OK then, here you go:
Twin Aster
Re: Twin Aster
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Re: Twin Aster
These are lovely!
What a river. How wide does it get?
What a river. How wide does it get?
Re: Twin Aster
The maps are very pretty. Sorry if you've answered this already, but is that a world map, with a huge continent? But smaller regions are called continents? I notice the names don't match the names from the first post of this thread but I guess you've changed them?
Re: Twin Aster
Consider that we call Europe and Asia separate continents, even though they are both part of Eurasia.Axas mlö wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 12:10 am The maps are very pretty. Sorry if you've answered this already, but is that a world map, with a huge continent? But smaller regions are called continents? I notice the names don't match the names from the first post of this thread but I guess you've changed them?
Yaaludinuya siima d'at yiseka wohadetafa gaare.
Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
T'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa.
Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
T'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa.
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Man in Space
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Re: Twin Aster
You know, I’m not sure. I’ve never worked it out.
Thank you!
Yes, this is correct, as is Travis’ remark:
Some of the continents are more out of historical convenience than strict geology.
Yes. Some have changed materially, some are affected by romanizational changes.
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Man in Space
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Re: Twin Aster
As I’ve previously mentioned, writing emerged multiple times in Írödian history. I’ve gone on about Caber quite a bit, but the writing that emerged in the Beheic–Khaya sphere is more enigmatic.
Part of it is that we don't know who hit upon it first.
For instance, these are representations of iġayt’i ‘lead, command’, thukh ‘hear’, hu ‘tree’, and ĝim ‘lift’. They look pretty obvious in their derivation, right? This is not always the case; some Khaya glyphs are complete fabrications or abstractions:
uypiĝ ‘now’, fu ‘any’, uyfali ‘granite’, p’ih ‘event’
Early CT was also significantly graphical:
Left to right: kámr ‘city’, omína ‘lung’, êr ‘(umbilical) cord’, sar ‘eye’
The color of glyphs was meaningful:
When it’s blue, it’s kélen ‘water’. When it's green, it represents mgör and means ‘seawater’.
As displayed, iénhu ‘to rule, to govern’. Invert the colors and you have nte ‘be barbarous, be uncivilized’.
A white cloud is omhïs; grey, it's ładn ‘stormcloud’; when blackish-brown, it's koğîğ ‘ash cloud’.
The glyph for kámr ‘city’ customarily changes color depending on the nation the city belongs to. The coloring here is the “default”; when the walls are colored red, for instance, it's a Khaya city.
The colors for Khaya were more decorative; the colors for Beheic were more meaningful.
Part of it is that we don't know who hit upon it first.
For instance, these are representations of iġayt’i ‘lead, command’, thukh ‘hear’, hu ‘tree’, and ĝim ‘lift’. They look pretty obvious in their derivation, right? This is not always the case; some Khaya glyphs are complete fabrications or abstractions:
uypiĝ ‘now’, fu ‘any’, uyfali ‘granite’, p’ih ‘event’
Early CT was also significantly graphical:
Left to right: kámr ‘city’, omína ‘lung’, êr ‘(umbilical) cord’, sar ‘eye’
The color of glyphs was meaningful:
When it’s blue, it’s kélen ‘water’. When it's green, it represents mgör and means ‘seawater’.
As displayed, iénhu ‘to rule, to govern’. Invert the colors and you have nte ‘be barbarous, be uncivilized’.
A white cloud is omhïs; grey, it's ładn ‘stormcloud’; when blackish-brown, it's koğîğ ‘ash cloud’.
The glyph for kámr ‘city’ customarily changes color depending on the nation the city belongs to. The coloring here is the “default”; when the walls are colored red, for instance, it's a Khaya city.
The colors for Khaya were more decorative; the colors for Beheic were more meaningful.
Re: Twin Aster
Very nice! Were these inspired by Mayan and Aztec writing?
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Man in Space
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Re: Twin Aster
Exactly so. Khaya took cues from Mayan and CT hieroglyphics from Aztec.
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Man in Space
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Re: Twin Aster
Classical Khaya
Some context
The Khaya appeared somewhat suddenly in the historical record. And the world, it burned. They were originally displaced by volcanic activity; their supposed Urheimat was subject to large-scale tectonic upheaval due to geology reasons and remains so to this day, making excavation and investigation impractical. A lot of what we do have is on monuments and other official channels of communication. There have been some daughter scripts directly from it, as have there been multiple iterations of Tim Ar script.
