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So I've already talked about this at length (@kyraltre sorry for dumping all that on you lol) but I decided that I'll make a real post on it now that my thoughts are a bit more in order.
The word darasuum means eternity in Mando'a, and it's a word that pretty much anyone in the Clone Wars fandom will know, because of Vode An. But because of it's commonality, I've never thought about it much, until I decided to go find some of the roots and meanings behind it.
First off is dar.
Dar as a prefix means gone, temporary, or no longer [word]. For example, the word dar'manda means no longer Mandalorian, as dar'vod means no longer a brother. So what does dar mean in darasuum?
From what I could find (MandoCreator for anyone who's curious), the word asuum doesn't exist, but arasuum does.
Arasuum as a noun means stagnation, or the state of staying the same. Although this kind of gets rid of the dar prefix, I think that it could still work. If you assume that the d can work in place of a dar, darasuum can translate roughly to "no longer/not stagnant," or "changing". This ties into the Jedi teaching of the future always being in motion, so eternity must always be changing as well.
Taking that into account, one meaning of the Mandalorian eternity could be an ever-changing future, which I do really like, but I think there could be more layers to it.
So, let's go back to the original word, darasuum. Another root that I noticed was the word suum.
Suum is an adjective that straight up means "beyond". This (to me) references another Mandalorian (or at least I believe it's Mandalorian. there's a very good chance it's fanon that ive taken as canon, and if so someone please correct me) saying, "Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la". "Not gone, merely marching far away". Within my interpretation, this could mean marching beyond life, and into eternity.
Another word that I noticed was aran, guard. It isn't exactly there, but ara could work as a substitute for it.
Adding in the dar to ara implies the opposite of a guard, which I am taking to mean "unguarded", or someone who doesn't monitor or protect.
Putting this all together, you get "unguarded/open beyond", and again, this might be a bit of a stretch, but I think that this could show that eternity is not a fixed point, nor is it something to work towards. Living for eternity could be possible, because eternity doesn't pick and choose what can reach it, or what cannot.
And if you add in the death interpretation, this could mean that anyone has a chance at whatever is "beyond" life, regardless of what they did while they were there.
The Doylist explanation, of course, is that jetii is a Harlin word, and Harlin was doing his own thing. Let's talk Watsonian.
I'll separate the post into 3 sections: [j]e[t][ii].
/dÍĄĘ/, /j/, /tÍĄĘâ/...
In the Repcomm soundtrack, "J" is pretty consistently pronounced as a /j/, a "yod" like in "hallelujah". So how come jetii uses a "J", if mando'a didn't use to have a /dÍĄĘ/ sound? The spelling probably just got updated once "J" came to stand for /dÍĄĘ/ and the clones singing Vode An etc were applying the J-as-yod rule across the field when they perhaps shouldn't have. Maybe it was spelled "chetii", "tsetii" or "detii" in the past.
T vs D
While Traviss says,
Occasionally, the pronunciation of "t"s and
"d"s are swapped. "T" is the modern form; "d" is archaic,
it would seem to me more likely that perhaps Mando'a did not possess a /d/ sound at the point in time when the word for Jedi was adopted, and so the /d/ turned into a more familiar /t/, and the pronunciation did not "update" when the sound change occurred that (re?)introduced /d/ into the language. Alternatively/additionally, Traviss could be correct, and at the time /t/ mutated into a /d/ in particular positions, such as in jetii and kote, where it is between two vowel sounds. (In the Repcomm songs it sounds to only apply to kote, but it is a little difficult to make out what phonemes exactly are being used much of the time, anyway...)
AII, AYII, -II...
We have jetii, aruetii, kaminii, even or'dinii and prudii, that refer to people, so the -ii as a suffix most likely refers to people. So keeping the "ii" is important, "ai" would lack the morpheme. But why not -aii, like in vaii, or -ayii like in wayii? Hell, no idea, actually. Maybe Basic experienced a Great Vowel Shift the same as English, and what is now pronounced as [aÉŞ] was originally [iË]? Though, maybe not, because the predecessor of the Jedi Order (in Legends) was the Je'daii order.
On the other hand, perhaps [a] (like in Jedi, /ËdÍĄĘÉd.aÉŞ/) was not present as a phoneme in mando'a at the time the word's adoption (perhaps mando'a "A" was pronounced with a more back vowel sound such as <É> like in "father"), or was an allophone of, say, [É], and <eii> is not allowed in mando'a, so the more open vowel got dropped, leaving only -ii.
