News from Sambahsa world, 19 July 2009

Sunday, July 19, 2009

An alternate universe where Sambahsa had been spoken in the Middle Ages might have seen an empire existing somewhere around here.

For those interested in auxlangs, here's what's been happening with Sambahsa over the past month or so. Four areas in particular I've found to be particularly interesting.

The first new bit of content can be found here, and is probably the most important addition over the past month - it's a list of basic words and phrases in Sambahsa and English, which is something I've been wanting to see for a while. If you are good at going through grammar books then the primer is where you want to start, but a lot of people simply don't like learning a language this way and prefer to start out by seeing it in action instead and then figuring out the rules later. If possible though it's best to use both methods for learning a language - the grammar book for when you have some free time to spend in a coffee shop or somewhere, and the phrase book for when you only have a few minutes on the bus or a break at work.

The second can be found here, in the files section of the Sambahsa group. Olivier has been translating quite a bit of content into the language so now there is much more available to read. Some of the short stories there have English on the side and others are in Sambahsa alone.

Third update: as a kind of Indo-European Babel text, Olivier has selected a part of Perseus and Andromeda that is a good candidate to be translated into various other Indo-European languages in order to compare them with Sambahsa. If you want to translate the paragraph into a language you know then either do so in the comments section below or send it to either me or Olivier. Here it is in French and a few ancient languages.
Français :

Persée s’arrêta pour boire à Chemnis, en Egypte. Comme il longeait la côte de Palestine, il aperçut une femme nue enchaînée à un rocher et aussitôt il tomba amoureux d’elle. C’était Andromède, fille de Céphée, le roi noir africain de Jaffa, et de Cassiopée. Cassiopée s’était vantée qu’elle et sa fille était plus belles que les Néréides ; celles-ci se plaignirent de cette insulte à Neptune, leur protecteur. Neptune envoya un déluge et une baleine femelle pour dévaster la Palestine, et, lorsque Céphée consulta l’oracle d’Amman, il lui fut répondu qu’il n’avait qu’une seule chance d’être délivré : sacrifier Andromède à la baleine. Ses sujets l’avaient donc contraint de l’attacher à un rocher, nue, portant seulement quelques bijoux, et de l’abandonner là pour être dévorée.

Latin :

Perseus bibitum in Chemnide, in Aegypto, constitit. Litoris Palaestinis legendis, mulierem nudam rupi vinctam prospexit et statim amore ejus captus est. Erat Andromeda, filia Cephei, regis aethiopici Ioppes, et Cassiopes. Cassiope jactaverat se suamque filiam pulchriores esse Nereidibus ; hae de isto probro apud Neptunum, patronum suum, quiverunt. Neptunus diluvium cetumque femineum ad Palaestinam vastandam misit, et, cum Cepheus oraculum Ammonis consuluit, ei responsum est ei esse unam spem ad se liberandum : immolare Andromedam ceto. Cujus cives coegerant ut eam rupi, nudam, solum nonnullis gemmis ornatam vinxerit atque hic reliquerit quae vorata sit.

Grec Ancien :

Ho Perseus epestathê hina piê en tê Khemnide, en tê Aiguptô. En tô auton parerkhesthai tên paralian tês Palaistinês, eiden gunaika gumnên dedesmeumenên petra kai autika aphiketo eis erôta autês. Ên hê Andromeda, hê thugatêr tou Kêphea, tou basileôs tou aithiopikou tês Ioppês, kai tês Kassiopês. Hê Kassiopê êlazoneuto epi tô autên kai tên thugatera autês einai kalliona tôn Nêrêïdôn ; hautai emempsanto ekeinên tên hubrin para tô Poseidôni, tô prostatê autôn. Ho Poseidôn apesteilen kataklusmon kai kêtos thêlu hina porthêsôsin tên Palaistinên, kai, en tô ton Kêphean khrasthai en tô Ammôni, autô apekrithê hoti esti mia elpis tou eleutherousthai : thuesthai tên Andromedan tô kêtei. Hoi oun hupêkooi anagkakeisan auton dein autên petra, gumnên, kekosmemenên monon oligois khlidôsin, kai apoleipein autên ekei hina katedesthe.

Gothique :

Perseus gastond ei drugki in Chemnja, in Aigyptàu. §andé iddja and marista§ Palàisteinôs, sahv naqada qinôn, eisarnabandida stàina jah andwaîr§o war§ izôs frijonds. Was Andromeda, daùhtar Kefaiàus, ài§iopiskis §iudanis Joppôs, jah Kassiopaiôs. Kassiopaia habada flauti§ ei si jah sô daùhtar izôs wêsun skaunizôns §àu Nereidôs; §ôs gaunodedun bi §ô naitein at Poseidin, §amma fri§ufraujin izô. Poseida sandida midjasweipàin jah hvala ei talodedeina Palàisteina, jah, §an Kefaius birûnada siunei Ammanis, imma ist andwaùrdi§o ei was àina wêns ei sik galausidedi: hunsljan Andromeda hvalài. Ei§an §ài undartawidans is naudidedun ei bundi ija stàina, naqada, wasjanda hvêh sumans a§alstàinans, jah ei afleti ija §ar ei si sijai fraitana.