Phonology
Consonants
/m n/ m n
/ⁿg ⁿɢ/ ĝ ǧ
/p pʰ p’ b t tʰ t’ d k kʰ k’ g q qʰ q’ ɢ/ p ph p’ b t th t’ d k kh k’ g q qh q’ ġ
/f s h/ f s h/
/w l j/ w l y
Vowels
/u i a/ u i a (allophones [o e] written o e; allophone [æ] not distinguished in writing)
Syllable structure
The maximal CK syllable is CVX, where C is any consonant, V any vowel, and X one of m n ĝ ǧ f h w l .
Allophonic rules
Numbers
This language counts in base twelve. Counting is done by bending the fingers in starting with the thumb. A closed fist is five, a closed fist with a thumb sticking out is six. Repeat for the other hand and you can count up to twelve.
fiĝ /fiⁿg/ [fiⁿg] ‘one’
liǧu /liⁿɢu/ [liⁿɢu] ‘two’
p’af /pʼaf/ [p’af] ‘three’
at’u /at’u/ [at’u] ‘four’
k’in /k’in/ [k’in] ‘five’
gi /gi/ [gi] ‘six’
ǧul /ⁿɢul/ [ⁿɢul] ‘seven’
ya /ja/ [ja] ‘eight’
ǧafa /ⁿɢafa/ [ⁿɢafa] ‘nine’
fi /fi/ [fi] ‘ten’
thul /tʰul/ [tʰul] ‘eleven’
wiqhu /wiqʰu/ [wiqʰu] ‘twelve’
t’im /t’im/ [t’im] ‘12²’
p’owlu /p’uwlu/ [p’owlu] ‘12³’
thuy /tʰuj/ [tʰuj] ‘12⁴’
phuim /pʰuim/ [pʰuim] ‘12⁵’
Pronouns
1SG ahi
1DL.INCL ĝu
1DL.EXCL t’aǧ
1PL.INCL mu
1PL.EXCL nil
2SG.M qu
2DL.M qilu
2PL.M qal
2SG.F qu may
2DL.F qilu may
2PL.F iqim
3SG ga
3DL ey
3PL k’uh
Dialectally, ga may, ey may, and either uk’um, ik’im, or k’uh may are sometimes used for female third-person referents.
Word order
Word order is pretty much SVO, much like Common Caber, except that you can optionally mark a topic. If the topic is, say, a direct object, it is still fronted but the appropriate pronoun is used in its place. If this is ambiguous you can replace the pronoun with the topic marker tay again; dialectally this is becoming more common in all cases.
Ga iǧġil wit’a.
‘he climbs the mountain’
Ga tay iǧġil wit’a.
‘as for him, he climbs the mountain’
Wit’a tay ga iǧġil ga.
‘as for the mountain, he climbs it’
Note that in the case of the last sentence, the overt third-person pronoun ga as the subject means that the topic is not the subject.
Most adjectives follow their referent:
wit’a ĝahtey
‘tall mountain’
Numbers and the determiner way ‘this, these’ precede their noun:
way wit’a
‘this mountain’
fiĝ wit’a
‘one mountain’
Degree words come before their corresponding adjective:
mukhu ĝahtey
‘too tall’
Plurals
Plurals tend to be formed in one of the following ways.
The first, typical of stems ending in -{V,#}CV, is adding the suffix -nV, where V is an echo vowel of the final vowel in the stem. In writing this tends to be written with the glyph for nah MOON.
p’ugunu
‘(three or more) leaves’
wit’ana
‘(three or more) mountains’
lini
‘(three or more) precious stones’
The second tends to apply to open syllables following a closed syllable (-VCCV#): A syllable-final h is added. This is indicated in writing by using the glyph hu TREE.
affah
‘(three or more) noses’
t’unt’uh
‘(three or more) axes’
Syllables that end in a fricative or a nasal (or prenasalized stop) take the ending -:a, which geminates the previous consonant.
nimma
‘three or more) river mouths’
sissa
‘(three or more) hills’
suyuĝĝa
‘(three or more) staffs’
qhunaĝĝa
‘(three or more) qhunaĝ trees’
ĝiffa
‘(three or more) ears’
The final regular method of pluralization is the suffix -wi.
yulwi
‘(three or more) lakes’
upuqilwi
‘(three or more) spears’
wowwi
‘(three or more) feathers’
thiwwi
‘(three or more) they plants’
A few words take the suffix -y, though this is rare. There is no way to predict this, though the majority of the words that take a plural in -y are monosyllables.
huy
‘(three or more) trees’
k’ay
‘(three or more) doorways’
ĝuy
‘(three or more) fingers’
dey
‘(three or more) shells’
Duals
There is much less variation in the formation of duals.