I have a bone with them. Why? Because they kind of look like just English prepositions, especially in how theyâre used. For example, whatâs the difference between ti and de? Does ti mean âwith, along, accompanyingâ and de is an instrument? No: theyâre just the same as the English ones i.e. ti is used both for accompanying and an instrument (whatâs de used for then? beside? but thatâs juaan?). What about bal and ti, does Mandoâa have different ways to indicate how two things go together? Again no, or only the same ways as English has. We also get some examples of phrasal verbs: jurkadir, jurkadir ti, jurkadir sha. While I like how the prepositions change the meaning here, they also feel somehow quintessentially English-y to me.
The glossary definitions are also just one word in English, when adpositions are typically highly polysemous. And because theyâre highly polysemous, it is very very unlikely for any two languages to share all of the senses. Are lights turned on or up? Does a coat hang from a hook or on it? It depends on the language! Some adpositions have a fairly predictable semantics (like âin, insideâ), but many others are more flexible among different languages: do you talk about a topic? From it, around it, for it, or of it? Tldr: adpositions tend to be highly idiosyncratic and itâs not a good idea to copy them wholesale from one language to another. English prepositions are idiosyncratic to English, not a universal objective standard.
Anyway. Here are my rewritten definitions. Iâm very much not satisfied with them yet, so this post is meant to be more of a discussion starter than a how-to guide. Iâve removed pronunciation, source and comment fields for ease of reading, but please note that Iâm by no means the sole author of all of these changes to the canon dictionary, but more of an editor instead. You can also see that some entries are much better edited than others; itâs a work in progress.
Choose a Mandoâa dictionary, find an existing word and give it another, new meaning.
Detailed instructions below! đ
What is polysemy?
Polysemy means the capacity for a word to have multiple related meanings. For example, school (building), school (institution), and school (to educate). Virtually all content words (like nouns, verbs and adjectives) are polysemous, that is, have several meanings.
In contrast to polysemy, where the senses are related, homonyms are words that that have several unrelated meanings. For example, English match (game) and match (device to light a fire). We can ignore homonyms for now, but theyâre good to keep in mind when you look at polysemies in other languagesâsometimes two words that look or sound the same may not be related at all!
A concept related to polysemy is colexification, the co-occurrence of different meanings together in one lexeme (a word). Colexifications or groupings of meanings are different between different languages, and therefore two words in different languages donât have exactly the same meaning ls and arenât used in exactly the same ways and contexts. For example, English âstraightâ has at least the following meanings:
ărectilineară (a straight line)
ăfrankă (straight talking)
ăhonestă (a straight guy)
ădirectlyă (straight to the point)
ăheterosexuală (gay or straight)
ăundilutedă (straight whisky)
ăclassicală (a straight play)
ăimmediatelyă (straight away)
While its closest translation in French, âdroit,â has slightly different meanings:
ărectilineară (un trait droit)
ădirectlyă (aller droit au but)
ăhonestă (un type droit)
ăright-handă (le cĂ´tĂŠ droit)
Some of the senses overlap, but not all of them! Both English and French have meanings that the other language doesnât.
(Examples from Francois 2008)
Different types of polysemy
Polysemy develops when a word comes to be applied to new contexts.
In linear polysemy, one meaning is a subset of the other:
From a whole to a part: door (entire structure) â door (panel)
From a part to a whole: leg (thigh and calf) â leg (thigh, calf and foot)
From a basic sense to a specialised sense: man (human being) â man (as opposed to a woman)
From a basic sense to a wider sense: (female) cow â cow (either sex)
In non-linear polysemy, the original sense is used figuratively:
Metonymy: a figure of speech, in which a concept is referred to by something associated with that concept. For example, boots (soldiers) or crown (ruler, or the government). Metonymy can be part to whole or whole to part relation.
Metaphor: a figure of speech where one thing is referred to by mentioning another, usually to imply a likeness or analogy between the things. For example, to boot (to kick out, or to fire), mouth (of a river), mouse (computer device).
Conversion or zero derivation (word class change) is a slightly different cxx, but for the purposes of this event, we can include it here. Zero derivation means forming a new word from an existing word of a different word class, without any change in form. For example, a breakfast (noun) > to breakfast (verb).
Polysemy in Mandoâa
Polysemy is an often overlooked tool in conlanging, but it is the easiest way of getting new wordsâjust use the ones you already have! Conlang dictionaries with a word for word definitions also often suffer from the problem of not being terribly natural. Giving your constructed words single-word English definitions may invite people to think they can use these words exactly like their English counterparts. But no two languages have exactly the same meanings for all of their wordsâpolysemies are language specific!
