Re: Numbers ancient & modern (was: Unilang report)

Ference Valoczy wrote:
> >
> > I'm afraid I can't say much on this, but what happened to the EAU
> > hypothesis? Have you done any more research on it?
> >
> >                                                 Andreas
>
>This came up while I was working on that and I went off on a tangent.
Why do I recognize that sort of thing?

Just yesterday, what started out as a brief foray into the origins of the
Keshéa Empire's two so-called "Imperial Guards" (élite military formations),
turned out to become a lengthy account of the rise to power of Leias
Kaishins, the First Emperor. Obviously, it involved some revisions of my
con-universe's history, and I never got to the point when the precursors of
the Imperial Guards were founded. Sigh.

ObConlang: "Imperial Guard" is _Elxâri Turgas_ in Keshéâras, pl _Elxâri
Turgis_ ("x"=[x], the diacritics denote long vowels). The units are known as
_Strâgâna Turgas_ "(the) Guard of Fire" and _Platjâna Turgas_ "(the) Guard
of Steel". _Strâga_ means "fire", while _platja_, usually translated "steel"
or "armor" actually means something like "metallic substance used as
protection". "First Emperor" is _Exa Elxas. And yes, /a/ and /x/ are very
common in Keshéâras.

                                                         Andreas

PS If you're really formal and patriotic, you'll refer to Leias as _Exa
Elxas Fartâni Leias Kaishins_, roughly "The Frist Emperor Leias Kaishins the
Great". His daughter and successor Malixas may be refered to as _Gel Elxas
Malixas Kaishins, Leiais Ténas_ - "Second Emperor Malixas Kaishins, Leias's
Daughter", or more simply and affectionately as _Elxais Ténas_, "The
Emperor's Daughter". The Keshéânis place alot of trust in titles.

PPS As should be obvious from the above examples, Keshéâras have no
distinction between "emperor" and "(ruling) empress". Since they're fond of
numbering rulers, I found it easiest to translate "emperor" everywhere. Just
to cause trouble, tho', Tairezazh imported the word _elxas_, but gave it
different masculine and feminine forms - _elko_ and _elka_ respectively. So
Leias and Malixas end up as _Ez Elko Dzatsh_ "The First Emperor" and _Ez
Elka Seizh_ "The Second Empress" in Tairezazh histories.

PPPS Obviously, this entire post is an example on what I started talking
about.
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.