Words that end in a consonant take the suffix -u. In writing this is indicated using the full form of the appropriate phonetic complement glyph, where the ending consonant is considered the onset.
uhuyu
‘two hands’
theyu
‘two circles’
guthawo
‘two claws’
khahu
‘two knives’
If the word ends in a vowel, the suffix -wo is added. This is indicated with the glyph for woy FEATHER.
uhkhowo
‘two heads’
ganliwo
‘two clouds’
phuliwo
‘two feet’
ĝiqhawo
‘two ĝiqhas’
luhiwo
‘two sticks, two branches’
The Seven Kill Stele
Nagiĝĝa tay uya thunu eyaǧnutha sey yuhnu phayq’ih.
Phayq’ih tay ha k’uh tha ha uyayun ha nagiĝĝa.
P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al.
Verb marking
-Ø STATIVE IMPERFECTIVE
One could almost call this the ‘simple imperfective’. It's the default form of the verb.
ga uya
‘he gives, he’s giving’
ga bat’uġ
‘he knows’
-tha DYNAMIC IMPERFECTIVE
The dynamic imperfective emphasizes that the situation is changing or ongoing right now (for "now" meaning "at the time relevant to the utterance").
ga uyatha
‘he is in the process of giving, he's giving right now, he's in the middle of giving’
ga bat’uġtha
‘he learns, he's learning’
-k/-ak ITERATIVE
ga uyak
‘he gives again and again, he's giving over and over’
ga bat'uġak
‘he memorizes it, he focuses on it’
-w/-u CONTINUATIVE
The difference between the continuative and the dynamic imperfective is that the continuative has the sense that the action is taking a particularly long time, and the continuative does not imply any significant change pursuant to the action.
ga uyaw
‘he is still giving’
ga bat’uġu
‘he still remembers it, he still knows it’
-wol PERFECTIVE
ga uyawol
‘he gave’
ga bat’uġwol
‘he knew’
You can stack aspect markers:
ga bat’uġthak
‘he’s in the middle of memorizing it’
Some derivational morphology
-a/-ha ‘people of X’
The form -ha is used after a final -a; otherwise the form -a is suffixed. Note that the noun refers to people as a group, but is treated as a singular noun for grammatical purposes.
khay ‘plateau’ > khaya ‘people of the plateau’ (used as an endonym by the Khaya themselves)
wiqhu ‘twelve’ > wiqhua ‘people of twelve, i.e. people who count in base-12’
fi ‘ten’ > fia ‘people of ten, i.e. people who count in base-10’
seyliq’a ‘stormcloud’ > seyliq’aha ‘people of the stormcloud’ (Seyliq’a is a toponym here)
-ni 'singular/singulative (of collective)'
This is applied to mass nouns to indicate a singular or singulative. It can be combined with -a/-ha above.
unnuh ‘soup, stew’ > unnuhni ‘serving of soup, helping of stew’
p’uǧakhu ‘sweat’ > p’uǧakhuni ‘bead of sweat, sweat droplet’
khaya ‘people of the plateau’ > khayani ‘one of the Khaya’
wiqhua ‘people of twelve’ > wiqhuani ‘one of the Wiqhua’
-khu 'characteristic substance'
thah ‘cook, prepare food’ > thaskhu ‘spice, seasoning’
phan ‘grind’ > phankhu ‘flour’
yuḥ 'feed, nourish' > yuhkhu 'food'
p’uǧa ‘sweat (v.)’ > p’uǧakhu ‘sweat (n.)’
-aĝ ‘to have (a/an) X’
q’aǧi ‘bowl’ > q’aǧiaĝ ‘have a bowl’
qhuh ‘rope’ > qhusaĝ ‘have some rope’
suyuĝ ‘staff’ > suyuĝaĝ ‘have a staff’
upuqil 'spear' > upuqilaĝ 'have a spear'
One can use adverbialized adjectives on -aĝ constructions to attribute some sort of quality to the possessum.
ga qhusaĝ idimbun
‘he has a long rope’
The suffix -aĝ is never used with body parts. A construction with the preposition ha is used in that case:
biǧnisu tay ga hu ey
‘as for arms, he's got two of them; he's got two arms’
-bun ADVERBIALIZER
idin ‘long’ > idimbun ‘lengthy, lengthily, at length’
phalun ‘resolute’ > phalumbun ‘resolute(ly)’
Elements of classical antiquity
t’ihsa ‘copper’
hulyu ‘tin’
qhaĝ ‘iron’
suykul ‘mercury’
mowol ‘lead’
baft’ih ‘silver’
lu ‘gold’
imp’ih ‘carbon’
dulun ‘sulfur’
pham ‘arsenic’
agik’ey ‘antimony’
dow ‘zinc’
Some context
The Khaya appeared somewhat suddenly in the historical record. And the world, it burned. They were originally displaced by volcanic activity; their supposed Urheimat was subject to large-scale tectonic upheaval due to geology reasons and remains so to this day, making excavation and investigation impractical. A lot of what we do have is on monuments and other official channels of communication. There have been some daughter scripts directly from it, as have there been multiple iterations of Tim Ar script.
