Re: How old are you? (Was: Re: New to the list)

On Sat, 21 Oct 2000, Roger Mills wrote:

> >> Which brings me to an ob/conlang: how do you say I'm X years old
> >> in your conlang, and does that mean that you have had X
> >> anniversaries of your birthdate (as in English) or that you have
> >> lived in all or part of X number of years (as in Chinese). Do
> >> you count from birth, conception or some other event?
iran besh  relyinan   amrenan
ten  three year-acc-p live-PRF-PRS-1s

"I've lived thirteen years", that is, "I'm thirteen years old"; it
means that one has lived thirteen full years, counting from the
nearest quarter-day (the feasts of the gods falling on the equinoxes
and solstices) to one's actual day of birth.

That is, people born in late winter or early spring usually celebrate
their birthday on the feast of Timoine, people born in late spring or
early summer on the feast of Anshen, people born in late summer or
early autumn on the feast of Mizran, and people born in late autumn
or early winter on the feast of Naigha.

If one is born on the exact feast day, it's seen as something special
and a cause for extra celebration (but Valdyans see many things as a
cause for extra celebration :-)

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas