Týðrjun Kólän

Aeja! My name is Rosie and on this blog, I'd like to document the development of my constructed language Kolic (or, in Kolic, kvils kólän /kvɪːʃ koː.lan/).

Kolic is a fictional language spoken by a handful of island communities living around the southern polar circle of a fictional world. The technological level of these societies roughly corresponds to medieval northern Europe, and the vibe is very much inspired by the franchise How To Train Your Dragon.

The language itself takes a lot of inspiration from Icelandic, which is obvious from its phonetic inventory, phonotactics, some grammar and morphology, orthography and romanisation, but there's also influence from Finnish, Swedish, Scottish Gaelic, Czech, and some others. The more I develop the language, the further I try to get from Icelandic - it was a nice base to base the vibes off of at the beginning, but Kolic deserves its own identity.

The language is still very much in development, so whatever I post about it might change at any time. Just recently (as of writing this), for example, I completely changed the way locatives work - from cases to clitics.

I'll try to keep my public reference grammar on GitHub Pages updated, so you should (in theory) always be able to check there what the language's grammar is.

The ask box is open, so please if you have anything you want to share (a question, suggestion, request to talk about something...) please ask! I'll be more than happy to answer and I'll be very thankful for suggestions!

Oh and I have a main blog (bbmymo), a more of a "stuff I make" blog (mymo-in-bb) and a few more sideblogs that can be found in the description of the main one. But on my main blog I basically just reblog stuff I like, there's not much to be found there.

/jɛɪ̯.vɪr/ [jɛɪ̯vɪɾ̥] verb, intransitive

Fly

Today, I originally planned to make a word for "Dragon," because we fought the Enderdragon on a Minecraft server with friends today, but I am currently kind of redefining what a dragon even is for the Kolic, so now is really not the best time. So I went with "fly" instead.

Example sentence:

Däëtvni hrúnnijä jaevrä ýla!

look-IMP-PL bird-PL.LAT fly.INE there

/ʏː.ðə.kaɪf͜θ.trɑ/ [ʏːðəkaɪf͜θtrɑ] noun, feminine

Frost

Look. It's been a long day. I am extremely tired. Y'all don't need to be told how úgða means darkness but úgði means winter so it's actually "winter dew" and not "dark dew." I already talked about "úgði" in a previous WotW. Oh and by the way, kaefðtra means dew, from kaefð (morning) + tra, which y'all already know from my other Lexembers.

Let's just get to the example sentence and get this over with

Gäë jätta úgðukaefðtru ynru!

have.SG today frost.ACC first.F.ACC

There's first frost today!

/mɪt.tɑ/ [mɪʰtɑ] noun, feminine

Shoe, Boot

This word is present in one Kolic idiom whose concept I've had for.. i think a year? but yea i've only now actually made the words to actually make it.

The idiom is "bjórar mitti irni" - "to wet one's boots." It alludes to frequented pathways that often form a slippery icy layer. One might choose to walk on the ice, taking the riskier, but more convenient path, or walk next to the path and wet their boots, taking the safer, but less convenient path. There's another idiom paired with this one - "tannar rikknäära," meaning "walk on the ice."

Example sentence:

Bjóðra gär mitti ríni äða tannra lajä sínna írijä.

wet-FUT-F 1SG shoe-PL.ACC 1SG.POSS-PL.ACC and go-FUT-F there-LAT tell-BEN 3SG.N-LAT

/biːʃ.trɪːð/ [biːʃtɾɪːð] noun, neuter

Býrstrigð

or like. something like gingerbread. but it's not exactly gingerbread. but it's something like gingerbread more or less

Look, it's a traditional Kolic dessert that's seasoned with býrs /biːʃ/, which is a root used as seasoning. Is býrs just ginger? Probably not. Do I know what it is? Definitely not. Does it have a real-world equivalent? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't have very much to say, but I can at least show you the gingerbreads I decorated yesterday. For eleven hours. I went to bed at 7:30 AM

Example sentence:

Aera gär ínnän jäínna jaegära kartära þýmrä býrstrigði.

be.F.ATEM 1SG stay-ABL awake.F night-PERL whole-PERL make-INE býrstrigð-PL.ACC

/kar.rɑ/ [karːɑ] noun, feminine

Wood

Wood is obviously very important for the Kolic. They use it to build houses and funiture, to burn as fuel, and to get wood tar, which they use for many purposes, such as coating their ships, walls, and roofs to make them waterproof (which gives them their signature black appearance), they use it in soaps and medicines, and even as seasoning and flavouring in dishes and desserts.

