Lexember 2019

So long after last December I finally have gotten around to writing up the results of Lexember 2019, which I again used to expand the vocabulary of Keševan. I admit that additions to this list came very slowly and I only reached my goal of 31 words more than a month after December had run out. Many of these words I owe to the inspiration of the ZBB’s Lexicon Building thread.

My 31 words follow. For verbs, I include three principal parts: the infinitive, the 3^rd person singular present, and if applicable the passive participle. After noun headwords you might see -u, which indicates that those nouns have singular genitives in -u rather than the -e expected for nouns with nominative singular -a. Where I write R., that is short for Rasal, the ancestor language of Keševan (K.).

1. rahasse, rahaso, rahaîta [raˈhas:e / raˈhasɤ / raˈhe:ta] ‘make calm, still, quiet’, from the adjective has ‘calm, still, quiet’, with the prefix ra- here serving as a causative and with a verbal ending.
2. šehasse, šehaso, šehaîta [ɕeˈhas:e / ɕeˈhasɤ / ɕeˈhe:ta] ‘stifle, suppress’, from the same source as above, but with the prefix še- ‘under’. Keševan makes much use of preposition-derived verbal prefixes—one of its more average European traits, and one that has encouraged me to add “weirdness” to the language in other domains.
3. šakša [ˈɕakɕa] ‘line of longitude’ < šak ‘axle’ + –ša, which signifies instruments, tools, and sometimes scientific abstractions, such as longitude. Derived from ‘axle’ since lines of longitude pass through the poles. The same root gives words for north and the north star (where the axis meets the sky).
4. šákšane [ˈɕakɕãne] ‘longitude’, from the above with the collective suffix -ne.
5. zim [zẽm] ‘rim, edge’. Unanalyzable, from Rasal zima.
6. zimša [ˈzẽmɕa] ‘line of latitude’. Derived from zim analogously to the derivation of šakša from šak.
7. zímšane [ˈzẽmɕane] ‘latitude’, from the above with the collective suffix -ne, cf. šákšane.
8. buraîka, -u [buˈre:ka] ‘race’ (sports, athletics), from bu- ‘along’ plus the root of a verb formerly meaning ‘to press’ (think of it as coming to mean ‘chase’, from which the meaning ‘race’ naturally develops).
9. narga [ˈnarga] ‘current’ (n.), from narse, naru ‘flow’ and the suffix -ga that creates deverbal nouns of a variety of meanings: result, action, thing associated, etc.
10. padra, -u [ˈpadra] ‘caterpillar’, from R. padar, itself sharing a root with R. pado ‘worm’, which is the source of K. padu ‘worm’ and paž ‘silk’.
11. mais, -u [majs] ‘sulfur’, from R. malyath, is derived from a root meaning ‘yellow’ in reference to the stone’s color.
12. serla [ˈserla] ‘sour’ is from R. tsera ‘sour’. However, tsera shifted to mean simply ‘harsh’, necessitating a derivational morpheme -la to restore a more specific sense
13. boksa, -u [ˈboksa] ‘crest, ridge; spine, backbone’, from R. bokath ‘spine, backbone’, cognate to R. bvošo ‘side’ > K. vošu ‘border, edge’. A derivational process of vowel-breaking in Proto-Borvic is ultimately the cause of the b-/bv- alternation in Rasal.
14. imblatse, imblato, imblasta [ẽmbˈlatse / ẽmbˈlatɤ / ẽmbˈlasta] ‘found, establish’, from the verb latse, lato, lasta ‘put, place, set’ plus a prefix derived from the preposition im ‘about’. As a prefix it means ‘for a certain purpose’.
15. imblatga [ẽmbˈlatga] ‘foundation, institution’, from the above with the aforementioned suffix -ga.
16. zat [zat] ‘leather’ (n.) < R. dhata
17. šerča [ˈɕert͡ɕa] ‘wart’ < R. šera ‘wart’ + diminutive -ča
18. sankosse, sankoso [sãnˈkos:e / sãnˈkosɤ] ‘slander’, from the phrase san kose ‘behind one’s face’ (i.e. talking behind another’s back).
19. šerauvze, šerauvo [ɕeˈrawvze / ɕeˈrawvɤ] ‘arm’. K. rau (gen. rauve) is a weapon, typically a sword, made into a verb with še- ‘under’ and verbal endings.
20. žeîtu [ˈʑi:tɯ] ‘squirrel’ < R. yétsato, which itself is probably from Proto-Borvic *yi:tǝw– ‘tail’. The ending K. -tu / R. -to appears on a number of words for typically small animals.
21. igla [ˈigla] ‘ludic, playing, having to do with games’, simply from igze, igo ‘play’ and the very common adjectivalizing suffix -la
22. nule [ˈnule] ‘basket’. I gave myself a break and called its etymology uncertain, though it looks like it could come from an old neighboring language called Aršal, should I ever wish to develop its history in more detail.
23. marku [ˈmarkɯ] ‘walker, one who walks’, from markse, marko ‘walk’ plus an agentive -u.
24. kolma [ˈkolma] ‘maple’ < R. kolma ‘maple’. Simple.
25. ellanga [el:ˈãnga] ‘contract’, from en- ‘before’ + lapse, lamo, lanta ‘say’ + -ga, literally, ‘that which was spoken of beforehand’.
26. kuvesse, kuveso, kuveîta [kuˈves:e / kuˈvesɤ / kuˈvi:ta] ‘stick smth onto somth’. The prefix ku- means ‘on a surface or side’ (and also more usually ‘against’), while vesse is ‘to hang’.
27. árnača [ˈarnat͡ɕa] ‘pollen’, from the word for ‘dust’ plus the diminutive -ča.
28. vélmača [ˈvelmat͡ɕa] ‘nectar’, from the word for ‘honey’ plus the diminutive -ča.
29. šembze, šembo [ˈɕẽmbze / ˈɕẽmbɤ] ‘climb, clamber up’
30. endla [ˈẽndla] ‘previous’, from en ‘before’ + adjectival -la.
31. sanžeûse, sanželu, sanželta [sãnˈʑu:se / sãnˈʑelɯ / sãnˈʑelta ] ‘confine, pen in’, from san- ‘after’ or in this case ‘behind’ and the root -žel- with verbal endings. The root comes from the Rasal verb yélese ‘enclose’, which did not survive into Keševan. The root also suvives in K. želga ‘fence’ and in a number of toponyms for populated places (e.g. Ažél, Lunžel).