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 alone hoodel also gem although off And V' anger, wrath ath angry kaos animal kaya any oyzeh archer keeshot arm zeroe armed im neshet armor sheeryoona army hayil around yadyn arrow hootz as kemoo assassin ra'tzay'rin at ka attack (n) nofaylith aunt looda badlands tanen'ras back (of torso) laav back (direction) chesak bad ras balance mayzen bandit goonva bartender bermen battle ray bear dobkool beautiful yoofeh beer birya before (preposition) aeleh beginning roosh behind (preposition) meleh belief oomanith big goodel bird kana 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 cat hatool calm/mellow marpeleh chest, container mik chest, torso toors chicken henayt child yeled cloud ananshah cold chorleh comfortable naeen correct nookan Council Mithoeatzeth cousin vanloond cow ooparah crazy/insane metoreleh cry giylith Damn! Zoozah danger seeknah dangerous seeknalah dark hoosekh darkness hooseh daughter vat day yoom defense hegena despair/sorrow varagith dew Tal drink stot dog zahzir down nanyn dragon rahab dress seem'lah duty/job dabarith dwarf, dwarven Karak ear/ears oos/oosen East niryn eight shmoe either za oo za Elf (sing.), Elven Nanshi else kol elven (language) Nanshilae empty reyk emptiness reykeh escape (n) natselith ever laylom exciting rigooshah expensive yookar eye/eyes ayen/ayenen face panahm failure eretsith Fall stova family mespah fast moohar father oovu field Nan fight mahkith finger/fingers esba/esban fire firia fish quitha five maysh flower perot food ookal foot/feet reygel/reygelen for besvel forest Yeritath forever besvel laylom forsaken Karna forward yatsal four bah free hofsheem friend hoovaire friendly havera from M' fruit piriarn full of Sh' full Sha gem oven toova girl yeledela glory haderith god, deity heem gold zehav good toova goodbye oo'good'toova (short for "oohev goodel toova", i.e. Love well) grand benir grandfather oovu'benir grandmother aym'benir gratitude, thanks dotah grove noritath hair sayr half hitzi hand yed happy naia happiness/joy naialah harm nagafith 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 head seybash healthy loobritah heart Cha her loah here foe hers shooloah Hey! ey! hill/mountain hur him loe his/its shooloe hope habalith horse hoosus house of Thayt' house Thayt How Ayt human adom humble kanas hungry riayva hunt (v) tzadahlas hunt (n) tzadahlith hunter/huntress tzadahlithot/tzadalithotan hurt/injured nagafah husband nanshileesh'oohevith I Eni idea chapash if in in B' inner bina in the B'Le' journey lensoa judgement dayanith keep (small castle) renathae kind/nice cheedah kind/type zan kindness cheedahlah knowledge daatith Land of... T' (short for Tan') last ooharan laugh/laughter lahabith leaf lonovan left (direction) smool leg/legs hebel/hebelen less pihoot lesson yeravith liar gabatalithot lie/deception gabatalith light (illumination) Or lip/lips sahpat/sahpaten little ("a little bit") kootzet long erooha Look out! sic! magic manaena magical manaenahat man (adult elven male) nanshileesh master sharrar maybe/perhaps laylai me ni merchant lemcorithot mercy neelah merciful sh'neelah message/note ktoovith mine shooli missing oevard moon levena more ood most yootir mother aym mother-in-law aym'oohevith mouth chepeh much/many hoormay neck nehesh 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 North galdyn nose charav 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 peace sheloom pig/boar chasiyr pleasant, nice pelail poor aynee potion Leshtoneth powerful hezook quickly moohir quiet choorash quietly choorir rain maimaym raven oorayv rich aysheer resistance negedith right (direction) yemol road, i.e. way of passage Der'ek safe moog sale lemcorith scum chellah Sea Nir season zamin seven sheev Shaahesk Shaahesk shadow tzeleth shield megen short ketzir shout (n) hedadith sick noleh silver kesev sister ooktan six shaysh sky shemaym slow lot slowly lotet small kooten smart kokom smile (n) cheyith smoke ashanith snow shelega so cas something medoovar son van song sher South mikyn spice zonoya Spring aviviya star kohav stomach behten storm zehrem strange/weird ratsah stranger gartha strength eyth strong (full of strength) sh'eyth stronghold, castle gwenverae stupid toopaysh success kasherith Summer kaytza sun Reth sword hareva tail tsabahn tall mashah 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 toe/toes boh/bohen tooth/teeth mashil/mashilen tourist teeyar toward mineth town, -ton (like -eth (ending) ) trade (noun) zvidurat traveler oollensoa tree etzeth true oomnah truth oomnith two shta ugly moocoah uncle loond undead mooteran D'Lulecet (sing.) mooteranen D'Lulecetu (pl.) up oryn us lenu very mod wall kaytol war garrah watcher, guard shemath water maima way Dera We Nethnu weak sh'hooleh weakness hooleh weapon neshet Welcome Pelail West toryn What Meh When Mitayn Where Eyeh whether ayloo while b'zemanath' _____ Who Meen Why lima wife nanshileeshan'oohevith wind roo wine yeyin wing/wings tahm/tahmen Winter hirefya with im woman (adult elven female) nanshileeshan wonderful naialah worth/value mehker worthy mehkereh 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
• into bel'

