Nanshilae

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Base
Common Nanshilae
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 (inside area)
haven, safe place ranos (outside area of fields)
haven, safe place sha'l (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 ("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) )
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.


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!


Grammar

For Example:
Singular Plural
Thayt - house Thayten - houses
Ray - battle Rayen - battles
Nan - field Nanen - fields
Dera - way Deran - ways

Single/Plural:

If the word ends in a consonant, add "-en". If the word ends in a vowel, add "n".

Verbs

Infinitives end in -as. The rest of the word is called the "stem". Therefore, to guard shemaras stem is shemar

Present Indicative tense

Singular verbs, remove the as ending and use the stem by itself:

I guard 'Eni shemar

You guard Ta shemar

He/She/It guards Loo/Lah/Loo shemar.


Plural verbs, add -u to the stem:

We guard Nethnu shemaru

You guard Tem shemaru

They guard Loom shemaru


Present Perfect tense:

In the present perfect tense, it is not necessary to use the pronoun. Thus, I guarded, "Eni shemarti", can be "shemarti". Accent is on the second syllable in this tense.


I guarded shemarti

You guarded shemarta

He guarded shemaroe

She guarded shemarah


We guarded shemarnu

You guarded shemartem

They guarded shemaroo


Future imperfect:

I will guard Eni e'shemar

You will guard Ta tee'shemar

He/She/It will guard loo/lah/loo ye'shemar


We will guard Nethnu ne'shemar

You (pl) will guard Tem tee'shemaru

They will guard Loom ye'shemaru


Converting a verb to a noun:

Take the stem and add the 'ith' ending. (Some verbs like Sheras (to sing) do not follow this rule.)


Examples:

  • taynas (to give) becomes taynith (giving)
  • tikvooas (to hope) becomes tikvooith (hope, or hoping)

There is no distinction in elven between the gerund (-ing ending) form of a verb turned into a noun and its non gerund form. Thus, hope and hoping are both tikvooith, and you must know the context of the sentence to figure out which is which.

The verb "to be".

The only irregular verb in the Avlissian elven tongue is the verb "to be". In elven, the verb "to be" is implied in the present tense.

I am good. Eni toova.

You are good. Ta toova.

He is good. Loo toova.

She is good. Lah toova.


We are good. Nethnu toova.

You are good. Tem toova.

They are good. Loom toova.

Pronouns

Indirect pronouns:

me ni

you ta

him loe

her loah

us lenu

you (pl) tem

them loom


Indirect pronouns with prepositions:

from me M'ni

from you M'ta

from him M'loe

from her M'loah


from us M'lenu

from you M'tem

from them M'loom

Showing possession:

The elven language does not use the verb to have in the same way as most other languages. Instead of saying "I have", they are literally saying "There is to me".

You can make statements of possesion by adding the proper personal ending to the root "Yayn'", as below:


I have (literally: There is to me): Yayn'ni

You have (There is to you): Yayn'ta

He/It has (There is to him/it): Yayn'loe

She has (There is to her): Yayn'loah

We have (There is to us): Yayn'lenu

You have (pl) (There is to you): Yayn'tem

They have (There is to them): Yayn'loom


To make these negative, add the word no, "Li" in front of them.

I don't have Li Yayn'ni

You don't have Li Yayn'ta

He/it doesn't have Li Yayn'loe

She doesn't have Li Yayn'loah

We don't have Li Yayn'lenu

You don't have (pl) Li Yayn'tem

They don't have Li Yayn'loom

Misc Notes

  • The accent is always on the first sylable unless otherwise noted.
  • Adjectives come after the nouns: friendly stranger gartha havera
  • The preposition "from" is M', and it is used in much the same was as the word "the", Le'.