Ćwarmin and Rasmjinj have borrowed the system of times of day, as well as higher-order calendarical structures from Bryatesle, whereas Ətimin and Astami conserve the Ćwarmin-Ŋʒädär system intact. However, the lexemes in Ćwarmin and Rasmjinj are often cognate to those of the other Ćwarminoid languages, and have simply been repurposed to Bryatesle cultural standards.
Historical Background
The Ćwarmin-Ŋʒädär ur-tribes divided the day into a system somewhat familiar to us: morning, day, evening and night. The 'cycle' is considered to begin at sunrise. Every ĆŊD language has cognates to at least some of these terms. The divisions correspond to watches in camps (which, however, normally overlap.)
Subdivisions of the day
An important pair of adverbs that have surviving cognates in every branch, and also 'functional' equivalents in many languages that lack cognates, are
*birnwhich signify 'in the previous quarter of the day' or 'in the next quarter of the day'. The proto-language formed words meaning "a day and a quarter from now" or "three quarters of a day from now" by reduplicating these. Sound-changes have hit these particular words in some special ways - sometimes, the morphemes have been treated as separate words until at some point in each language's history, they've become full-fledged single morpheme words.
*voru
Cw: birmir, uarjur ( b > v / r_V or #_u, v > j /r_V, > u #_V)
Ast: birbir, uoruor (v > u /_o and also v > u /r_)
Rs: birnə, vorbʊ (v > b /_uC, _oC, _ʊC)
Ŋʒ: vırmız, varoz ( b > v /#_V, -z is a suffix)
Dg: (m)ʊmber, (m)ʊrbel (#b > #m, randomly. rv > rb, murber > murbel due to dissimilation)
In the Ćwarmin branch, a similar time yesterday can be specified by suffixing *-zi or *-zu. This -zi suffix is probably cognate to Ŋʒ -z. in Ćwarmin and Rasmjinj these terms exist, but now refer to the next span of Bryatesle day subdivisions.
A verb 'birdən' signifying 'to wait for one's turn, to be preparing for a task, to expect, to soon be busy' derives from *birn, whereas
In Ćwarmin and Rasmjinj these words rather signify the next/previous Bryatesle unit of time, of which there are eight per day, determined by the inner moon and the sun.
Morning, Day, Evening, Night
Ćw Ast Rs Ŋʒ Dg
arad arro arot äzä adʒı
jit int injtjin uk'u imii ımı/(f)ındı-)
The proto-ĆŊD word for morning was *azda, potentially either cognate to *asu (to wake up) or *anzor (sunrise), probably related through some earlier word, maybe pre-proto-CND *egnso- 'rise up, raise, open (of eyes, bottles, jars), burst'
Ćw: arad (azda > azad, z > r /V_V)Proto-ĆŊD for 'day' was '*gnumn', giving
Ast: orro (azda > aza > a'ra > awr:a)
Rs: arot (azad > azod > azot > arot)
Ŋʒ: äzä (azda > aza > random vowel harmony realigment)
Dg: adʒı (azda > adza, a > ı / _#, dz > dʒ / _ı, _i) (change in meaning: 'early')
Ćw: now (um > om, m > w /V_n#, where V = back vowel)
Ast: navvol
Rs: naon
Ŋʒ: ŋumor ('tomorrow')
Dg: ŋö(-n-)
*gnumn may be cognate to pre-proto-CND *gunu- sky and thus be related to Dg ŋost ('cloud'), Ŋʒ ŋuzro ('arctic lights'), Ast narrob ('rain'), Cwarmin owno (sky), Ast owno
Some derived terms:
Astimin and Rasjminj also derive recent words for the sun from this:
ast: navvark, rs: naoroh
A similar word can be found in some poetic Ćwarmin: noworak
Proto-ĆŊD for evening was *tyrs, givingĆw: tic (y > i / _r, rs > c /_#, )Ast: ter (i > e /#(C)_r#)
Rs: tils (rs > ls, random, y > i, random (~0.4 prob) in monosyllables)
Ŋʒ: tydźy (rs > rź, rź > dź, -y is a nominalizing suffix)
Dg: jyrem (t > j / #_Vr, V = front rounded vowel, probs by proxy of t_j_w > d_j_w > d_j > dʒ, -em = time affix)
The proto-ĆŊD word for night was *imid. In parts of the Ŋʒädär branch this has been replaced by reflexes of *uk'ot, 'dark'. Thus, 'night', sometimes with varieties such as 'this (incoming) night' or 'last night':
Ćw: jit (but jint- before suffixes that begin with vowels)
Ast: int ('inni' for 'this (incoming night', 'inits' for 'last night')
Rs: injtjen
Ŋʒ: uk'u (no ending in absolutive, -s-/-t- in other cases).
"imi-" now signifies sunset instead.
Süw: imii
Dg: ımə, dat. fındın or ındın. (The case prefix has acquired some meaning differentiation in expressions of time and been generalized to all cases except the absolutive, and distinguishes "night (in general)" from any particular night.
Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow and Beyond
In all branches there are languages that preserve cognates of a variety of old words.
day before yesterday: *qaluwuna
yesterday: *qalur
today: *mest
tomorrow: *tetri
day after tomorrow: *tetrijinä
Astami: N/A, kalu-nu, mih-ni, ćeič-ni, ćeiči-ni
Dagurib: qaluwu, qalu, mesit, tetir, tetirjin
Ŋʒädär: qoruŋa, qorur, mär* (mäsä*- for inflected forms), täryr, tärynjä
Süw: qurquur (reduplicated), quur, met, teir, tädeir (through intermediate forms *terteer > *terdeer > *terdeir)
*mär, mäsä have been lost in modern Ŋʒädär, being replaced with ŋumrum, from ŋumor (to-day). Almost all speakers tend to dissimilate either the last -m to n, giving ŋumrun, or m to b, giving ŋubrum or even ŋ to g, giving gumrum. This serves to distinguish "to (a/the) day (indefinite)" from "today" - "to a day" being regularly formed and "today" having those sound changes.
However, in early Ŋʒädär, *mär, mäsä still were present. Tärynjä no longer is specifically the day after tomorrow, but any day in the near future (including, possibly, tomorrow).
Süw's tädeir likewise does not signify 'the day after tomorrow', but is an adjective signifying 'the next [timespan]'.
In Ćwarmin, 'today' is formed form the demonstrative arna- in the general ablative: arnaraś. Sometimes this is hit by some kind of dissimilation-transposition and comes out as aranaś, anaraś or even arnaś but there's also attestations of both araraś and ananaś. A period of a few days including today can be arnuroś / arunoś. Oftentimes, this signifies 'this week' (by Bryatesle standards of week). In Bryatesle-influenced areas, you also often get olbaraś (from olba, "that") for 'yesterday'. This is somewhat odd, though, as it can also signify 'that day' or even 'that time', and so is a bit sensitive to context.
Despite being marked for case, aranaś and arunoś have partially been reinterpreted as nominatives, and can take further case suffixes.
'In a few days' in Ćwarmin is generally formed by cularaś (sg) or culuroś (pl), depending on whether the thing that happens is expected to last at most a day, or longer. Similar constructions exist in the other Ćwarminoid languages.
Despite being marked for case, aranaś and arunoś have partially been reinterpreted as nominatives, and can take further case suffixes.
'In a few days' in Ćwarmin is generally formed by cularaś (sg) or culuroś (pl), depending on whether the thing that happens is expected to last at most a day, or longer. Similar constructions exist in the other Ćwarminoid languages.
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