Dark Curse 19
Page 42
The songs of the Carpathian women (illustrated by their «Lullaby» and their «Song to Heal the Earth») are part of the same ancient musical and healing tradition as the Lesser and Great Healing Chants of the warrior males. You can hear some of the same instruments in both the male warriors' healing chants and the women's «Song to Heal the Earth.» Also, they share the common purpose of generating and directing power. However, the women's songs are distinctively feminine in character. One immediately noticeable difference is that, while the men speak their words in the manner of a chant, the women sing songs with melodies and harmonies, softening the overall performance. A feminine, nurturing quality is especially evident in the «Lullaby.»
Appendix 2
The Carpathian Language
Like all human languages, the language of the Carpathians contains the richness and nuance that can only come from a long history of use. At best we can only touch on some of the main features of the language in this brief appendix:
The history of the Carpathian language
Carpathian grammar and other characteristics of the language
Examples of the Carpathian language
A much abridged Carpathian dictionary
1. The history of the Carpathian language
The Carpathian language of today is essentially identical to the Carpathian language of thousands of years ago. A «dead» language like the Latin of two thousand years ago has evolved into a significantly different modern language (Italian) because of countless generations of speakers and great historical fluctuations. In contrast, many of the speakers of Carpathian from thousands of years ago are still alive. Their presence-coupled with the deliberate isolation of the Carpathians from the other major forces of change in the world-has acted (and continues to act) as a stabilizing force that has preserved the integrity of the language over the centuries. Carpathian culture has also acted as a stabilizing force. For instance, the Ritual Words, the various healing chants (see Appendix 1), and other cultural artifacts have been passed down the centuries with great fidelity.
One small exception should be noted: the splintering of the Carpathians into separate geographic regions has led to some minor dialectization. However the telepathic links among all Carpathians (as well as each Carpathian's regular return to his or her homeland) has ensured that the differences among dialects are relatively superficial (e.g., small numbers of new words, minor differences in pronunciation, etc.), since the deeper, internal language of mind-forms has remained the same because of continuous use across space and time.
The Carpathian language was (and still is) the proto-language for the Uralic (or Finno-Ugrian) family of languages. Today, the Uralic languages are spoken in northern, eastern and central Europe and in Siberia. More than twenty-three million people in the world speak languages that can trace their ancestry to Carpathian. Magyar or Hungarian (about fourteen million speakers), Finnish (about five million speakers), and Estonian (about one million speakers), arc the three major contemporary descendents of this proto-language. The only factor that unites the more than twenty languages in the Uralic family is that their ancestry can be traced back to a common proto-language-Carpathian-which split (starting some six thousand years ago) into the various languages in the Uralic family. In the same way, European languages such as English and French, belong to the better-known Indo-European family and also evolve from a common proto-language ancestor (a different one from Carpathian).
The following table provides a sense for some of the similarities in the language family.
Note:The Finnic/Carpathian «k» shows up often as Hungarian «h». Similarly, the Finnic/Carpathian «p» often corresponds to the Hungarian «f.»
Carpathian
(proto-Uralic) ela-live elid-life pesa-nest kola-die pala-half, side
Finnish
(Suomi) ela-live elinika-life pesa-nest kuole-die plelta-tilt, tip side
Hungarian
(Magyar) el-live elet-life feszek-nest hal-die to thefel, fele-fellow human, friend (half; one side of two) feleseg– wife
ad-give here-drone, testicle
and-give anta, antaa-
give koje-husband,koira-dog, the
man wake-power
male (of animals)
vaki-folks, vall-vel-with
(instrumental suffix) vele-with him/her/it
people, men;
force vakeva-
powerful, strong
wete-water
vesi-water viz-water
2. Carpathian grammar and other characteristics of the language
Idioms.As both an ancient language, and a language of an earth people, Carpathian is more inclined toward use of idioms constructed from concrete, «earthy» terms, rather than abstractions. For instance, our modern abstraction, «to cherish,» is expressed more concretely in Carpathian as «to hold in one's heart»; the «nether world» is, in Carpathian, «the land of night, fog, and ghosts»; etc.