Phonology
Consonants
/m n/ m n
/ⁿg ⁿɢ/ ĝ ǧ
/p pʰ p’ b t tʰ t’ d k kʰ k’ g q qʰ q’ ɢ/ p ph p’ b t th t’ d k kh k’ g q qh q’ ġ
/f s h/ f s h/
/w l j/ w l y
Vowels
/u i a/ u i a (allophones [o e] written o e; allophone [æ] not distinguished in writing)
Syllable structure
The maximal CK syllable is CVX, where C is any consonant, V any vowel, and X one of m n ĝ ǧ f h w l .
Allophonic rules
- N > [+ same POA] / _C
- wu ji > wo je
- uw ij > ow ej
- wj jw > jː wː
- K > Q / _Q
- Q > K / _K
- S[+ voice] > [- voice] / _F
- a > æ / _j
- Final [h] very often converts to [s] if it is made intervocalic (reflecting an original *s that subsequently debuccalized in coda position); ḥ is typically used to denote [h] that stays [h].
- ĝ ǧ become ĝg ǧġ when geminated.
Numbers
This language counts in base twelve. Counting is done by bending the fingers in starting with the thumb. A closed fist is five, a closed fist with a thumb sticking out is six. Repeat for the other hand and you can count up to twelve.
fiĝ /fiⁿg/ [fiⁿg] ‘one’
liǧu /liⁿɢu/ [liⁿɢu] ‘two’
p’af /pʼaf/ [p’af] ‘three’
at’u /at’u/ [at’u] ‘four’
k’in /k’in/ [k’in] ‘five’
gi /gi/ [gi] ‘six’
ǧul /ⁿɢul/ [ⁿɢul] ‘seven’
ya /ja/ [ja] ‘eight’
ǧafa /ⁿɢafa/ [ⁿɢafa] ‘nine’
fi /fi/ [fi] ‘ten’
thul /tʰul/ [tʰul] ‘eleven’
wiqhu /wiqʰu/ [wiqʰu] ‘twelve’
t’im /t’im/ [t’im] ‘12²’
p’owlu /p’uwlu/ [p’owlu] ‘12³’
thuy /tʰuj/ [tʰuj] ‘12⁴’
phuim /pʰuim/ [pʰuim] ‘12⁵’
Pronouns
1SG ahi
1DL.INCL ĝu
1DL.EXCL t’aǧ
1PL.INCL mu
1PL.EXCL nil
2SG.M qu
2DL.M qilu
2PL.M qal
2SG.F qu may
2DL.F qilu may
2PL.F iqim
3SG ga
3DL ey
3PL k’uh
Dialectally, ga may, ey may, and either uk’um, ik’im, or k’uh may are sometimes used for female third-person referents.
Word order
Word order is pretty much SVO, much like Common Caber, except that you can optionally mark a topic. If the topic is, say, a direct object, it is still fronted but the appropriate pronoun is used in its place. If this is ambiguous you can replace the pronoun with the topic marker tay again; dialectally this is becoming more common in all cases.
Ga iǧġil wit’a.
- ga
- 3SG
- iǧġil
- climb
- wit’a
- mountain
‘he climbs the mountain’
Ga tay iǧġil wit’a.
- ga
- 3SG
- tay
- TOP
- iǧġil
- climb
- wit’a
- mountain
‘as for him, he climbs the mountain’
Wit’a tay ga iǧġil ga.
- wit’a
- mountain
- tay
- TOP
- ga
- 3SG
- iǧġil
- climb
- ga
- 3SG
‘as for the mountain, he climbs it’
Note that in the case of the last sentence, the overt third-person pronoun ga as the subject means that the topic is not the subject.
Most adjectives follow their referent:
wit’a ĝahtey
- wit’a
- mountain
- ĝahtey
- tall
‘tall mountain’
Numbers and the determiner way ‘this, these’ precede their noun:
way wit’a
- way
- DET
- wit’a
- mountain
‘this mountain’
fiĝ wit’a
- fiĝ
- one
- wit’a
- mountain
‘one mountain’
Degree words come before their corresponding adjective:
mukhu ĝahtey
- mukhu
- too
- ĝahtey
- tall
‘too tall’
Plurals
Plurals tend to be formed in one of the following ways.
