Re: Fevornian - a non-Romance Italic language on the shores of the Danube
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2026 2:40 pm
Native-root Latin replacement examples
Just like all other languages in the Balkans, Fevornian had underwent an influx of Latin and Latinate words at different stages of its history, from the ancient contacts of Liburnians with the early Roman state to the wave of scientific, technical and political terminology that started to enter the language in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was not unique in this question. What was unique about Fevornian, though, was it's existence as a non-Romance Italic language and thus, being related to Latin in a unique way for the time.
It's distant indirect connection to the most influential classical language in Europe was already understood by linguists of the 19th century, the time of rising purism, which started influencing the Fevornian, which was on it's way to standardisation at the time. Similarly, for example, to Russia, which had movements for accepting the borrowings and for eliminating them in favour of neologisms, Fevornian linguist circles also experienced the rise of these two ways of approaching...
But in addition, one other also came to be: the native-root Latin adaptation. It seeked a "middle ground" of sorts, specifically with Latin, Latinate and, occasionally, modern Romance words: not replacing them with fully purist neologisms or semantic calques nor taking them in with retained sounds, but using the corresponding forms of the same word roots that exist in Fevornian or can be reconstructed from the common Italic stage (at least as it was understood at the time*). These would not even necessarily be direct calques as the Latin and Fevornian words may have different meanings, or, in rare cases, these words may even be full-on artificial constructions rather than attested lemmas (for example, *рис in риспаплꙓꙉꙓ - no direct descendants of Proto-Italic *reis exist in modern Fevornian).
In this timeline, Proto-Italic was reconstructed more thoroughly by the late 19th century and generally attracted more scientific attention, because it wasn't just seen as "ancestor to Latin and a few extinct languages that left no descendants", but as one ancestral to two living branches. Ancient Italic languages in general were also more well-understood thanks to more comparative possibilities than exist in OTL.
Many Slavic languages, neighbours of Fevornian, already sometimes used a similar way of adapting words from each other: see, for example, Russian местечко "shtetl" from Polish miasteczko (would have been *мястечко/*мистечко if borrowed phonologically); Russian Свиноустье "Świnoujście (a city in Poland)" from Polish Świnoujście (the phonetically borrowed form Свиноуйсьце is used as well, and is the official one, but both do exist and are used).
So, in the 19th century, various new words began to appear in standardising Fevornian to replace direct Latin borrowings. This way of approach lasted for decades, and, despite periodical declines (for example, in the post-WW2 period and immediately after the collapse of socialist government), is still notably prevalent in some case. Not all of the words stuck, with both loanwords and full-on neologisms frequently "triumphing" over them, but plenty are used in the modern language. Some examples are provided below:
трожинꙓз [troʒinʲez] - trans man, трожинꙓжꙓ [troʒinʲeʒe] - trans woman.
Adapted from English transgender. Constructed from Modern Fevornian трос + жин (stem жинꙓз-) + -∅/-ꙓ; equivalent to PI *trān(t)s + *genos (stem *genez-) + *-os/-ā; Latin *trans + genus (stem *gener-) + -us/-a.
Uncommon, the native equivalent terms are used more often.
фугорес [fugorʲəs] - vowel.
Adapted from Latin vocalis. PI *wōks "voice" only left affixed descendants in Fevornian, such as фуꙉꙓлс "echo". To construct new forms, the root from these words, фуг-, was taken, and a different suffix, -орес (from PI -ālis, equivalent to Latin -alis), forming a directly equivalent form.
Commonly used.
физ [fʲiz] - virus.
Adapted from Latin virus. PI *weizos "poison" left no direct descendants in Fevornian and, thus, was reconstructed and its reconstructed descendant was used.
Commonly used.
Just like all other languages in the Balkans, Fevornian had underwent an influx of Latin and Latinate words at different stages of its history, from the ancient contacts of Liburnians with the early Roman state to the wave of scientific, technical and political terminology that started to enter the language in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was not unique in this question. What was unique about Fevornian, though, was it's existence as a non-Romance Italic language and thus, being related to Latin in a unique way for the time.
It's distant indirect connection to the most influential classical language in Europe was already understood by linguists of the 19th century, the time of rising purism, which started influencing the Fevornian, which was on it's way to standardisation at the time. Similarly, for example, to Russia, which had movements for accepting the borrowings and for eliminating them in favour of neologisms, Fevornian linguist circles also experienced the rise of these two ways of approaching...
But in addition, one other also came to be: the native-root Latin adaptation. It seeked a "middle ground" of sorts, specifically with Latin, Latinate and, occasionally, modern Romance words: not replacing them with fully purist neologisms or semantic calques nor taking them in with retained sounds, but using the corresponding forms of the same word roots that exist in Fevornian or can be reconstructed from the common Italic stage (at least as it was understood at the time*). These would not even necessarily be direct calques as the Latin and Fevornian words may have different meanings, or, in rare cases, these words may even be full-on artificial constructions rather than attested lemmas (for example, *рис in риспаплꙓꙉꙓ - no direct descendants of Proto-Italic *reis exist in modern Fevornian).
In this timeline, Proto-Italic was reconstructed more thoroughly by the late 19th century and generally attracted more scientific attention, because it wasn't just seen as "ancestor to Latin and a few extinct languages that left no descendants", but as one ancestral to two living branches. Ancient Italic languages in general were also more well-understood thanks to more comparative possibilities than exist in OTL.
Many Slavic languages, neighbours of Fevornian, already sometimes used a similar way of adapting words from each other: see, for example, Russian местечко "shtetl" from Polish miasteczko (would have been *мястечко/*мистечко if borrowed phonologically); Russian Свиноустье "Świnoujście (a city in Poland)" from Polish Świnoujście (the phonetically borrowed form Свиноуйсьце is used as well, and is the official one, but both do exist and are used).
So, in the 19th century, various new words began to appear in standardising Fevornian to replace direct Latin borrowings. This way of approach lasted for decades, and, despite periodical declines (for example, in the post-WW2 period and immediately after the collapse of socialist government), is still notably prevalent in some case. Not all of the words stuck, with both loanwords and full-on neologisms frequently "triumphing" over them, but plenty are used in the modern language. Some examples are provided below:
трожинꙓз [troʒinʲez] - trans man, трожинꙓжꙓ [troʒinʲeʒe] - trans woman.
Adapted from English transgender. Constructed from Modern Fevornian трос + жин (stem жинꙓз-) + -∅/-ꙓ; equivalent to PI *trān(t)s + *genos (stem *genez-) + *-os/-ā; Latin *trans + genus (stem *gener-) + -us/-a.
Uncommon, the native equivalent terms are used more often.
фугорес [fugorʲəs] - vowel.
Adapted from Latin vocalis. PI *wōks "voice" only left affixed descendants in Fevornian, such as фуꙉꙓлс "echo". To construct new forms, the root from these words, фуг-, was taken, and a different suffix, -орес (from PI -ālis, equivalent to Latin -alis), forming a directly equivalent form.
Commonly used.
физ [fʲiz] - virus.
Adapted from Latin virus. PI *weizos "poison" left no direct descendants in Fevornian and, thus, was reconstructed and its reconstructed descendant was used.
Commonly used.