Update from From: Orleron - Not sure I ever divulged this rule before, but Hebrew definitely does that when you want to abbreviate "of the". Use an "ai" ending instead of stacking the prefixes B'Le. For example: Mespahai tzadahlit = Family of the Hunt

Colors:

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

Numbers:

1. hod	10. esra	100. rish
2. shta	20. shny	1,000. esrish
3. loash	30. lasha	10,000. esra esrishen
4. bah	40. arba	100,000. rish esrishen
5. maysh	50. mishya	1,000,000. goodesrish
6. shaysh	60. shish
7. sheev	70. shvi
8. shmoe	80. mona
9. taysh	90. tish

When counting, you should go from the largest to smallest number, using v' (and) for hooking on the last numeral placement.
When a number is > 1 of a large number (hundreds, thousands, millions), the multiple is plural (rishen, esrishen, goodesrishen) on that large number's nanshilae word.
If something is 11,000-19,000 it will be expressed as esra v'hod esrishen - esra v'taysh esrishen for the thousands place. In the case of 100,000, the "hundred" in the thousands place will always be single (rish) even when it is more than 1
(see the 200,000 example below)

Example:

• 11... esra v'hod
• 37... lasha v'sheev
• 100... rish
• 104... rish v'bah
• 200... shta rishen (two hundreds)
• 350... loash rishen v'mishya
• 225... shta rishen shny v'maysh (two hundreds twenty and five)
• 2,000... shta esrishen (two thousands)
• 2,148... shta esrishen rish arba v'shmoe (two thousands, one hundred forty and eight)
• 4,321... bah eshrishen loash rishen shny v'hod (four thousands, three hundreds twenty and one)
• 12,345... esra v'shta esrishen loash rishen arba v'maysh (10 and 2 thousands, three hundreds, forty and five)
• 200,000... shta rish esrishen (two hundred thousands)
• 12,345,678... figure it out yourself!

To use the number to denote placement (first, second, third), you would add leh to the end of the number.

• First: hod + leh = hodleh
• Second: shta + leh = shtaleh
• Third: loash + leh = loashleh
• Fourth: bah + leh = bahleh
• Fifth: maysh + leh = mayshleh
• Sixth: shaysh + leh = shayshleh
• 20th: shny + leh = shnyleh
• 104th: rish v'bahleh (100 and fourth)
• millionth: goodesrishleh

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!

Please Rabaleh

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.

Family:

Note:
In the case of neices and nephews, the term depends on if they are the son/daughter of your brother or sister.
The term for wife and husband will often interchange nanshileesh(an) with adom(an) if the spouse is human.

