Next (Meridonian)

Etymological glossary

a [ə], [æ] before single c.; < L. ad
á < ?, emphatic particle:
affaire [əʼfɛ:r(ə)] < F. affaire
alal. = al aldr [æʼlˠælˠδr] < L. ad + il(lud) + alterum
andunc [ənʼdɵŋk] < L. in + tum + quam (cf. S. entonces)
ansantš [ənʼsænʧ] < OC na santti < L. ne sancti
arrivar [ʼærɘˌvɑ:r] < L. arripare
as [əs] < L. ex
attentšon [ʼæt:ənˌʤɔʊn] < L. attentio
attentšon a can […æʼχɑ:n]
bachl [bɑ:ɬ] < L. baculum, with semantic shift to:
candar [kənʼdɑ:r] < L. cantare
candiett [kənʼʤæt], pl. candiettši [kənʼʤæt:ʃɘ] < OC cantcettu < L. canticum + dim. inf. -et-
cullachrar [ʼkɵlˠ:əˌrʰɑ:r] < L. con + lacerare
cullullar sa [ʼkɵlˠ:ɵˌlˠærsə] < OC culludlar sa < L. colludare + inf. -il- (se)
cun [kɵn] + len, < L. cum
da (1) [də] < L de + ad; when coordinating predicates
da (2) [də], < L de
debrar [dɵʼrɑ:r] < L. devorare
dachlar [dəʼɬɑ:r] < L. de + celare
dageichtr [dəʼʝæt:r] < L. deicere (PPP deiectum)
diach [ʤæχ] < CS (cf. OI dess, W deheu):
dom [dɔʊ] < L. domus
fair [fæir], 3sg. impf. feb [fɛ:u] < L. facere
fant [fænt] < L. infans
feinštra [ʼfɘnʃtrə] < L. fenestra
giuich [ʝɵiχ], pl. giuich [ʝɵi] < L. iocus
giunior [ɥʼɲɔʊr] < L. junior (comparative meaning lost)
hardar [ərʼδɑ:r] < G. *wardan (cf. F. regarder etc.)
hiarh [ɘərʰ] < L. heri
imbiadr [əmʼbɘəδr] < L. impetare
inodiar [ˌɘnʊʼʤɑ:r] < L. inodiare
ir [iər], 3sg.pres.subj. = ia [iə] < L. ire, + part. indicates a plan, decision or initiative to do sth
is [əs], f. sa [sə] < L. ipse
išt [əʃt] < L. iste
lhichia [ʼɬiəʝə], pl. -n < L. reliquiae
na [nə], emphatic ná [nɑ:] < L. non
nuištr [ʼnwɘʃtr] < L. noster
orn [ʊn] < ?
passar sa [ʼpæs:ərsə] < L. (se) passare
par [prə] < L. per
par primha [pərʼpryə] < L. per + prima (+ hora)
poilla [pwɑɪlˠ:ə] < L. puella
puirr [pɵr:], part.pres. = pont [pɔʊnt] < L. ponere
puidr [ʼpɵiδr] < L. potesse
quaštšon [qxəʃʼʧɔʊn] < L. quaestio
queu [qxɵ] < L. quod
sabir [sæʼbiər], 1sg.pres.ind. = šó [ʃɔʊ] < L. sapire/scire
sandasmag [ˌsændəʼsɑɪ] < OC sent is mag < L. esse (part.) + ipse + magis;
tamhach [tɔəx] < tam a queu < L. tam + ad + quod
tragr [træir] < L. trahere; + part. indicates an effort to do sth
ver [fɛ:r] < L. verus
sʼaš ver [sæʼʃɛ:r]

Abbreviations

CS - Celtic substrate
F. - French
G. - Germanic
L. - Latin
OC - Old Cantabrian
OI - Old Irish
S. - Spanish
W - Welsh

c. - consonant
def. - definite article
dim. - diminutive
f. - feminine
ind. - indicative
impf. - imperfect
inf. - infix
len. - lenition
nom. - nominative
part. - participle
pl. - plural
pres. - present
sg. - singular
subj. - subjunctive
v. - vowel

Candabrach

Robert Schikowski

Ring Q

Attentšon a fant!

Ansantš, queu passada sa? Hiarh arrivada-d a dom diach nuištr, poilla giuniora, tamhach chardar prann vant. Feb qu'á pudeb sa tragnt cullullant sa cun machl: Faireb giuich cunn, candareb candiettši ann, alal. Orn sandasmag, imbiat san išt fant, cullachr san, debr san, da dessa lhichian dageicht as feinštra. Queu fair, queu fair? Ná šó s'aš ver. Andunc par primha, dachlams san affaire, tamhach n'ia politša pont da quaštšons inodiants.

Beware of the child!

Oh my god, what has happened? Today a young girl arrived at our beautiful house to take care after our child. She did what she could in entertaining him: She would joke with him, sing him songs and so on. But despite of all this that child would attack her, tear her into pieces and eat her, and throw the remnants out from the window. What shall we do now, what..? I really don’t know. So we just keep the thing under the table for the time being, in order to not let the police come and ask any annoying questions.

Some notes on grammar

Cantabrian/Candabrach is in so far no typical romlang as I have some linguistic but almost no indogermanistic knowledge. So although there are some vague Celtic influences and Cantabrian has much in common with western romance, no extensive research has been done in possible substrate influences or the like. The main aim was to produce a synchronically interesting language with an agreeable sound and a ready-made lexicon, so never mind if you find something completely unhistorical :-)

Here is the necessary grammar for the relay text:

Word order is VAO/VS and sometimes VOA with adverbs moving freely. Topicalised A/O/S can be placed in first position with particle da.
There are too definite articles is/sa and il/la with different distribution, which serve at the same time as anaphoric/cataphoric pro-forms. Especially is/sa frequently combines with prepositions, the forms occuring in the text are: a + is > ann “at him, for him, to him”, cun + is > cunn, pra + is > prann and da + sa (f.pl.) > dessa. The accusative of sa is san.
Cantabrian morphology is for the biggest part Vulgar Latin. Especially the noun shows richer inflexion than in the neighbour languages, maintaining different plural endings and in some cases the accusative and genitive cases (not visible here). Verb forms are rather analytic than synthetic, and clitic auxiliaries like essr “be” and her “have” are added directly to the infinitive or perfect participle. The forms occurring in the text are:

verb

infinitive: -v.r, e.g. -ar [ʼɑ:r]
present participle: -v.nt, e.g. -ant [ʼænt] ; pl.: -s
perfect participle: -t
3sg.pres.ind.: -ø (none)
1pl.pres.ind.: -v.ms, e.g. -ams [ʼɑ:ʊs]
3sg.impf.: -v.b, e.g. -eb [ʼɛ:u]
3sg.perf.ind.: (PPP, with -t- weakening to -d-) + a (a-d before vowels)
3sg.future-in-the-past: (inf.) + -eb [ʼɛ:u] from her > habere

noun

nom.pl.: -i, -n or -s

adjective

f.sg.: -a

Like in the Celtic languages some words cause lenition, i.e. softening of a following consonant. The only such words in the text above are cun and prann. When lenited, the following changes occur:

[p t k] > [b d g]; [b d g ʝ] > [m n ŋ ɲ]; [m n ŋ] > [m: n: ŋ:]; [f ç] > [v ʝ]; [ɬ rʰ] > [l r]. All other sounds don’t undergo lenition.