The first, typical of stems ending in -{V,#}CV, is adding the suffix -nV, where V is an echo vowel of the final vowel in the stem. In writing this tends to be written with the glyph for nah MOON.
p’ugunu
- p’ugu
- leaf
- -nV
- PL
‘(three or more) leaves’
wit’ana
- wit’a
- mountain
- -nV
- PL
‘(three or more) mountains’
lini
- li
- precious_stone
- -nV
- PL
‘(three or more) precious stones’
The second tends to apply to open syllables following a closed syllable (-VCCV#): A syllable-final h is added. This is indicated in writing by using the glyph hu TREE.
affah
- affa
- nose
- -h
- PL
‘(three or more) noses’
t’unt’uh
- t’unt’u
- axe
- -h
- PL
‘(three or more) axes’
Syllables that end in a fricative or a nasal (or prenasalized stop) take the ending -:a, which geminates the previous consonant.
nimma
- nim
- river.mouth
- -:a
- PL
‘three or more) river mouths’
sissa
- sih
- hill
- -:a
- PL
‘(three or more) hills’
suyuĝĝa
- suyuĝ
- staff
- -:a
- PL
‘(three or more) staffs’
qhunaĝĝa
- qhunaĝ
- tree.sp
- -:a
- PL
‘(three or more) qhunaĝ trees’
ĝiffa
- ĝif
- ear
- -:a
- PL
‘(three or more) ears’
The final regular method of pluralization is the suffix -wi.
yulwi
- yul
- lake
- -wi
- PL
‘(three or more) lakes’
upuqilwi
- upuqil
- spear
- -wi
- PL
‘(three or more) spears’
wowwi
- woy
- feather
- -wi
- PL
‘(three or more) feathers’
thiwwi
- they
- plant.sp
- -wi
- PL
‘(three or more) they plants’
A few words take the suffix -y, though this is rare. There is no way to predict this, though the majority of the words that take a plural in -y are monosyllables.
huy
- hu
- tree
- -y
- PL
‘(three or more) trees’
k’ay
- k’a
- doorway
- -y
- PL
‘(three or more) doorways’
ĝuy
- ĝu
- finger
- -y
- PL
‘(three or more) fingers’
dey
- di
- shell
- -y
- PL
‘(three or more) shells’
Duals
There is much less variation in the formation of duals.
Words that end in a consonant take the suffix -u. In writing this is indicated using the full form of the appropriate phonetic complement glyph, where the ending consonant is considered the onset.
uhuyu
- uhuy
- hand
- -u
- PL
‘two hands’
theyu
- they
- circle
- -u
- DL
‘two circles’
guthawo
- guthaw
- claw
- -u
- DL
‘two claws’
khahu
- khah
- knife
- -u
- DL
‘two knives’
If the word ends in a vowel, the suffix -wo is added. This is indicated with the glyph for woy FEATHER.
uhkhowo
- uhkhu
- head
‘two heads’
ganliwo
- ganli
- cloud
- -wo
- DL
‘two clouds’
phuliwo
- phuli
- foot
- -wo
- DL
‘two feet’
ĝiqhawo
- ĝiqha
- insect.sp
- -wo
- DL
‘two ĝiqhas’
luhiwo
- luhi
- branch
- -wo
- DL
‘two sticks, two branches’
The Seven Kill Stele
Nagiĝĝa tay uya thunu eyaǧnutha sey yuhnu phayq’ih.
- nagiĝ
- god
- -:a
- PL
- tay
- TOP
- uya
- give
- thu
- thing
- -nV
- PL
- eyaǧ
- count
- -nu
- ABIL
- -tha
- NEG
- sey
- in_order_to
- yuh
- nourish
- -nu
- NMLZ
- phayq’i
- person
- -h
- PL
Phayq’ih tay ha k’uh tha ha uyayun ha nagiĝĝa.
- phayq’i
- person
- -h
- PL
- tay
- COP
- ha
- DAT
- k’uh
- 3PL
- tha
- NEG
- ha
- DAT
- uya
- give
- -yu
- back_to
- -n
- NMLZ
- ha
- DAT
- nagiĝ
- god
- -:a
- PL
P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al. P’al.