Sanskrit:

pârasaur vyavasthâta pâtuM hemnidi misare. phalasathîNavelâyâm adrâkSîd drSadi nibbadhâM nagnâM janîM ca akâlikam abhût tayos preyaH. âsît andromedâ, duhitâ kaphayasya, kâlasya râjo yoppyâH, ca kassiopyâH. kassiopî saMçaçlâghe tayâ ca tadduhitrâ sundaratarâbhyâM nereydbhiH; etâ açucann amuSminn anâdare pratyapâMnapâtam, tatparirakSitâram. apâMnapât eSad jalaplâvanaM ca timim upamardayituM phalasathînam, ca, kaphayât prSTo’mmno daivajño’cakathat tasmâyekam uttaraM tatavasâyâH : hotum andromedâM timyai. tatanujîviNo hyadâdharaMs tasmai nibanddhuM tâM drSadi, nagnâm, maNDitâm aNga katibhiç cim maNikaiH, ca recayituM tâm atra predyâm.

Sambahsa-Mundialect

Perseus vistahsit kay pohe in Chemnis, in Misr. Kun gwahsit engwn Palestines ripa, is dyohrc unu nogwu gwen zangirbohnden uni perwnt ed is fauran se enliubh dia iam. Eet Andromeda, dugter os Kepheus, Jaffas aydokwo roy, ed as Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia hieb kwohrt schekhi od ia ed ays dugter eent beller quem ias Nereides; tas schikieyr de tod hakara bi Neptwn, iro protector. Neptwn yis un deluge ed un ster kiet kay harbe Palestine, ed kun Kepheus consultit Ammans oracle, ei buit antwohrden is hieb tik oin chance kay ses luren: maule Andromeda ay kiet. Eys ghi subjects hieb ei dwighto diehnes iam uni perwnt, nogwu, vehsend tik oika clenods, ed linkwes iam ter kay ses praedden.
Finally, there is now a short list of cognates between Sambahsa and Armenian. Armenia is pretty much exactly where a fictional country that uses Sambahsa would be located, as that's just far enough to keep a largely European-looking IE language, but close enough to the Middle East that you could see a lot of Arabic and Persian influence too, and these loanwords can be seen in Armenian as well. Here's the list.

Sambahsa – Armene

Acete : katsakh

Alyo : ayl

Angh : negh

Arater : aror (plugh)

Argwrnt : ardzat’

Asel : es^

Aumber : amb (nebh)

Aux : ez

Ayg : aydz

Cat : katu

Chay : t’ey

Cort : kardj

Cuit : kas^i

Dar : der’

Deiwer : deqr

Dent : adam

Dom : dun

Dugter : dowstr

Dwer : tur

Edd : udel

Euc : usanel

Fustan : fistan

Gazd : tzogh

Genu : dzunk

Gwen : kin (esor)

Gwern : aghorik (molin)

Gwow : gov

Jaquet : djaket’

Kwaun : s^un

Kerd : sird

Khandak : khandak (grov)

Lac : lidj

Lampe : lamba

Lav : lual

Lax : losdi

Lingua : lezu

Luce : lowys

Luna : lusin (meun)

Mater : mayr

Medio : mêj^teg’

Megil : medz

Miems : mis

Mighel : meq (nebule)

Mohrt(os) : mer’aç

Mus : muk

Nam : anown

Nauk : navak (bark)

Nav : nav

Negnoht : ançanot’ (tarnien)

Nov : nor

Oct : owt’

Ok : ac^k

Oms : us

Onkh : yeghunq

Orbh : orb

Osyern : as^un

Pad ! : pat (aend)

Palat : balad

Pantalon : p’ant’ol

Pater : hayr

Piern : her’ow

Piurn : howr (flamme)

Sabd : s^apat’

Schischee : s^is^ (botel)

Seg : sghots

Semen : serm

Stomak : sdamoks

Suker : s^akar

Taper : dabar (sekwr)

Tarjem : t’arqmanel

Urx : ards^

Vase : vaza

Vin : qini

Warm : ds^erm

Wegh : ughi (strad, route)

Wehrg : gorç

Ya : ayo



Edit: you can see some analysis of that proposed Sambahsic Empire (if it existed now) in French here. I was thinking of the location of an ancient empire, but since we're talking about an alternate universe you could imagine it existing now too. Here's the map with the borders of other countries for comparison.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dank spollay Dave !

Io ne hieb exspectet to. Alyo ghi wir hat ja id sam idee quem tu de id "urheimat" os IE/Sambahsa:
http://alterling2.narod.ru/English/Alindin.html
Indo-Europays maghient druve-ye gwehme ex tod region (Maykop); Io personal-ye cheusiem id gaivia ambh lac Urmya (Nordwest Iran), id ghi esiet id ver tolp ios biblic paradays !

Tiel mox !

Olivier

Barcodex said...

Dave, I can see you sending AuxLang articles again :) good news :)

Me said...

Ed artiklo pri Ido hiere. Ka tu lektis to?

  © Blogger templates Newspaper by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP