

The word the spirits used to describe themselves as a whole was "Nanshae" (pronounced: non-SHAY). Later over time, the elves adopted this word to describe the elven species as a whole, but it was spelled Nanshi and pronounced "NON-shee". However, the elves in the Northern part of the country still use the old pronunciation of "non-SHAY".

Apostrope's in the Avlissian elven language are often used to denote the word "of", much like slang English will use o', as in "pile o' stuff". Except in elven it's proper usage. The Avlissian elven word for land is Tana (TA-na) and the early elven name for their nation was Tan' Nanshi, later shortened to T'Nanshi, or "Land of the Elves".

An interesting note about Drangonari Elves:

The drangonari elves were a creation by the god Angadar. When he ascended to godhood, he immediately got the lofty idea to create a race of his own, and taking the form of one of his enemies, an avariel (winged) elf, Angadar corrupted the form into the drangonari. They are almost identical to the avariel in stature and build, and they even once had leathery wings in place of the angelic wings of the avariel. Also in place of soft white skin they have dark green scales much like a lizard, and they always have black hair.

Through an unknown and disasterous series of events, 99.99% of all drangonari lost their wings, and the ones born today do not have them at all. Few remaining ones do, and they are considered to be direct descendants of Angadar himself, whom the drangonari all revere, even if they don't openly worship him.

Angadar was once a mortal elf born on Toril, which is the planet of the Forgotten Realms setting. The elven language which HE speaks IS the Forgotten Realms elven language, and that is the language which he taught to his creations.

So on Avlis, the old elven language that is seen in so many other campaign worlds is actually the spoken language of the drangonari! So, you may want to watch what language you speak in front of the Avlissian high elves!