Re: Semitic languages & Cultures

On Thursday 16 May 2002 15:18, Balazs Sudar wrote:
> Do you have any created cultures? I saw you wrote about calendars, but have
> you invented creatures, history, places? And how have you invented names?
        I'm not big on conculturing, at least for Enamyn. In fact, there was a time
when I was resolute: no conculture! Alas, culture and language really are
inseparable, so I compromised; the culture behind Enamyn is only a skeleton
on which to hang the language. This culture used to live in Crimea;
originally I thought that the Black Plague did them in (14th century), but
then decided that they were either absorbed or killed off by the invading
Slavs and Byzantines at the beginning of the 11th century, when the Khazarian
empire fell. In any case, it gives me a convinient excuse whenever someone
interrupts my conlanging to ask what I'm doing, and I don't feel like
explaining the various bits and pieces of conlanging: "Oh, I'm teaching
myself an extinct language." Shuts 'em right up. :)
        I am aiming for a conhistory that is basically identical to Here, except
with a small confederacy of small tribes that share a common language and
culture dropped into Crimea. So in that sense, I am inventing very little
history.
        As for the calendar: this drove me mad for a couple of months, until I
decided to quit for the time being and come back to it later. I wanted a
solar-lunar calendar, but such beasties (as Denny Wier has been discovering)
are notoriously difficult. I'm currently considering making two calendars,
one solar, the other lunar, and just washing my hands of ever trying to get
them to mesh together. :)

> Do you take all possible words and choose the ones you like? I don't think
> so ;-) If there's someone who prefers taking from other sources, what are
> they?
        I borrow from Greek (especially ecclesiastical and legal words) and
Khazarian (very little of which, unfortunately, survives--most of it is known
by its effects on other languages).
        :Peter