Re: Graavgaaln elements

Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...> wrote:

> Last night I discovered the Graavgaaln names for several elements.  Here
> they are for your enjoyment and comments.
Any idea how you call them like that? (I mean the sounds.)

>
> vezh - gold Au
> pruuv - silver Ag
> ghub - iron Fe
> jherv - lead Pb
> tezh - sodium Na
> drraagpruuv - platinum Pt
Could you tell us more about the Graavgaaln, and especifically
their technology? This because I've been doing research about
chemistry among the Dra'selhadh, and I haven't discovered the
name for platinum -- because they are not advanced enough to
isolate it. Have you thought of that?

> pruuvmelti^ntu^ - mercury Hg
Oh, yes, "silver-water". You know Hg stands for _HidrarGirium_
"water-silver", "liquid silver", don't you? I used the same
pattern in Drasele'q: _mienvelq_, literally "water" (_mien_)
plus "silver" (_velq_).

> dhe^rrvezh - copper Cu
> b'olg'aatnorgh - sulfur S
"Yellowstone"! (Sorry :)

> fa*shy"drraag - aluminum Al
>
> not an element, but discovered in the process of learning the others:
>
> siiktaavezh - brass
>
> In the process I learned several other words including:
>
> drraag - heavy
> dhe^rr - red, orange (1/3), maroon, brown
> drroogh - metal
> b'olg'aat - yellow, orange (2/3), tan
>
> old words which figure in derivations:
>
> melti^ntu^ - water
> siiktaa - outcaste
> norgh - stone
> faashly"t - feather
>
> The derivation of fa*shly"drraag needs some elucidation.
>
> faashly"t (feather) + drroogh (metal) > faashlytdrroog > faashly"drroog
> (through assimilation, gemmination and reduction) > fa*shly"drroog
> (spreading of feature +round to the unround "aa") > fa*shly"drraag
> (through reanalysis confusing "droogh" [metal] and "drraag" [heavy])
What does aluminium have to do with feathers?

Well, and AFMCL (since I've been doing this lately too):

_gal_      "gold"
_velq_     "silver"
_bre`f_    "iron", and _stef_ "steel"
_qgao't_   "lead"
_mienvelq_ "mercury"
_iaqa'n_   "antimony"
_siangai_  "carbon"
_ha`ts_    "zinc"
_ostat_    "copper"
_briktola"k_   "arsenic"
_briktra"da"k_ "tin"

Note that _brik_ means "brass", hence
_briktola"k_   "arsenic" lit. "brass-bad-maker"
_briktra"da"k_ "tin" lit. "brass-difficult-maker"

(you *can* make a kind of brass using arsenic mineral, which is
easier to find than tin, but it's a bit... er... lethally poisonous).

Also, _siangai_ is the scientific name of the pure element "carbon",
reborrowed from the protolanguage /@'SaNgaI/. "Coal" is the usually
derived form, _tha`ng_ /Ta:Ng/.


--Pablo Flores

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