Example sentence:

Jätta aera gär sparrän kärrän daegðënin rínënin.

today be.F.ATEM 1SG cut-ABL wood-GEN father-COM 1SG.POSS-F.COM

Today I cut some wood with my dad.

/spɛɪ̯.trɪ/ [spɛɪ̯tɾɪ] noun, masculine

Fest, gathering

Yesteday, we talked about þrimmujaega, which is a kind of späëtri.

The word späëtri comes from the word späëgir, meaning "to gather."

Kolic fests differ quite a lot, depending on what fest it is. During þrimmujaega, there's a lot of food, people celebrate, and tell stories from the Kolic mythology. Another kind of fest is the communal hot spring bath, which is a lot more spiritual, and consists of a common journey up a mountain, to the hot springs, followed by a ritual cleanse.

Even funerals are considered a kind of fest. During the entire day of the funeral, no one in the village is allowed to talk with their voice, to not disturb the soul finding its way to the afterlife. Instead, everyone communicates using the Kolic Sign Language (which I have not developed yet, but I'm planning to in the future!) which has a lot of spiritual and religious significance in the Kolic culture.

Example sentence:

Irru ýþ späëtri ynri Kólra Aggoðän.

be.N.FUT this fest first.M Kól-INE Aqqutaq-GEN

/θrɪm.mə.jaɪ̯.gɑ/ [θɾɪmːəjaɪ̯ɣɑ] noun, feminine

Winter Solstice

Kól lies on the southern polar circle, so on the day of the winter solstice, the sun doesn't rise. All the Kolic get is a bit of twilight.

This is a holiday for the Kolic, and their villages stay alive and awake throughout the whole polar night. Most people take breaks to sleep, but some commit to two-days-long vigils, staying awake through the whole thing.

Example sentence:

Fórtrju Tärgjun ínnir jäínnjun þrimmujaegära kartära ýþära.

try-DIM.FUT Tärga-DIM stay-INF awake-DIM winter_solstice-PERL entire-PERL this-PERL

Little Tärga will try to stay awake this entire winter solstice.

This vigil is usually only performed by adults, so Tärga's chances aren't the greatest! Wish her luck!

/pɪ.rʏː.jən/ [pɪɾʏːjən] noun, diminutive

sigh let's do this.

It's half past 1 in the morning, and this is by far the longest Lexember entry I've done so far (at least it was on YouTube). Let me tell you about all the lore I spontaneously made up around this word!

Some of you might be getting certain Viil vibes from this word. They're not exactly obvious, this word looks a lot more Kolic than some other loans from Viil, but it's true! This word does originally come from Viil.

You see, the Viiqit are a nomadic culture. They live in tents, reminiscent of yurts or tents, when it's summer, and in igloo-like structures when it's winter. This means that their floors are not really very well insulated.

That's why carpet making became extremely important for the Viiqit, and even became one of the highest forms of art in their culture. Carpets by the Viiqit became an extremely prized trade good.

Their carpets are, in fact, so famous and important, that the Viil word for carpet, pirujjut (which comes from the root piru = to do with covering, + -jjut = "flat object" noun class marker), entered Kolic as meaning "a Viiqit carpet," and eventually displaced the original Kolic word for carpet.

What's in my opinion even more interesting, however, is why the word is diminutive in Kolic.

You may notice that the word pirujjut ends with -jut. The T is unreleased, so unless you're a Viil speaker, you're not very likely to pick up that it's even there. So the Kolic heard "pirujju," and hearing the "-ju" ending, they adapted it into Kolic as the only gender that ends similarly: the diminutive.

Interestingly, while ordinary carpets have retained the diminutive gender, authentic Viiqit carpets are deemed to be too grand to be diminutive, so the Kolic started calling them "piru" - a neuter noun that came from "pirújun" through backformation. This happens to be identical to the Viil root meaning something to do with covering (but it exist as a standalone word in Viil, since there isn't a wordform in Viil that wouldn't take at least some affixes).

Example sentence:

Däëtvni, äëri gär kyfðrä pirújunaen!

look-IMP-PL.ATEM | be.M.ATEM 1SG house-INE carpet-ESS ||

Check it out, I'm in the house like carpet!

/dɛɪ̯t͡ʃɪr/ [dɛɪ̯t͡ʃɪɾ̥] verb, intransitive

Look

Look, sorry I am posting this after midnight again I was having fun playing Minecraft with my friendos :3

But the YouTube entry was uploaded on time!

Anyway, it is now half past one in the morning, and I am very tired. Moreover, the main meat plant protein of my YouTube entry is something that I'm pretty sure I already talked about here? It's how the Kolic language talks about time basically opposite of how English does it.