Mandoâa unfortunately suffers from this problem as well: most of the words have single-word English equivalents. But not all of them do. Here are some examples of polysemy in Mandoâa, where you can see how the culture has shaped the different senses:
aliit: clan name, identity â clan is an important part of their identity for Mandalorians; perhaps youâd go as far as to say clan is identity?
echoy'la: searching, mourning, lost
haastal: dried blood, scab (also a term for a lasting emotional scar)
jetiise: Jedi (plural), Republic â from a Mandalorian perspective, the Jedi are representatives of the Republic
mando: mandalorian (adjective), a mandalorian person (noun)
Here are a couple of examples of fan-created polysemies for canon words:
cin
aliiâgai
Etymologies in natural languages are all about metaphor, not logic. Think about new senses as poetry, not as a logic puzzle.
And that being said, the poetry and metaphors should be of the culture. When you look at a thing and ask âwhat would my blorbos call this?â you need to look at it through their eyes. Are they sedentary or nomadic? What level of technology do they have, is electricity to them about electrons or sparks or thunder? I think this is where Traviss did well, and thatâs a large part of why fans find Mandoâa compelling enough to learn (although itâs also been pointed out there were many Western cultural assumptions she also failed to check).
Sometimes it can be hard to say whether polysemy was intended: does kando mean the importance and weight given on a matter, or also literal weight?
It can be useful to distinguish between different senses and several synonymous words used to define one sense. For example, baâslanar is given the definition of âleave, depart, exitâ where âleaveâ and âdepartâ arenât different meanings, but synonyms for the same sense of the word.
Sometimes it can be difficult though. âDaughterâ and âsonâ are different meanings in English, but they arenât in Mandoâa! Here the same word applies to a wider set of referents than the corresponding English word would. But itâs not really about polysemy (a word having several distinct senses), but about Mandoâa not making the same distinctions between concepts as English does.
For now, donât worry overly much about whether a sense is distinct enough or not. Improved definitionsâwhich semantic ground does the word cover or notâare also valuable.
Prompt:
Think of some polysemies in a language you know. It could be English or another language you know, or it could be Mandoâa. Can you identify which types they are? How might they have developed? Dictionaries typically list the oldest recorded sense first, and newer senses afterâthis way, you may be able to see how the different senses have arisen.
Next, take a Mandoâa dictionary of your choice, find a word and give it an additional, new sense. Your sense may be any of the types listed above, or you may even make several. Try to think about how Mandalorians would think about that concept and about the additional contexts they might apply it to.
Polysemy is a great conlanging tool that you can put in your toolboxâand apply later in the month to other prompts as well.
Remember to share and tag #mandoxemberâand like, share and comment on othersâ posts! đ§Ąđ
How to find ideas?
Other related words in Mandoâa: For hints, you can look at other words that seem related to your word and what meanings they have.
Wiktionary: Wiktionary is an unusual dictionary in that it includes translations into several different languages rather than only translating from one language to another. You can use this feature to your advantage by searching for a word and then looking through its translations in different languages and noting all the different senses they have.
CLiCS: CLiCS is a database of colexifications in different languages, which includes information about colexifications in different languages and how common certain colexifications are.
Calque: Your additional sense may be a polysemy that exists in another language you knowâyes, you may give Mandoâa a polysemy from your native language! But before you do, think about whether it makes sense for Mandalorian culture, or whether it relies on an experience that is specific to your culture and not applicable to Mandalorians or the Galaxy Far Far Away with its different technology and society. Language has cultural baggage! Before you carry it over, make sure youâre doing so intentionally and not accidentally.
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Lexember is a social media event where for the month of December, participants coin new words (lexemes) in their constructed languages.
Lexember is a little like NaNoWriMo: the point is to have fun and get the creative juices flowing. Youâll have the rest of the year to tinker with and polish the finished product, so donât worry overly much about perfection.
What is Mandoâa?
Mandoâa is the language of the fictional Mandalorian people in the Star Wars universe. It is a constructed language, originally created by the composer Jesse Harlin for the soundtrack of Star Wars: Republic Commando video game and developed into a functional language by the novelist Karen Traviss in the Republic Commando novels and supplementary materials. Mandoâa has also made appearances in other Star Wars media, including The Clone Wars, Rebels and The Mandalorian.
Traviss stopped working on Mandoâa in 2009 when she stopped writing for Star Wars, leaving the language incomplete. Many fans have since continued to expand the lexicon and develop the language.
What is Mandoâa Lexember?
Mandoâa Lexember is a fandom event where, for the month of December, participants coin a new word in Mandoâa every day.
Mandoâa Lexember is in part aimed to rectify the problem of incomplete lexiconâand in part aimed to bring the fans together to have fun!
Mandoâa Lexember will run for the first time in 2025. If itâs a success, hopefully we can do it again next year. đ¤
Who can participate?
Anyone! The more the merrier.
How do I participate?
