Sylvan (Titanian)
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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:
- And V'
- But eval
- 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 attack nofaylas | to leave ayzavas |
| to be able to yucolas | to like, to enjoy oohevas |
| to bless berathas | to listen sematas |
| to buy knotas | to lose aybedas |
| to call kraytas | to love oohevas goodel |
| to cast mankraytas | to read lekronas |
| to come vooas | to remember zecoras |
| to create vroathas | to rest noomas |
| to die mootas | to return hayseevas |
| to drink stotas | to save shemaras shav |
| to eat ookalas | to say oomeras |
| to excuse silathas | to see reyalas |
| to feel hergathas | to sell lemcoras |
| to finish gemoratas | to sing sheras |
| to forget sahakthas | to sit sayvas |
| to fly oyfas | to speak dooberas |
| to give taynas | to stand maydithas |
| to go, to walk lulecetas | to take kahas |
| to hate senatas | to travel nensoatas |
| to heal refanas | to think hooshevas |
| to help oozaerlas | to understand mevinas |
| to hit dafakas | to want, to need, to desire retzelathas |
| to hope tikvooas | to watch, to guard shemaras (accent on 3rd syllable) |
| to journey lensoetas | to win zatheras |
| to kill horagas | to write ktoovas |
| to know daatas | to run raytzas |
| to learn moderas |
Grammar
| 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". 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
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'.
=Grammar
English Sylvan And O Or I To Y From Ye But Ka Not U For He Over Vel Under Vol More No Less Nu In Pe Out Po High Vele Low Volo On Ver Off Vur Of Var Re- Je- The -s (added to the end of the word)
Pronouns
English Sylvan I (me) Me (Be) You Ma (Ba) She (her) Fea (Bea) He (him) Fena (Bena) It Voa (Boa)
We (us) Mea (?) You Mab They (f) Feab They (m) Fenab
Possessive
My (Mine) Mel (Bel)
Your (Yours) Mal (Bal)
Her (Hers) Feal (Beal)
His (His) Fenal (Benal)
Its Voal (Boal)
Our (Ours) Meal (?) Your (Yours) Mabel (Babel) Theirs (f) Feabel (Beabel) Theirs (m) Fenabel (Benabel)
Examples: "My tree" would be "Mel mi" "The tree is mine" would be "Mis feli bel"
Questionary words (words you use in questions) Who Ge What Goo Where Gav When Gal Why Gle How Gef
To ask a question without using a question-word, like "Do you dance?", you merely exchange the first letter of the verb into a "G". So the above question would be "Ma Gilu?", which is basically "You dance?"
Verbs Most of the verbs are regular and follow a set pattern. To change the verb to another time, merely add the correct wowel to the end of the word. It's pretty easy, just watch:
Examples: To Be Fel Is FelI Was FelO Has Been FelU Will Be FelA Being FelIR
To Have Miril Has MirilI Had MirilO Have Had MirilU Will Have MirilA Having MirilIR
Plurality Sylvan has a bit more complex plurality rules than English. While English has singular and plural forms, Sylvan has singular, dual and plural. Which means that you have separate versions of "A tree", "Two trees" and "Many trees".
Singular: As written. "A tree" is merely "Mi", as listed in the dictionary.
Dual: A "-p" is added to the end of the word. "A petal" is "Sei", while "Two petals" becomes "Seip". If the word ends in "p", you add "-ip" instrad. This is also the case if the last two letters are already consonants.
Plural:A "-b" is added to the end of the word. "Trees" becomes "Mib". If the word ends on a "b", you add "-ib" instead. This is also the case if the last two letters are already consonants.
Numbers The fey numeric system is based not upon ten, like ours is, but upon five. This means that they count like this: One, two, three, four, five, eleven, twelwe, thirteen, fourteen, etc, so what they call 'eleven' equals what we call six.
The naming system for the numbers is very simple. The numbers one to five have names. The next five numbers have the same names but with a prefix. This prefix changes each five numbers, just like we go from 'twenty' to 'thirty' to 'forty' every ten numbers. Clumsily explained, but perhaps it gets easier to understand by looking at the list:
1 Mimo 2 Mimeb 3 Sesa 4 Sesob 5 Seib 6 NeMimo 7 NeMimob 8 NeSesa 9 NeSesob 10 NeSeib 11 NaMimo 16 NoMimo 21 VeMimo 26 VoMimo 31 LeMimo 36 LoMimo 41 LuMimo 46 LaMimo
Sylvan English Faele Searal Good morning
Veli'ir po o siluelves usilu It's sunny outside and the rain's stopped
Gav ma siluir? Where are you going?