Word order.The order of words in a sentence is determined not by syntactic roles (like subject, verb, and object) but rather by pragmatic, discourse-driven factors. Examples: «Tied vagyok.» («Yours am I.»); «Sivamet andam.» («My heart I give you.»)
Agglutination.The Carpathian language is agglutinative; that is, longer words are constructed from smaller components. An agglutinating language uses suffixes or prefixes whose meaning is generally unique, and which are concatenated one after another without overlap. In Carpathian, words typically consist of a stem that is followed by one or more suffixes. For example, «sivambam"derives from the stem «siv» («heart») followed by «am» («my,» making it «my heart»), followed by «bam"(«in,» making it «in my heart»). As you might imagine, agglutination in Carpathian can sometimes produce very long words, or words that are very difficult to pronounce. Vowels often get inserted between suffixes, to prevent too many consonants from appearing in a row (which can make the word unpronouncable).
Noun cases.Like all languages, Carpathian has many noun cases; the same noun will be «spelled» differently depending on its role in the sentence. Some of the noun cases include: nominative (when the noun is the subject of the sentence), accusative (when the noun is a direct object of the verb), dative (indirect object), genitive (or possessive), instrumental, final, supressive, inessive, elative, terminative, and delative.
We will use the possessive (or genitive) case as an example, to illustrate how all noun cases in Carpathian involve adding standard suffixes to the noun stems. Thus expressing possession in Carpathian-«my lifemate,» «your lifemate,» «his lifemate,» «her lifemate,» etc.-involves adding a particular suffix (such as «=am») to the noun stem («palafertiil»), to produce the possessive («palafertiilam» –«my lifemate»). Which suffix to use depends upon which person («my,» «your,» «his,» etc.) and whether the noun ends in a consonant or vowel. The following table shows the suffixes for singular nouns only (not plural), and also shows the similarity to the suffixes used in contemporary Hungarian. (Hungarian is actually a little more complex, in that it also requires «vowel rhyming»: which suffix to use also depends on the last vowel in the noun; hence the multiple choices in the cells below, where Carpathian only has a single choice.)
Carpathian contemporary
(proto-Uralic) Hungarian
noun noun ends noun noun
ends ends ends
person in vowel in in vowel in
consonant consonan
t
1st singular
-m
-am
-m
-om, –em,
(my)
-om
2nd
-d
-ad
-d
-od, –ed,
singular
-od
(your)
3rd singular
-ja
-a
-ja/-je
-a,-e
(his,her,its)
1st plural
-nk
-ank
&nb
sp; -nk
-unk, –unk
(our)
2nd plural
-tak
-atak
-tok, –tek,
-otok,
(your)
-tok
-etek, –otok
3rd plural
-jak
-ak
-juk, –juk
-uk, –uk
(their)
Note:As mentioned earlier, vowels often get inserted between the word and its suffix so as to prevent too many consonants from appearing in a row (which would produce unpronouncable words). For example, in the table above, all nouns that end in a consonant are followed by suffixes beginning with «a.»
Verb conjugation.Like its modern descendents (such as Finnish and Hungarian), Carpathian has many verb tenses, far too many to describe here. We will just focus on the conjugation of the present tense. Again, we will place contemporary Hungarian side by side with the Carpathian, because of the marked similarity of the two. As with the possessive case for nouns, the conjugation of verbs is done by adding a suffix onto the verb stem:
Carpathian (proto-Uralic)
-am
(andam),-ak –sz (andsz)
-(and)
-ak (andak) –tak (andtak)
Person
1st (I give)
2nd singular (you
give)
3rd singular
(he/she/it gives)
1st plural (we give)
2nd plural (you give)
3rd plural (they give) –nak (andnak)
contempor
ary
Hungarian
-ok,-ek,-ok
-sz
-unk,-unk –tok,-tek,-to k –nak,-nek
As with all languages, there are many «irregular verbs» in Carpathian that don't exactly fit this pattern. But the above table is still a useful guideline for most verbs.
3. Examples of the Carpathian language
Here are some brief examples of conversational Carpathian, used in the Dark books. We include the literal translation in square brackets. It is interestingly different from the most appropriate English translation.
