Skip to content

Greyfolk language’s monosyllabic roots and words: roots 12–20 (and 21?)

In my previous post, I covered the sixth through the eleventh monosyllabic root. In this post, I will cover the last nine.

«me»
«se»
«ke»
«tle»
«yel» «yil»
«nel» «nil»
«ten» «tin»
«lem» «lim»
«pem» «pim» «pum»
«pli» «plu»
«min» «mun»
«kyu»
«kul»
«num»
«sul»
«lun»
«yum»
«myu»
«hu»
«syu»

«kyu» is a particle that acts as a complementizer or relativizer. It translates into English as ‘that’ as well as ‘who’, ‘which’, etc. in the sense of ‘the one that smiled’, ‘he who smiles’, etc.

«kul» is a particle that denotes possession. It translates into English as ‘of’ in the sense of ‘he is the brother of my mother’ to mean ‘he is my mother’s brother’. I avoid comparing this to apostrophe s not because it functions differently but because it behaves differently, though that would be a fine translation.

«num» translates into English as ‘and’.

«sul» translates into English as ‘but’.

«lun» translates into English as ‘or’.

«yum» translates into English as ‘from’.

«myu» translates into English as ‘to’, ‘toward’, or ‘at’.

«hu» is a special particle that doesn’t really have a counterpart in English. The quick-and-dirty explanation is that it’s like a comma. It is used to separate words that, if not separated, might sound ambiguous together. Of course, a pause in speech can also produce the same effect.

«syu» is likewise a special particle that doesn’t really have a counterpart in English. The quick-and-dirty explanation is that it’s like «hu», but, instead of separating words, it can separate phrases to get rid of ambiguity.

«nlu» doesn’t mean anything—it’s not even on the list—, but it is the only usable particle left over. Maybe I’ll find a use for it someday!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *