Conlang Relay 23/Taivwni Dziwm
Smooth English Translation of Old Albic
"In the oldest time, people say, a tyrant ate an herb that caused him to desire power over people; he desperately desired to rule an empire." -- King Bloodletter
What he ate gave him knowledge that made him able to begin and conduct war. Thus what he desired, he found and ate, he punished himself.
Taivwni Dziwm Text
"Corich agiam, ayich agiam, dovwthe cazi covo, gi us ra golamaesi lwsaec. Res caithecheci caithechene nolvam lw." -- Ravumun Dovwthe
Cazi ik res covo iloco rau ichi, laigi res tauchiane hura. Laigi res maik res lw barthe gi covo, ayo res nav echaer.
Smooth English Translation of Taivwni Dziwm
"Once upon a time, a king ate an herb, and it made him want power over people. He desperately wanted to rule a kingdom." -- The Bloody King
The herb that he ate gave him knowledge, and thus he was able to wage war. Thus he found and ate what he wanted, and then he punished himself.
Word List
Word POS Meaning agiam adv to the end, all the way ayich adv in the north ayo conj and then, then barthene v to find, discover caithecheco n kingdom, empire caithechene v to rule cazi n herb with medicinal or magical properties corich adv upriver covone v to eat dovwthe n king, ruler echaerne v to punish gi conj and golamaesi n power (over people, not individual ability or empowerment) hurane v to be able, can ichine v to give ik pn that (relative pronoun) iloco n knowledge laigi conj thus, so that maik pn that which (contraction of demostrative and "ik") nav pn himself/herself (reflexive pronoun) nolvam adv very, intensely, desperately ravumun adj bloody res pn (s)he tauchiane v to wage war us pn it lwne v to desire, want
Grammar Notes
Nominals: the four cases that you will encounter in this text are Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, and Dative-Allative. Only certain personal pronouns have an Accusative that's distinct from the Nominative; the ones you'll encounter are "us" (Acc. "an") and "res" (Acc. "ra"). The Genitive is formed by replacing the final vowel of a noun with -i, whereas the Dative-Allative is formed by adding a -u to the Accusative. Note that the object of an infinitive verb is in the Genitive, not the Accusative.
Verbs: the infinitive ends in -ne. The two finite forms that you will encounter are the 3rd person singular non-progressive (marked by the bare stem), and the 3rd person singular causative in -saec. Taivwni Dziwm verbs are not marked for tense.
Syntax: word order is SOV, and adjectives precede nouns, but relative clauses follow.
