Lexember 2
Welcome to the Lexember Challenge!
Every year, conlangers can take the opportunity for the month of December to challenge ourselves to add a new word to our conlang’s lexicon.
What word have you coined today? Any cultural or associated worldbuilding notes? Tell us about your inspiration!
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7 thoughts on “Lexember 2”
Today’s new word: skihi, an automaton (a non-sentient being that performs a task).
There’s plenty of magic in Ailhaotnůṙ, and one of the things that magic can definitely do is animate automatons. So, I figured that Firen would have a root with that meaning, rather than deriving it from something else like most languages in our non-magical world did. Or at least, the derivation is much older than ours.
I haven’t quite determined exactly how the animation is going to work, but it’s probably within the realms of Green (change, chaos, dynamism), Purple (power of will), and Blue (harnessing the existing magical fabric of reality) magic. Red (fire, life) magic would probably work for things made of living or once-living matter, but that’s rather more like necromancy than animation. Grey (geomantic) magic tends to imbue sentience into its creations, so those aren’t skihia, those are sůṙjafia (stone people). And I actually don’t recall now what Glass (laws of reality) magic is supposed to be capable of, but I think it’s mostly passive observation.
(I’ve talked about the Aspects of Ailhaotnůṙ before but it occurs to me that that was a long time ago now and people have probably forgotten, so I can write a comment listing them all if anyone’s curious.)
I have indeed forgotten about Aspects of Ailhaotnůṙ , but they sound fascinating. And I love your words, as always! That skihi sounds so perfect for its meaning.
kēfō: vertical
kēfōkab: zebra
Zebras are culturally important to another part of the region where my conlang originates, so I figured they’d be important. (And “horse” is something like “brown zebra,” I guess?)
There’s probably a loanword “ebwu” pronounced similar to the British way for a special kind of zebra that’s different from the normal, symbolic and otherwise, animal, too.
I like how these meanings are derived! Also a nice sound to that word.
In Sikunn culture, oaths or vows are considered bonds on a person’s soul, so much that it’s a saying in that part of the world that “The Sikunn swear no oaths but to their god.” That being said, that’s why the meanings of this word. I’ll IPA it later.
okeletos – n. 1. sworn oaths or vows; 2. chain, whether for jewelry, machinery, etc.; 3. archaic. slavery or servanthood.
Slightly late but the word for the 2nd:
Isǣf, n. Arm. Possibly also branch? I don’t now yet…
Love that combination of meanings!