[Multilingual Monday] As easy as Āi, Zī,Yū: Nōsō Numbers and Dates
Would you believe that I have a whole journal filled with almost exclusively stuff I've written about my conlang Nōsō? It's certainly not been easy, especially since making words requires breaking words down to create, if not a descriptive word built from the Nōsō vocabulary (horse -> rōm -> "ride-on being"), at least some vague reference (moon -> yür -> "reflects light", a vague reference to how one sees the moon in the sky). So obviously when coming up with names for animals, trees, foods, and abstract concepts, I have to be fairly creative.
I have almost always had the numbers 1, 2, and 3 -- three is a basis for the very language -- from pronouns (1st, 2nd, and 3rd person), demonstrative pronouns (this, that, that over there), and even markers for tense (past, present, and future), all based on 1, 2, and 3. The characters above are 1, 2, and 3 -- 1 is pronounced āi, and features two "elements" -- ā, representing "1" (start, begin, first, before, and like connotations), and ī, (center, middle, between, current, etc.) as a physical differentiator -- we have three lines, one of which is marked with a cross stroke -- I don't mean those other two lines, I mean THIS FIRST LINE. The same concept works for the third character above this represents 3 and is pronounced yū, with the same ī element seen in the number character for one, plus a new element pronounced ū (last, final, end, after, etc.). Like the character for "one", this represented three strokes and the LAST had the cross-stroke to emphasize that yes, this THIRD line is what I'm referring to. Over the last six years the characters have become somewhat skewed and simplified in handwriting, but it had originated as a mirror image of "one". So, what about two? This number is pronounced zī, and if you look at the bottom element, it is again ī, and the top element, z, is "hand" (and is in fact sort of a simplified hand ideograph), further emphasizing the meaning of two -- two strokes, the same number of hands.
So we have 1, 2, and 3. Where does one go after this? Creating a base-3 number system? I'm not that masochistic, thank you. Indeed, it's still base-10, but I had to delve into numerology to try to find "meanings" to numbers that I could use. Sadly, several studies of numerology contradict one another, and the whole "numbers having meaning" thing ends up not being helpful in the least. Regardless, I got up to 10...
1: āi : Beginning (explained above)
2: zī : Duality (explained above)
3: yū : Whole (explained above)
4: mēr : Creation (Literally: "Advancement of being created")
5: ðot : Thought (Literally: "The part like thought")
6: bēšuv : Perfection (Literally: "The action about being made good")
7: hul : Spirit (Literally : "Life Like a Spirit")
8: šü : Reversal (Literally : "Do against")
9: növ : Growth (Literally : "Body Seems To Increase")
10: vrāu : Advance (Literally : "Add and Advance Along The Path")
Of course, since these all have actual meanings, does this mean that their meanings, like "reversal" or "perfection" can also have other meanings? You know, I'm sure they CAN, where either context or conjugation (for example, as a verb) would clarify which is meant. Or, other synonyms could be made and then used for the non-number meaning -- it all depends on how the language is used, once I build it up enough to actually be USED.
Numbers can be made up to 99, and follow a similar system to Japanese. Twelve, for example, is vrāuzī (literally "10 2"). 75 is hulvrāu ðot , "7 10 5". 69 (heh) is bēšuvvrāu növ (6 10 9).
Other borrowings from Japanese :
THE MONTHS: Call it lazy, but the months have no names like "May", etc. -- instead they follow the Japanese system of a number + "moon". In both languages, for example, September in both languages is "9 Month" -- in the case of Nōsō this is növyür.
DAYS OF THE WEEK: Again, here I followed the Japanese lead for the days of the week ...
Sunday : 日曜日 : cyërim (Sun Day / "Light In The Sky" Day)
Monday : 月曜日 : yürim (Moon Day / "Reflects Light" Day)
Tuesday : 火曜日 : fēnim (Fire Day / "The Body That Is Fire" Day)
Wednesday : 水曜日 : þërim (Water Day / "That Which Flows" Day)
Thursday : 木曜日 : anim (Wood Day / "Body of the Tree" Day)
Friday : 金曜日 : ketim (Metal Day / "Piece Inside The Earth" Day)
Saturday : 土曜日 : ōkim (Earth Day / "Ground of the Land" Day)
The "Day" found here, im, is quite literally "light given".
So how do you form a date? We'll take Tuesday, August 26th -- fēnim, šüyür zīvrāu bēšuvim.
Popular days, therefore, would be ðotyür ðotim, vrāuzīyür zīvrāu ðotim, ketim vrāuyūim, and who could forget mēryür vrāu növim?
Of course this isn't finished. After all, I don't have "100" yet. Or "1000" -- how do I break down explaining what "100" is? Or 1000? 10,000? 1,000,000? I've tinkered with "many", but just where to I put many? How many is "many", really? So, as of now, I can't put any BCE years into the language (unless I break them down into two parts like in English - "nineteen sixty-nine" -- but what of 2000? 2006? There's that pesky 1000 needed again!