- p’al
- kill
- p’al
- kill
- p’al
- kill
- p’al
- kill
- p’al
- kill
- p’al
- kill
- p’al
- kill
Verb marking
-Ø STATIVE IMPERFECTIVE
One could almost call this the ‘simple imperfective’. It's the default form of the verb.
ga uya
- ga
- 3SG
- uya
- give
- -Ø
- STAT.IMPF
‘he gives, he’s giving’
ga bat’uġ
- ga
- 3SG
- bat’uġ
- know
- -Ø
- STAT.IMPF
‘he knows’
-tha DYNAMIC IMPERFECTIVE
The dynamic imperfective emphasizes that the situation is changing or ongoing right now (for "now" meaning "at the time relevant to the utterance").
ga uyatha
- ga
- 3SG
- uya
- give
- -tha
- DYN.IMPF
‘he is in the process of giving, he's giving right now, he's in the middle of giving’
ga bat’uġtha
- ga
- 3SG
- bat’uġ
- know
- -tha
- DYN.IMPF
‘he learns, he's learning’
-k/-ak ITERATIVE
ga uyak
- ga
- 3SG
- uya
- give
- -k
- ITER
‘he gives again and again, he's giving over and over’
ga bat'uġak
- ga
- 3SG
- bat'uġ
- know
- -ak
- ITER
‘he memorizes it, he focuses on it’
-w/-u CONTINUATIVE
The difference between the continuative and the dynamic imperfective is that the continuative has the sense that the action is taking a particularly long time, and the continuative does not imply any significant change pursuant to the action.
ga uyaw
- ga
- 3SG
- uya
- give
- -w
- CONT
‘he is still giving’
ga bat’uġu
- ga
- 3SG
- bat’uġ
- know
- -u
- CONT
‘he still remembers it, he still knows it’
-wol PERFECTIVE
ga uyawol
- ga
- 3SG
- uya
- give
- -wol
- PERF
‘he gave’
ga bat’uġwol
- ga
- 3SG
- bat’uġ
- know
- -wol
- PERF
‘he knew’
You can stack aspect markers:
ga bat’uġthak
- ga
- 3SG
- bat’uġ
- know
- -tha
- DYN.STAT
- -k
- ITER
‘he’s in the middle of memorizing it’
Some derivational morphology
-a/-ha ‘people of X’
The form -ha is used after a final -a; otherwise the form -a is suffixed. Note that the noun refers to people as a group, but is treated as a singular noun for grammatical purposes.
khay ‘plateau’ > khaya ‘people of the plateau’ (used as an endonym by the Khaya themselves)
- khay
- plateau
- >
- >
- khay
- plateau
- -a
- denizen_of
wiqhu ‘twelve’ > wiqhua ‘people of twelve, i.e. people who count in base-12’
- wiqhu
- twelve
- >
- >
- wiqhu
- twelve
- -a
- denizen_of
fi ‘ten’ > fia ‘people of ten, i.e. people who count in base-10’
- fi
- ten
- >
- >
- fi
- ten
- -a
- denizen_of
seyliq’a ‘stormcloud’ > seyliq’aha ‘people of the stormcloud’ (Seyliq’a is a toponym here)
- seyliq’a
- stormcloud
- >
- >
- seyliq’a
- stormcloud
- -ha
- denizen_of
-ni 'singular/singulative (of collective)'
This is applied to mass nouns to indicate a singular or singulative. It can be combined with -a/-ha above.
unnuh ‘soup, stew’ > unnuhni ‘serving of soup, helping of stew’
- unnuh
- soup
- >
- >
- unnuh
- soup
- -ni
- SGV
p’uǧakhu ‘sweat’ > p’uǧakhuni ‘bead of sweat, sweat droplet’
- p’uǧakhu
- sweat
- >
- >
- p’uǧakhu
- sweat
- -ni
- SGV
khaya ‘people of the plateau’ > khayani ‘one of the Khaya’
- khay
- plateau
- -a
- denizen_of
- >
- >
- khay
- plateau
- -a
- denizen_of
- -ni
- SGV
wiqhua ‘people of twelve’ > wiqhuani ‘one of the Wiqhua’
- wiqhu
- twelve
- -a
- denizen_of
- >
- >
- wiqhu
- twelve
- -a
- denizen_of
- -ni
- SGV
-khu 'characteristic substance'
thah ‘cook, prepare food’ > thaskhu ‘spice, seasoning’
- thah
- cook
- >
- >
- thah
- cook
- -khu
- substance
phan ‘grind’ > phankhu ‘flour’
- phan
- grind
- >
- >
- phan
- grind
- -khu
- substance
yuḥ 'feed, nourish' > yuhkhu 'food'
- yuḥ
- nourish
- >
- >
- yuḥ
- nourish
- -khu
- substance
p’uǧa ‘sweat (v.)’ > p’uǧakhu ‘sweat (n.)’
