5 in Hendalarsk
The number represented by the glyph 5 is the subject of a strong cultural taboo in Hendalarsk. As the number itself is nonetheless an unavoidable mathematical fact, various circumlocutions have developed to enable reference to the quantity 5 without violating the taboo. The most common expression in use in contemporary Hendalarsk is fourplusone (Hendalarskisch: vírundeins, Kembrek: pedwaragun), although others such as sixlessone are occasionally used for poetic or humorous purposes. The taboo typically does not extend to speakers of foreign languages speaking in their own tongues, although speakers of other Gothic languages than Hendalarskisch are generally advised not to use their own words for 5 while in Hendalarsk, due to the presumed similarity of those words to the long-extinct Hendalarskisch term for 5.[1]
Origins and legal status
The taboo is not legally enforced in modern Hendalarsk, although historical punishments have varied widely; the earliest surviving Hendalarskara records suggest that the authorities typically mandated burning alive. (In practice a perpetrator was likely to be lynched by their community long before the involvement of officialdom, in an attempt to ward off bad luck associated with the act.) Over the last few centuries, the punishment was gradually downgraded; first to vogelfrei in serious cases, then to whippings or pillorying, until in 1867 punishment was set at a base fine of three gróstáler for first-time offenders. Decriminalised entirely in the aftermath of the Hendalarskara Civil War,[2] lynchings and honour killings associated with the act nevertheless continued to occur sporadically well into the twentieth century. The first successful prosecution for involvement in a 5-related lynching took place in 1883, in Östragád, although this conviction sparked a wave of rioting that was only quelled by the involvement of archroyal military forces garrisoned outside the city.
Contemporary culture
In modern Hendalarsk, it is widely accepted that killing people who utter the word for 5 is unacceptable, but those who engage in the practice remain subject to extreme and widespread societal disapproval and are occasionally ostracised by their families.
Notes
- ↑ One illustration of the importance of this advice came in 2011, when one of a visiting group of Yonderian Artillerie FC fans taunted patrons of a bar in Frémenwerd by repeatedly and loudly declaiming the East Gothic word for 5, having beaten Rapid Frémenwerd 5-3 earlier that evening; the ensuing fight eventually involved over a thousand people, led to three deaths and 65 hospitalisations, and briefly strained diplomatic relations between Hendalarsk and Yonderre.
- ↑ It was noted by the retired General Ferdinand Feldhófen in 1927 that "in recent years we have seen many crimes grave enough that fourplusone seems a trifling matter in comparison".