Follow along the daily prompts (or notâyou can also do something else if inspiration strikes), make a post on your blog, and remember to tag #mandoxember to share it with others! Weâd love it if you wrote a little explanation of how you came up with your word.
Follow the #mandoxember tag to see what others are doing. Remember to share, like and comment on otherâs posts! If you donât want to participate in creating words, you are welcome to participate in just this way too.
Please do remember to tag your posts with #mandoxember so other participants can find them! Several of the prompts ask you to find another participantâs word to use as your starting point. You can also tag #lexember, if you want to share your posts with the wider conlanging community on Tumblr, or follow the #lexember tag for ideas!
Do I have to know Mandoâa?
It helps! But you can also learn as you goâthe first few prompts will all have you digging through existing dictionaries to get started. Thereâs no need to know grammar for the purposes of this event.
It is helpful to have some familiarity with who the Mandalorians are as a people and culture. However, you donât have to have consumed all (or any) of the Star Wars mediaâa quick romp through Wookieepedia will get you up to speed on most things. But if you want to give Mandalore a skip and, for example, create your own clone trooper specific dialect of Mandoâa, thatâs fine too!
Here are more Mandoâa resources you can explore!
Do I have to have previous conlanging or linguistics experience?
No. There will be a prompt with instructions for every day. This event will also function as a sort of a Mandoâa specific mini course in word creation.
If you have questions about the prompt of the day, you can ask them in the notes or replies. Iâll try to answer as I have time, but participants are also welcome to help each other out & discuss the prompts together!
Here are more conlanging resources you can explore!
Do I have to know and/or use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?
No. Nice if you do, but no, this is not a phonology course. You do have to think about how the words will sound, but itâs fine to just do your best attempt to put it in writing. You can leave phonetics out altogether, but if you want to make an attempt, it is also fine to ask help, or even make a recording instead of IPA representation.
Phonology & romanisation resources & sounds of Mandoâa
Do I have to do all 31 days?
No. Do as many or as few as you want and have time for. Itâs supposed to be fun, not a chore. The more, the merrier though!
Some of the prompts build on the previous prompts. If you havenât done the previous prompt, you can always do the previous prompt instead or pick another one.
Do I have to use the prompts?
No! You can also do something different if the inspiration strikes you. Or you can use another dayâs prompt. You can answer a prompt several times, they wonât wear out anytime soon.
Why are all the prompts so technical?
Because the rules for word formation in Mandoâa are not clearly laid out & this event does not presume previous conlanging experience, so we kind of have to give some basics along the way⌠so this year lays out how to. If this event runs the next year, weâll probably do more thematic prompts, because weâll have already built up a good âlibraryâ of tools.
I disagree with the promptâs explanation?
Great!
Mandoâa is a pluricentric language. The canon Mandoâa itself has two versionsâHarlinâs and Travissâs. Fans have created several more. Thereâs no one true way of doing Mandoâa, so youâre welcome to do it your way instead & weâd love it if you shared your interpretation with others too!
This event is run and the prompts written by @ranahan, so the prompts naturally privilege their dialect. But you are free to use any dialect at all or do your own interpretation.
Can I use other peopleâs words?
Short answer: Yes. This event has several prompts that will have you deriving words from other participantsâ words.
Long answer: Itâs good form to link back to the creators from whom one gets their ideas to share the love. This is another reason why we hope you will tag your postsâit will make them easier to find and link back to in the future!
However, we canât enforce crediting the original creator. Words arenât quite like other creative worksâthey arenât covered by copyright. You donât need to cite your English teacher or a dictionary every time you use English, do you?
Language is at its core a cooperative creation. Itâs all about communication, after all! So letâs share our words and ideas with each otherâhopefully they will be adopted by other Mandoâa enthusiasts and live on.
I donât want my words to be copied by others?
Frankly the point of this event is to share words with othersâif you arenât okay with that, this event probably isnât for you.
Who are you?
Mandoxember is run by @ranahan.
Who made your icon and header?
Icon is the hammer and tongs by @starwarsbookclub to represent creation, with the nonbinary colours adjusted to represent the conlang flag. Header is this photograph by Vincentiu Solomon, also chosen for its resemblance to the conlang flag.
I have another question?
Leave it in the notes or comments of this post, or throw it in the askbox!
me: I think Iâm gonna be a multi fandom blog with a Star Wars focus
also me: *changes username to all Mandoâa*
guess weâll see how long this lasts. might change it to just orishya-buyce just for simplicityâs sake but whatever. I also really liked the sound of orishya-vod/e but the translation sounds kinda clonc*sty to me and I really didnât want to associate my blog with that stuff
If yâall have any suggestions dm me, really trying to find a name I like that sticks :/