- p’uǧa
- sweat
- >
- >
- p’uǧa
- sweat
- -khu
- substance
-aĝ ‘to have (a/an) X’
q’aǧi ‘bowl’ > q’aǧiaĝ ‘have a bowl’
- q’aǧi
- bowl
- >
- >
- q’aǧi
- bowl
- -aĝ
- have
qhuh ‘rope’ > qhusaĝ ‘have some rope’
- qhuh
- rope
- >
- >
- qhuh
- rope
- -aĝ
- have
suyuĝ ‘staff’ > suyuĝaĝ ‘have a staff’
- suyuĝ
- staff
- >
- >
- suyuĝ
- staff
- -aĝ
- have
upuqil 'spear' > upuqilaĝ 'have a spear'
- upuqil
- spear
- >
- >
- upuqil
- spear
- -aĝ
- have
One can use adverbialized adjectives on -aĝ constructions to attribute some sort of quality to the possessum.
ga qhusaĝ idimbun
- ga
- 3SG
- qhuh
- rope
- -aĝ
- have
- idin
- long
- -bun
- ADV
‘he has a long rope’
The suffix -aĝ is never used with body parts. A construction with the preposition ha is used in that case:
biǧnisu tay ga hu ey
- biǧnih
- arm
- -u
- DL
- tay
- TOP
- ga
- 3SG
- hu
- DAT
- ey
- 3DL
‘as for arms, he's got two of them; he's got two arms’
-bun ADVERBIALIZER
idin ‘long’ > idimbun ‘lengthy, lengthily, at length’
- idin
- long
- >
- >
- idin
- long
- -bun
- ADV
phalun ‘resolute’ > phalumbun ‘resolute(ly)’
- phalun
- resolute
- >
- >
- phalun
- resolute
- -bun
- ADV
Elements of classical antiquity
t’ihsa ‘copper’
hulyu ‘tin’
qhaĝ ‘iron’
suykul ‘mercury’
mowol ‘lead’
baft’ih ‘silver’
lu ‘gold’
imp’ih ‘carbon’
dulun ‘sulfur’
pham ‘arsenic’
agik’ey ‘antimony’
dow ‘zinc’
Re: Twin Aster
Yes, makes sense; I'm curious about the details. What led the people of the world to count them as separate continents? Especially Tethir and Semasal, which don't (as far as I can tell) have a lot of water/mountains/whatever between them. My understanding, though I haven't checked this, is that the idea of Europe and Asia as different came from people who hadn't explored all the way around the Black Sea yet.Man in Space wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 11:25 amYes, this is correct, as is Travis’ remark:Some of the continents are more out of historical convenience than strict geology.
Does the concept of "continent" for them have the idea it does for us, of something that's usually or by default separated by water, even if Asia and Europe are an exception? or does it mean e.g. "important chunk of land"?
Also, I quite like your pictures of the writing system. Pretty, and somehow... catchy.
Re: Twin Aster
IIRC the Black Sea was explored around by classical times; rather "Europe" versus "Asia" versus "Africa" originated from the different parts of the Mediterranean world in classical times, with "Europe" being the northern parts from Greece and west of there, "Asia" being the eastern parts from Anatolia and east of there, and "Africa" being the southern parts, especially the originally-Berber lands.Axas mlö wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 11:55 amYes, makes sense; I'm curious about the details. What led the people of the world to count them as separate continents? Especially Tethir and Semasal, which don't (as far as I can tell) have a lot of water/mountains/whatever between them. My understanding, though I haven't checked this, is that the idea of Europe and Asia as different came from people who hadn't explored all the way around the Black Sea yet.Man in Space wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 11:25 amYes, this is correct, as is Travis’ remark:Some of the continents are more out of historical convenience than strict geology.
Does the concept of "continent" for them have the idea it does for us, of something that's usually or by default separated by water, even if Asia and Europe are an exception? or does it mean e.g. "important chunk of land"?
Also, I quite like your pictures of the writing system. Pretty, and somehow... catchy.
Yaaludinuya siima d'at yiseka wohadetafa gaare.
Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
T'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa.
Ennadinut'a gaare d'ate eetatadi siiman.
T'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa t'awraa.
Re: Twin Aster
I think "Africa" originated very much as a Roman term, not a Greek one.Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 1:17 pm
IIRC the Black Sea was explored around by classical times; rather "Europe" versus "Asia" versus "Africa" originated from the different parts of the Mediterranean world in classical times, with "Europe" being the northern parts from Greece and west of there, "Asia" being the eastern parts from Anatolia and east of there, and "Africa" being the southern parts, especially the originally-Berber lands.
