Re: CHAT: Directions

On Thu, 8 Jul 1999 03:34:17 -0500 Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> writes:
>The cardinal directions in Watakass=ED:
>North: Wabiiput=ED - lit. "left place" (when looking eastward, north
>is on left)
>East: Wabiikad=EDz - also means "sky", lit. "place of the sun"
>South: Wabiimunv=E1 - lit. "right place"
>West: Wabiigazl=ED - also means "shadow", lit. "place of dark"
>Left: Put=ED
>Right: Munv=E1
>--=20
>AIM screen-name: NikTailor
Wow (#1), this is the first topic that i got into when i first joined
Conlang.
Wow (#2), the Watakassi' system is almost the same thing as the
Rokbeigalmki system, just flipped around!

Cardinal directions in Rokbeigalmki:

North:  ya~mil , from _yamli_ "right"
East:  cha~razd , from _charzad_ "light"
South:  le~mii , from _lemya_ "left"
West:  ra~felp , from _raflep_ "dark"

the Rokbeigalm face westwards, because in Middle-Earth for some reason
everyone's drawn towards the West, humans because the Sun rose the first
few times there.

The direction words were the first instance of
intensification-by-lengthening, which changed Rokbeigalmki a lot.  It's
not as simple as "right; right-place" - if it was, then "north" would be
_yamlip_, "east" would be _charzadp_, etc.
Here the tilde-lengthening seems to broaden the angle of the direction -
not just the exact point where the sun rises, but that entire 90 degrees
of the universe.  not just the exact place where my left hand is
pointing, but that entire quarter of the world.

A common name for the southern hemisphere is _nga'dratz gamnuh-a
sudnihmwe-a_, "beyond the Unmoving Star".


-Stephen (Steg)

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