Hendalarskisch

Hendalarskisch (Hendalarskisch: Henalaskisch, Khunyer: gotetnyelv, Nünsyi: Kolel can'Ulstor) is the primary official and most widely-spoken language in Hendalarsk, a country in northwestern Levantia. Hendalarskisch forms part of the Gothic subfamily and by extension the wider Occidental superfamily.[1] Hendalarskisch is either the second- or third-most widely-spoken Gothic language by number of native speakers, behind only Junglish and possibly Yonderian East Gothic, and enjoys widespread influence across the Vandarch littoral via its creole, the Pentapolitan Argot.

Hendalarskisch
Henalaskisch
Gotet nyelv (Khunyer), Kolel can'Ulstor (Nünsyi)
Regionnorthwestern Levantia
Ethnicitypredominantly Hendalarskaren, Khunyer, Nunsyak
Native speakers
c.80,000,000 (2021)
Occidental
  • Gothic
    • Hendalarskisch
Early form
Old Central Gothic
Official status
Official language in
 Hendalarsk
Language codes
ISO 639-3
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The political history of Hendalarsk means that there are many strikingly distinct dialects of Hendalarskisch across the country, most of which have survived 19th-century efforts at standardisation intact; some scholars[2] have even argued that these dialects are themselves all closely-related languages, with "Standard Hendalarskisch" simply the most prestigious language of a so-called "Central Gothic" cluster. Most Hendalarskara scholars nevertheless favour a "dialect continuum" interpretation of Hendalarskisch.

Hendalarskisch is an inflected language, with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs. The majority of its vocabulary derives from the Gothic branch of Occidental, although it has also seen substantial influence from non-Occidental languages such as Khunyer and Nünsyi - a number of proposals argue that Proto-Nünsyi forms a substrate within Hendalarskisch[3] - and latterly other non-Gothic Occidental languages, such as Burgoignesc and Fhasen.

Vocabulary

To give a flavour of Hendalarskisch vocabulary, in both its similarities and its differences from the other Gothic languages, the below table shows all Hendalarskisch words for the full 207-word Szabolcs list (a list named after its founder, Khunyer linguist Szabolcs Anton, which is employed primarily in lexicostatistics).

Szabolcs list word Hendalarskisch form Notes
I isch
you (sing.) dy
he er
we wir
you (pl.) ír (Sí, the formal form, is also used in some circumstances.)
they
this dís As Hendalarskisch is an inflected language, this word changes substantially based on case and other factors
that jén As Hendalarskisch is an inflected language, this word changes substantially based on case and other factors
here hír
there dord
who wer
what was
where wo
when wan
how
not nischt
all al As Hendalarskisch is an inflected language, this word changes substantially based on case and other factors
many fíl As Hendalarskisch is an inflected language, this word changes substantially based on case and other factors
some mansch
few wénisch
other anner
one ein
two zwei
three drei
four fír
five fönf
big groß
long lang
thick dick
heavy schwer
small klein
short körz
narrow schmal
thin dön
woman Frau
man (adult male) Man
man (human being) Mensch
child Kind
wife Éfrau
husband Éman
mother Muter
father Fáter
animal Tír
fish Fisch
bird Fogel
dog Hund
louse Déder from Khunyer
snake Kíger from Khunyer
worm Wurm
tree Baum
forest Wald
stick Schtock
fruit Fruscht
seed Sámen
leaf Blad
root Íöger from Khunyer
bark (of a tree) Rinne
flower Blome
grass Pöme from Khunyer
rope Répe
skin Haude
meat Flísch
blood Blöt
bone Bein
fat (noun) Fäd
egg Ei
horn Flötsche from Nünsyi
tail Fásche from Khunyer
feather Féder
hair
head Kopf
ear Ore
eye Auge
nose Nás
mouth Mund
tooth Zán
tongue Zune
fingernail Fingernagel
foot Föss
leg Käule
knee Kní
hand Hand
wing Flögel
belly Bausch
guts Béle from Khunyer
neck Hals
back Rögen
breast Brust
heart Herz
liver Léwer
to drink drénken
to eat essen
to bite beissen
to suck lutschen
to spit tschöcken from Nünsyi
to vomit kélben
to blow blásen
to breathe átmen
to laugh laschen
to see sëen
to hear hören
to know wissen
to think denken
to smell witern
to fear beföschten
to sleep schláfen
to live léwen
to die schterben
to kill döden
to fight kämfen
to hunt jägen
to hit schlágen
to cut schneiden
to split schbalten
to stab döfen from Khunyer
to scratch krazen
to dig kaltschen from Nünsyi
to swim schwimen
to fly flígen
to walk géen
to come komen
to lie lígen
to sit sezen
to stand stéen
to turn wenden
to fall falen
to give géwen
to hold halden
to squeeze dröcken
to rub reiben
to wash waschen
to wipe wischen
to pull zíen
to push schíwen
to throw wefen
to tie binden
to sew näen
to count zälen
to say ságen
to sing singen
to play schpílen
to float ulkéwen from Nünsyi
to flow flíssen
to freeze fríren
to swell schwelen
sun Sone
moon Mond
star Stern
water Waser
rain Régen
river Flös
lake
sea Már
salt Salz
stone Stein
sand Malkafár from Nünsyi
dust Kafár from Nünsyi
earth Erde
cloud Wolke
fog Nébel
sky Himel
wind Wínd
snow Schné
ice Hul from Nünsyi
smoke Malnébel "Mal-" is a Nünsyi-derived construction implying a common form in a state of greater density/concentration: see the sand/dust pairing above
fire Feuer
ash Felmalnébel "Felmal-" is the superlative form of the "mal-" construction mentioned above
to burn brenen
road Bolwék
mountain Berg
red rod
green grön
yellow telan from Nünsyi; other Gothic languages derive their word for "yellow" from an Occidental root meaning "to glisten" that also produces the word "gold"; Hendalarskisch does not
white weiss
black schwáz
night Nagd
day Tag
year Íár
warm wám
cold kald
full föl
new neu
old ald
good gud
bad schlescht
rotten faulet
dirty schmuz
straight gerád
round rund
sharp scháf
dull schtumf
smooth glad
wet nas
dry drocken
correct rikd
near
far weid
right gemén
left rikd in Hendalarskisch it's left that's cognate with correct/just, not right (that is instead cognate with common); historians have hypothesised that this may have been due to unusually high rates of left-handedness in key ruling elites early in the language's history
at an
in in
with mid
and und
if wen
because weil
name Nám

Notes

  1. A minority of Hendalarskara linguists insist that the Gothic family is its own language family, independent of all other branches of Occidental (e.g. Förstol, 2003), although as of the 2020s this proposal is widely discredited.
  2. Scholz, Ulla, 'Mundáten: Spragen óne Wafen?', Herne: eine henalaskische Spragzeitschrift 104:1 (1976), pp. 143-97.
  3. e.g. Gottorp, Ludwig-Adam, 'Urnünsyi: Dír henalaskische Unaschíd', Herne: eine henalaskische Spragzeitschrift 62:3 (1934), pp. 526-81.