Mother	aym	Aunt	looda	Grandmother	aym'benir
Father	oovu	Uncle	loond	Grandfather	oovu'benir
Sister	ooktan	Cousin	vanloond	Great Grandmother	aym'benir'goodel
Brother	ookt	Neice	vat'ookt(an)	Great Grandfather	oovu'benir'goodel
Daughter	vat	Nephew	van'ookt(an)	Granddaughter	vat'benir
Son	van	Mother-in-Law	aym'oohevith	Grandson	van'benir
Wife	nanshileeshan'oohevith	Father-in-Law	oovu'oohevith	Great Granddaughter	vat'benir'goodel
Husband	nanshileesh'oohevith			Great Grandson	van'benir'goodel

Places:

Dwarfhome	Karak Thayt
Dwarftrade	Karak Zvidurat
Fourtree	Bah Etzethen
Grovehaven	Noritath Sha'l
Silverfall	Oyfith'Maima Laban
Summerleaf	Lonovan'Kayta

Verbs:

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

A to accuse saltanas to agree choselas to allow nathalas to answer emerlas to arrive negalas to ask rabalas to attack nofaylas (to be) able to yucolas B to become (use 'to be' future imperfect) to begin (use am/is beginning ex: Eni roosh) to believe oomanas to bless berathas to borrow shaalas to break bathalas to breathe lahatas to bring/carry galdalas to buy knotas C to call kraytas to calm marpelas to care carashas to cast mankraytas to change calathas to climb altoodas to close cagaras to come vooas to create/make vroathas to cry giylas to cut batsalas D to deceive/lie gabatalas to decide charas to defend nofayas to despair varagas to die mootas to do yadatas to drink stotas E to eat ooklas to escape natselas to excuse silathas to explain beynaras F to fail eretsas to fall zaynavas to feel hergathas to fight mahkas to fill sobanas to find ralahas to finish gemoratas to fly oyfas to follow regeras to force atzaras to forget sahakthas to frighten behalas		G to give taynas to go/walk lulecetas to grow dagahlas to guard shemaras H to happen karathas to hate senatas to heal refanas to hear otzenas to help oozaerlas to hit dafakas to hold baythas to hope tikvooas to hunt tzadahlas to hurt/harm nagafas I to ignore shagahas to include sendalas to invade pashatas to involve halachas J to journey lensoetas to judge dayanas to jump natharas K to keep charathas to kill horagas to know daatas L to laugh lahabas to leave ayzavas to learn moderas to like/enjoy oohevas to listen sematas to live chaylas to look hinnelas to lose aybedas to love oohevas goodel M to mean/intend doomathas to meet payenas to move shooratas to murder retzahkas N to need (see 'to want') O to open yegalas to order/command debahras P to pay merekas to play nimayvas to promise/swear temoyas to put salahkas Q R to read lekronas to remember zecoras to resist negedas to rest noomas to return hayseevas to ride hararas to run raytzas		S to save shemaras shav to say oomeras to see reyalas to sell lemcoras to send maltaras to set aheras to show basavas to sing sheras to sit sayvas to smile cheyas to smoke ashanas to speak dooberas to spend kalathas to stand maydithas to start (see: to begin) to stop chedalas to succeed kasheras to suggest or recommend yalatas to swim sachoolas T to take kahas to teach yeravas to think hooshevas to travel nensoatas to try chakarthas to turn seevas U to understand mevinas to use ooshalas V to visit bihkuras W to wait oorebas to wake/awaken oorahtas to want/need/desire retzelathas to watch/guard shemaras to wear balahas to win zatheras to work yetzeras to worry lebelas to worship/pray palelas to write ktoovas X Y to yell/shout hedadas Z

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.

If the noun is a person, add 'ot' to the end of the noun (or 'ithot' to the end of the verb stem). Remember plurals come after the entire word (ithoten not ithenot).

Examples:

• taynas (to give) becomes taynithot (giver)
• raytzas (to run) becomes raytzithot (runner)

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'.
• More information on Nanshilae verbs can be found here.