Yes, you SHOULD be afraid that I spend my free time doing this -- why do you ask?
I have almost always had the numbers 1, 2, and 3 -- three is a basis for the very language -- from pronouns (1st, 2nd, and 3rd person), demonstrative pronouns (this, that, that over there), and even markers for tense (past, present, and future), all based on 1, 2, and 3. The characters above are 1, 2, and 3 -- 1 is pronounced āi, and features two "elements" -- ā, representing "1" (start, begin, first, before, and like connotations), and ī, (center, middle, between, current, etc.) as a physical differentiator -- we have three lines, one of which is marked with a cross stroke -- I don't mean those other two lines, I mean THIS FIRST LINE. The same concept works for the third character above this represents 3 and is pronounced yū, with the same ī element seen in the number character for one, plus a new element pronounced ū (last, final, end, after, etc.). Like the character for "one", this represented three strokes and the LAST had the cross-stroke to emphasize that yes, this THIRD line is what I'm referring to. Over the last six years the characters have become somewhat skewed and simplified in handwriting, but it had originated as a mirror image of "one". So, what about two? This number is pronounced zī, and if you look at the bottom element, it is again ī, and the top element, z, is "hand" (and is in fact sort of a simplified hand ideograph), further emphasizing the meaning of two -- two strokes, the same number of hands.
So we have 1, 2, and 3. Where does one go after this? Creating a base-3 number system? I'm not that masochistic, thank you. Indeed, it's still base-10, but I had to delve into numerology to try to find "meanings" to numbers that I could use. Sadly, several studies of numerology contradict one another, and the whole "numbers having meaning" thing ends up not being helpful in the least. Regardless, I got up to 10...
1: āi : Beginning (explained above)
2: zī : Duality (explained above)
3: yū : Whole (explained above)
4: mēr : Creation (Literally: "Advancement of being created")
5: ðot : Thought (Literally: "The part like thought")
6: bēšuv : Perfection (Literally: "The action about being made good")
7: hul : Spirit (Literally : "Life Like a Spirit")
8: šü : Reversal (Literally : "Do against")
9: növ : Growth (Literally : "Body Seems To Increase")
10: vrāu : Advance (Literally : "Add and Advance Along The Path")
Of course, since these all have actual meanings, does this mean that their meanings, like "reversal" or "perfection" can also have other meanings? You know, I'm sure they CAN, where either context or conjugation (for example, as a verb) would clarify which is meant. Or, other synonyms could be made and then used for the non-number meaning -- it all depends on how the language is used, once I build it up enough to actually be USED.
Numbers can be made up to 99, and follow a similar system to Japanese. Twelve, for example, is vrāuzī (literally "10 2"). 75 is hulvrāu ðot , "7 10 5". 69 (heh) is bēšuvvrāu növ (6 10 9).
Other borrowings from Japanese :
THE MONTHS: Call it lazy, but the months have no names like "May", etc. -- instead they follow the Japanese system of a number + "moon". In both languages, for example, September in both languages is "9 Month" -- in the case of Nōsō this is növyür.
DAYS OF THE WEEK: Again, here I followed the Japanese lead for the days of the week ...
Sunday : 日曜日 : cyërim (Sun Day / "Light In The Sky" Day)
Monday : 月曜日 : yürim (Moon Day / "Reflects Light" Day)
Tuesday : 火曜日 : fēnim (Fire Day / "The Body That Is Fire" Day)
Wednesday : 水曜日 : þërim (Water Day / "That Which Flows" Day)
Thursday : 木曜日 : anim (Wood Day / "Body of the Tree" Day)
Friday : 金曜日 : ketim (Metal Day / "Piece Inside The Earth" Day)
Saturday : 土曜日 : ōkim (Earth Day / "Ground of the Land" Day)
The "Day" found here, im, is quite literally "light given".
So how do you form a date? We'll take Tuesday, August 26th -- fēnim, šüyür zīvrāu bēšuvim.
Popular days, therefore, would be ðotyür ðotim, vrāuzīyür zīvrāu ðotim, ketim vrāuyūim, and who could forget mēryür vrāu növim?
Of course this isn't finished. After all, I don't have "100" yet. Or "1000" -- how do I break down explaining what "100" is? Or 1000? 10,000? 1,000,000? I've tinkered with "many", but just where to I put many? How many is "many", really? So, as of now, I can't put any BCE years into the language (unless I break them down into two parts like in English - "nineteen sixty-nine" -- but what of 2000? 2006? There's that pesky 1000 needed again!
Yes, you SHOULD be afraid that I spend my free time doing this -- why do you ask?