So here, have an example sentence:

Aeru þýrri rýþaen fylmnä. Þúvu ir däëtir lókjä án, nae þúðvu tajä.

be.N.ATEM time stream-ESS mountain-SUP || can-N.ATEM 3SG.EXPL look-INF bottom-LAT 3SG.F | but can-N.ATEM top-LAT

/rɪk.kɪ/ [ɾɪʰkɪ] noun, masculine

Ice

Ice is very important for the Kolic, as they use it to preserve foods throughout the summer. They have these chambers called rikkurísri (singular: rikkurísi), which are dug into the ground, filled with ice in the winter, and kept cold throughout the year. I don't know how realistic this is, but it sounds cool. (haha get it?)

They could actually always just refill it with the ice from the nearby mountaintops that are permanently frozen over. I didn't include this in my video, because it's only just now occurred to me. For some reason. It's extremely obvious in retrospect.

Anyway, example sentence:

Hja gäë rikkin, ýna späëragvni nú äða määratvni rikkurísräjä.

already have.SG.ATEM ice-GEN | this.BEN gather<3SG.M.ACC>-IMP-PL 1PL and bring<3SG.M.ACC>-IMP-PL ice_chamber-INE.LAT ||

/tɛɪ̯t.tɑ/ [tɛɪ̯ʰtɑ] noun, feminine

Snow

I don't really have anything interesting to say about this word, that's why today's YouTube entry was only 30 seconds. Sorry. Let's see how I manage tomorrow, given my pick. lol

Example sentence:

Aeru jätufnän rägða teittän!

be.N.ATEM fall-ABL lot_of snow-GEN

/sin.nɑr/ [sinːɑɾ̥] verb, ambitransitive

Don't be confused, this is kind of the same word that we already saw on Lexember 10th, but it has a different meaning.

I originally had a different word in mind, with a different etymology, but it was so unrealistic that it was actually kind of embarrassing, so I ended up doing what I do best: copying Portuguese 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

In Portuguese, the word "contar" means both "tell" and "count," as can be seen in the song "Wave" by Tom Jobim: The first verse begins with "Vou te contar que os olhos já nem podem ver coisas que só o coração pode entender," which means "I'm going to tell you that the eyes can no longer see things that only the heart can understand," and in the last one goes "Agora eu já sei da onda que sergueu no mar, e das estrelas que esquecemos de contar," which means "Now I know of the wave that rose in the sea, and of the stars that we forgot to count." I totally didn't have to quote so much of the lyrics of Wave at you but. I love this song very much. And the language also

Anyway! I decided to do the same, and make the word for "count" the same as "tell" in Kolic.

Example sentence:

Jaeðu gär tae sínnar júrðjä!

know-N.ATEM 1SG only count.INF four-LAT ||

I can only count to four!

/gɑrt/ [gɑrt] adjective

Favourite

I am not 100% sure what you mean, sorry. If you're talking about ordering your words according to your own alphabet, for example in your reference lexicon, I unfortunately haven't found a good solution, at least with GitHub pages which I'm using for my reference grammars. The Kolic reference lexicon is ordered according to the Latin alphabet order, and I did some really ugly dirty tricks to get the Viil reference lexicon ordered differently, but it still only orders differently by the first letter, and the rest is ordered according to the Latin alphabet still.

I have a feeling this is probably not what you meant though, so if I completely misunderstood you, I'm sorry, and please feel free to clarify! :3

/aɪ̯.nɑr/ [aɪ̯nɑɾ̥] verb, ambitransitive

Sing

This word isn't exactly new like the rest of my Lexember entries, but in a certain way, it kind of is.

I had this word in one of the very earliest versions of the language, but then I kind of forgot about it. It didn't appear in any of my word lists or dictionaries since then, and I actually had to dig up a screenshot of my old Polyglot file from back when I still used Windows, just to see what the word was, because I had actually forgotten it.

Example sentence:

Let's see an example sentence!

Aena ár aenu Firränu. Aeruga migða äänin?

sing-F.ATEM 3SG.F song-ACC Firra-POSS-ACC || be.N.ATEM=Q well 3SG.F.COM ||

She's singing Firra's Song. Is she alright?

Firra's song is a song from the Kolic Mythology that I've been working on for years now. It's a five-part choir piece, and it's still not finish, but I'm at five and a half minutes now and I think I'm slowly nearing the end. But writing my own lyrics is extremely difficult, since I want perfect rhymes, and I'm not a lyricist or a poet (and also writing it in English, which is my second langauge).