Classical Arithide

Classical Arithide is an ancient Arophanic language of the Arithidic branch, originally spoken in Calagia, the coastal region in northeast Arophania immediately bordering the Issol A'i and surrounding the ancient capital of Isphea. It is the common appellation of the highly stylised Isphean dialect of the Arithide language in the classical age, which, by virtue of Isphea's situation as a political, cultural and economic centre, had been exposed to and influenced by various other dialects and languages of the early Lazeian Empire.

By virtue of its position as the dialect of the capital, the language was spoken in the courts of the Lazeian Empire, and, with this bolstering prestige, gained widespread currency through the Empire's trade and exploratory expeditions, cultural influence, and establishment of colonies, tributaries and vassal states across a large swathe of the western world. It hence served also as the language of learning, throughout antiquity to the Renaissance. With its rich vocabulary and many expressive possibilities, it was the dominant literary language even in areas outside the Empire, influencing such tongues as Dethric, and it remains an important source of neologistic roots today. Classical Arithide is also the primary liturgical language of the Pheide faith.

Over the course of its long lifetime as the primary international auxiliary language in the western Ilethes, Classical Arithide developed in parallel into Koine Arithide, an alternative, albeit less highly-regarded, lingua franca. While the koine came to be widely used in the spheres of trade, missionary work, and other assorted forms of low-level contact, high-level international discourse in diplomacy, conferences and the like continued to be held in the classical tongue, and treaties, laws, contracts and other legally, politically or symbolically significant documents were still written therein.

History

Main article: History of Classical Arithide

See also

• Classical Arithide grammar
• Classical Arithide poetry
• Classical Arithide roots
• Classical Arithide phrases in current use

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