Nanshilae

Base Common Nanshilae acceptable oyf toova adult meged adventure secoona adventurer secoonayt afraid pehood agile zerees agreement/contract choselith alcohol aylcol all awl ally hoovaire'ray also gem although off And V' anger, wrath ath angry kaos animal kaya any oyzeh archer keeshot 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 before (preposition) aeleh beginning roosh behind (preposition) meleh belief oomanith big goodel blade lehev border ganool boring mishemeh both stay boy yeledel bow keeshen brave ement breath lahatith bright vehir broken bathak 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 daughter vat day yoom defense hegena 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 flower perot food ookal for besvel forest Yeritath forsaken Karna four bah friend hoovaire friendly havera from M' fruit piriarn full of Sh' full Sha gem oven toova 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! hill/mountain hur him loe his/its shooloe house of Thayt' house Thayt How Ayt human adom hungry riayva hunt (v) tzadahlas hunt (n) tzadahlith hunter/huntress tzadahlth/tzadalthan 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 light (illumination) Or 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 of passage Der'ek safe moog Sea Nir season zamin seven sheev Shaahesk Shaahesk 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 storm zehrem stranger gartha stronghold, castle gwenverae stupid toopaysh Summer kaytza sun Reth sword hareva tavern, inn faav teacher/mentor merah 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 thunder raam 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 wall kaytol 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 Tanar'ri 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".

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!

Conjunctions/Prepositions:

• And V'
• But eval
• Of ' (pronounced as a sharp cutoff of the word it follows)
• Or oo
• Nor nui
• yet bes
• so cas
• for besvel

Colors:

• black sekor
• blue kehol
• green yerak
• orange tepook
• red edom
• white laban
• brown soos
• purple oorgmin
• yellow tehoov

Expressions:

Excuse me Reyalan!

Goodbye Oo'good'toova!

Good day Yoom toova!

Good night Leiulia toova!

Hello!/Well met! Pelail!

Good day! (Hello!) Yoom pelail!

Good evening/ Good night! Lieulia pelail!

Of course, certainly Bevoodai!

Thank you Dot'ooli!

You're welcome Bevoodai!

I'm sorry Silath ni

I speak elven. Eni doober nanshilae.

Do you speak elven? Doober ta nanshilae?

I do not speak elven, but I want to learn. Eni li doober nanshilae, eval eni retzelath moderas.

Verbs:

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

to agree choselas	to know daatas
to allow natathas	to leave ayzavas
to answer emerlas	to like, to enjoy oohevas
to ask rabalas	to listen sematas
to attack nofaylas	to live chaylas
to be able to yucolas	to look hinnelas
to become (use 'to be' future imperfect)	to lose aybedas
to begin (use am/is beginning ex: Eni roosh)	to love oohevas goodel
to believe oomanas	to mean/intend doomathas
to bless berathas	to meet payenas
to borrow shaalas	to move shooratas
to break bathalas	to murder retzahkas
to breathe lahatas	to open yegalas
to bring/carry galdalas	to pay merekas
to buy knotas	to play nimayvas
to call kraytas	to promise/swear temoyas
to cast mankraytas	to put salahkas
to change calathas	to read lekronas
to close cagaras	to remember zecoras
to come vooas	to rest noomas
to create vroathas	to return hayseevas
to cut batsalas	to run raytzas
to decide charas	to save shemaras shav
to defend nofayas	to say oomeras
to die mootas	to see reyalas
to do yadatas	to sell lemcoras
to drink stotas	to send maltaras
to eat ookalas	to set aheras
to excuse silathas	to show basavas
to explain beynaras	to sing sheras
to fall zaynavas	to sit sayvas
to feel hergathas	to speak dooberas
to fill sobanas	to spend kalathas
to find ralahas	to stand maydithas
to finish gemoratas	to start (see: to begin)
to fly oyfas	to stop chedalas
to follow regeras	to suggest yalatas
to force atzaras	to take kahas
to forget sahakthas	to think hooshevas
to give taynas	to travel nensoatas
to go, to walk lulecetas	to try chakarthas
to happen karathas	to turn seevas
to hate senatas	to understand mevinas
to heal refanas	to use ooshalas
to hear otzenas	to wait oorebas
to help oozaerlas	to wake up/awaken oorahtas
to hit dafakas	to want, to need, to desire retzelathas
to hold baythas	to watch, to guard shemaras (accent on 3rd syllable)
to hope tikvooas	to win zatheras
to hunt tzadahlas	to work yetzeras
to journey lensoetas	to worry lebelas
to keep charathas	to worship/pray palelas
to kill horagas	to write ktoovas

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".

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" (hayas). 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.

Past Perfect:

• I was good. Hayti toova.

• You were good. Hayta toova.

• He was good. Hayoe toova.

• She was good. Hayah toova.

• We were good. Haynu toova.

• You were good. Haytem toova.

• They were good. Hayoo toova.

Future Imperfect:

• I will be good. Eni e'hay toova.

• You will be good. Ta tee'hay toova.

• He will be good. Loo ye'hay toova.

• She will be good. Lah ye'hay toova.

• We will be good. Nethnu ne'hay toova.

• You will be good. Tem tee'hay toova.

• They will be good. Loom ye'hay toova.

Pronouns

1st Person:

• I - Eni
• We - Nethnu

2nd Person:

• You - Ta
• You -Tem

3rd Person:

• He/She - Loo/Lah
• They - Loom

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'.