Re: Twin Aster
Substitute Libya, and the point stands, albeit more confusingly. Especially since Roman Africa covered part of modern Libya.Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 1:34 pmI think "Africa" originated very much as a Roman term, not a Greek one.Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 1:17 pm
IIRC the Black Sea was explored around by classical times; rather "Europe" versus "Asia" versus "Africa" originated from the different parts of the Mediterranean world in classical times, with "Europe" being the northern parts from Greece and west of there, "Asia" being the eastern parts from Anatolia and east of there, and "Africa" being the southern parts, especially the originally-Berber lands.
LZ – Lēri Ziwi
PS – Proto Sāzlakuic (ancestor of LZ)
PRk – Proto Rākēwuic
XI – Xú Iạlan
VN – verbal noun
SUP – supine
DIRECT – verbal directional
My language stuff
PS – Proto Sāzlakuic (ancestor of LZ)
PRk – Proto Rākēwuic
XI – Xú Iạlan
VN – verbal noun
SUP – supine
DIRECT – verbal directional
My language stuff
Re: Twin Aster
Fair enough.Lērisama wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 6:00 pmSubstitute Libya, and the point stands, albeit more confusingly. Especially since Roman Africa covered part of modern Libya.Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 1:34 pmI think "Africa" originated very much as a Roman term, not a Greek one.Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 1:17 pm
IIRC the Black Sea was explored around by classical times; rather "Europe" versus "Asia" versus "Africa" originated from the different parts of the Mediterranean world in classical times, with "Europe" being the northern parts from Greece and west of there, "Asia" being the eastern parts from Anatolia and east of there, and "Africa" being the southern parts, especially the originally-Berber lands.
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Man in Space
- Posts: 2434
- Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 1:05 am
Re: Twin Aster
A Few Bits and Bobs, Veterans’ Day Edition
Old Oidonese
The vowel system of Old Oidonese is being changed somewhat. Originally the vowels existed into two harmonious sets, to wit fronted (/æ e i u/ ä e i ou) and retracted (/æ ɑ i o/ æ a ı o). They are still exist in these sets; however, what once was /e/ is now /ə/. (It also may or may not be more accurate to describe /u/ as /ʉ/).
CT cuneiform examples, Atskian mode:
ÊR ‘cord’ (prototypically ‘umbilical cord’)
KAUĞAM ‘waterfall, cataract’
OMHÏS ‘cloud’ / ŁADN ‘stormcloud’ / KOĞIĞ ‘ash cloud’
Old Oidonese
The vowel system of Old Oidonese is being changed somewhat. Originally the vowels existed into two harmonious sets, to wit fronted (/æ e i u/ ä e i ou) and retracted (/æ ɑ i o/ æ a ı o). They are still exist in these sets; however, what once was /e/ is now /ə/. (It also may or may not be more accurate to describe /u/ as /ʉ/).
CT cuneiform examples, Atskian mode:
ÊR ‘cord’ (prototypically ‘umbilical cord’)
KAUĞAM ‘waterfall, cataract’
OMHÏS ‘cloud’ / ŁADN ‘stormcloud’ / KOĞIĞ ‘ash cloud’
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Man in Space
- Posts: 2434
- Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 1:05 am
Re: Twin Aster
MASNÁ ‘missile, bullet; shooting star’ / SÜH ‘point, dot, spot, star’
KÉLEN ’liquid; water’
SAR ’eye; to see’
KM ‘rain’
KÁ⅁I ‘vase, jar’
KÁHR ‘to drag, to draw, to pull in one’s wake’
KONÉR ‘wrong, incorrect’
Re: Twin Aster
The first one looks the most original to me, with the circular arrangement.
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Man in Space
- Posts: 2434
- Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 1:05 am
Re: Twin Aster
Thank you! Two of the “rules” of CT cuneiform are that 1) there are only four permissible strokes (0, 45, 90, 135 starting vertical and counting widdershins) and 2) no beams/stems can cross.
Anyway…some experiments in CT hieroglyphics. I recently learnt of Mi’kmaw hieroglyphs and I liked the aesthetic, so I’m trying something similar here. This says “⅁are n Tim Ar”:
- IMG_6225.png (94.19 KiB) Viewed 3956 times
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rotting bones
- Posts: 2836
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2018 5:16 pm
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/ˌnɐ.ˈɾɛn.dɚ.ˌduːd/
- Posts: 299
- Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2025 7:47 pm
- Location: the end
Re: Twin Aster
it is uncanny how much I adore the aesthetic of these kinds of glyphs, and you've certainly done a good job of recreating the same vibe here. I'd love to see more of CT's hieroglyphs!
⟨notenderdude⟩
"May all here present witness be!
Alyen of Dúr is bound to me
and from this day all nature hails
the future Keeper of the Scales!"
"May all here present witness be!
Alyen of Dúr is bound to me
and from this day all nature hails
the future Keeper of the Scales!"