Mirali be elas i me miralkut ba! Give me the food or I'll kill you!
Me sileir! I'm having fun!
Me u mirili sielvor'var'Vekut. I don't have a computer.
Fena miralo be minseis! He gave me the finger!
Mel yal feli Kiira My name is Kiira
Me mirili NoMimo leleb I'm sixteen years old
Ma miralkuto bena ma silumni! You killed him you bastard!
Jemirili re mel volieb Give me back my undies
Ge milyro ba? Who invited you?
Giril ma no sileel? Do you have any more wine?
Ysili Uvonkel! Re feli Feler! Step aside! I’m Queen!
Galni ma Sylvani? Do you speak Sylvan?
Ho, me usieli. No, I don’t.
SONGS And here we have some songs which are often sung by the fey, complete with translations. Enjoy.
Salifes var Fae Silyri y rea, silyri y rea, y silur, sile o selui. Silyri silui neal rea, silyri silui neal rea, mea silu y kutae var silualbe.
The song of Life Come to us, come to us, to dancing, fun and song. Come dance with us, come dance with us, to dance to end of time.
Salif var Marivuki'ir Ysili uvonkel! Ysili uvonkel! Jesilyr y vo o voel, volo silumni! Ma usilui neal rea! Ma usali neal rea! Mea marivuki ma saliysuli!
Song of rejection Go away! Go away! Return to earth and mud, low animal! You do not (cannot) dance with us! You do not dance with us! We reject you forever!
Dictionary English Sylvan
-A- Acorn Mia After Sali All Beleb Alone Mim Animal Silumni Arm Mieme Autumn Tu
-B-
Bad Ukkutae
Before Suli
Between Toot
Big Mil
Blue Ae
Book Kutaeminbeb
Branch Mie
Broken Ukt
Brown Eatu
-C-
Child Mirfae
City Milvonkel
Cold Vuk
-D-
Dark Lu
Day Al
Death Kutae
Dragon Dar
Dry Kele
-E-
Earth Vo
Eternity Saliosuli
-F-
Face Sein
Father Fenmaer
Female Fe
Finger Minsei
Fire Kut
Flower Se
Food Ela
Foot Mivormin
Forest Kel
Forever Saliysuli
Fruit Mir
Fun Sile
-G-
Gold Lirn
Gold Vorai
Good Faele
Grass Ne
Grass, tall Na
Green Ei
Grove Ke
-H-
Hand Miemin
Here Vakel
House Kal
House (noble) Kral
Hungry Elaf
-I-
-J-
-K-
King Fenler
Kingdom (f) Rie
Kingdom (m) Rien
-L-
Leaf Min
Leg Mivome
Library Kalvarkutaeminbebib
Life Fae
Light Li
-M-
Magic Fer
Male Fen
Many Beb
Metal Vor
Moon Luvese
Mortal Kutarirfe
Mother Femaer
Music Selui
-N-
Name Yal
New Sear
Night Ul
Nut Miu
No Ho
-O-
Ocean Elb
Oh Ai
Old Satuku
Outside Velvo
-P-
Pattern Liverel
Petal Sei
Pollen Fealeai
-Q-
Queen Feler
-R-
Rain Siluelve
Red Ea
River Siluel
Root Mivo
-S-
Seed Sea
Silver Lir
Silver Vorih
Sky Ve
Small Il
Song Salif
Sorceress (Unseelie) Ferfe or Ferife
Sorceress (Seelie) Fefer or Feferi
Sorcery Ferfae or Faefer
Sound Seluin
Spring Le
Star Vese
Stem Sep
Stone Von
Summer La
Sun Veli
Sword Mie'Lorvor
-T-
Thirsty Elef
Thorn Lo
Time Silualbe
Time (long) Siluelvaralbe
Toe Mivosei
Tomorrow Salali
Tree Mi
Twilight Alul
-U-
-V-
-W-
Water El
Weapon Lor
Wet Ele
White Ih
With Neal
Wine Sileel
Winter Uk
Wizard Ferivar Kutaeminbeb
Wizard (shortened) Ferivar'Kaebeb
Wizardry Fer var Kutaeminbed
-X-
-Y-
Year Lele
Yellow Ai
Yes Hi
Yesterday Saluli
Young Sear
-Z-