Sunday, March 27, 2016

Bryatesle: A Farewell with Religious Significance

In Bryatesle, Dairwueh, and less so Ćwarmin society, greetings often convey religious sentiments. Consider, for instance, the 'good night' farewell; many Bryatesle religiolects form this very much like English, but in the ablative (because that is the case generally used when wishing someone something) -
vind-ïn tal-ëta
good-abl.fem night-abl.fem
The kindaper religion, however, considers the night to be evil per se, a time when the sun-angel is subdued and weakened. Instead, they say
snyk-Ø ɕavr-ity
fast-(abl.masc) victory-abl.masc
(for a) fast victory!
Sometimes,  these also render 'good morning' as tënek/drask ɕavrity, either a 'strong' or 'right' victory, referring to the perception that the sun has (again) won over the night. Snyk-Ø and drask are shorter than the expected forms *snyk-ek, *drask-ek, due to haplology.

The same happens in Dairwueh, and to a lesser extent in Ćwarmin:
Ćwarmin:
samar śavr-otuc
fast victory-[def. comitative-to]
The comitative-to is used in Ćwarmin also for wishing someone something, or wishing it more generally as a form of interjection-like statement. Śavar is borrowed from Bryatesle's ɕaver, and the loss of the second syllable in both is a coincidence - the languages happen to have a similar morphophonological process going.

Dairwueh:
korŋa i marbr-u-ŋa
speed-instr to victory-instr
(victory comes from marbar, 'stronger', and basically originally meant 'strongerness')

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