Susu.
I am home.
note 2
Moert?
What for?
csitri
little one
note 3
ainaak enyem
forever mine
ainaak'sivamet jutta
forever mine (another form)
note 4
sivamet
my love
note 5
Sarna Rituaali(The Ritual Words)is a longer example, and an example of chanted rather than conversational Carpathian. Note the recurring use of «andam"(«I give»), to give the chant musicality and force through repetition.
Sarna Rituaali(The Ritual Words)
Te avio palafertiilam. You are my lifemate.
note 6
Entolam kuulua, avio palafertiilam.
I claim you as my lifemate.
note 7
Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed.
I belong to you.
note 8
Elidamet andam.
I offer my life for you.
note 9
Pesamet andam.
I give you my protection.
note 10
Uskolfertiilamet andam. I give you my allegiance. note 11
Sivamet andam. I give you my heart. note 12
Sielamet andam. I give you my soul. note 13
Ainamet andam. I give you my body. note 14
Sivamet kuuluak kaik etta a ted.
I take into my keeping the same that is yours.
note 15
Ainaak olenszal'sivambin.
Your life will be cherished by me for all my time.
note 16
Te elidet ainaak pide minan.
Your life will be placed above my own for all time.
note 17
Te avio palafertiilam. You are my lifemate. note 18
Ainaak'sivamet jutta oleny.
You are bound to me for all eternity. note 19
Ainaak terad vigyazak. You are always in my care. note 20
See Appendix 1 for Carpathian healing chants, including both theKepa Sarna Pus («The Lesser Healing Chant») and theEn Sarna Pus («The Great Healing Chant»).
To hear these words pronounced (and for more about Carpathian pronunciation altogether), please visit: http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/
Sarna Kontakawk(The Warriors' Chant) is another longer example of the Carpathian language. The warriors' counsel takes place deep beneath the earth in a chamber of crystals with magma far below that, so the steam is natural and the wisdom of their ancestors is clear and focused. This is a sacred place where they bloodswear to their prince and people and affirm their code of honor as warriors and brothers.
Sarna Kontakawk (The Warriors' Chant)
Veri isaakank-veri ekaakank.
Blood of our fathers-blood of our brothers.
Veri olen elid. Blood is life.
Andak veri-elidet Karpatiiakank, es wake-sarna ku meke arwa-arvo, irgalom, han ku agba, es wake kutni, ku manaak verival.
We offer that life to our people with a blood-sworn vow of honor, mercy, integrity and endurance.
Verink sokta; verink ka?a terad. Our blood mingles and calls to you.
Akasz enak ku ka?a es juttasz kuntatak it. Heed our summons and join with us now.
To hear these words pronounced (and for more about Carpathian pronunciation altogether), please visit: http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/ .
SeeAppendix 1 for Carpathian healing chants, including theKepa Sarna Pus (The Lesser Healing Chant), theEn Sarna Pus (The Great Healing Chant), theOdam-Sarna Kondak (Lullabye) and the Sarna Pusm O Mayet (Song to Heal the Earth).
4. A MUCH-ABRIDGED CARPATHIAN DICTIONARY
This very much abridged Carpathian dictionary contains most of the Carpathian words used in these Dark books. Of course, a full Carpathian dictionary would be as large as the usual dictionary for an entire language (typically more than a hundred thousand words).
Note: The Carpathian nouns and verbs below are word stems. They generally do not appear in their isolated, «stem» form, as below. Instead, they usually appear with suffixes (e.g., «andam»-«I give,» rather than just the root, «and»).
agba-to be seemly or proper.
ai-oh.
aina-body.
ainaak-forever.
ak-suffix added after a noun ending in a consonant to make it plural.
aka-to give heed; to hearken; to listen.
akarat-mind; will.
al-to bless; to attach to.
alatt-through.
aldyn-under; underneath.
al?-to lift; to raise.
alte-to bless; to curse.
and-to give.
arvo-value(noun) .
arwa-praise(noun) .
arwa-arvo-honor(noun) .
arwa-arvo olen g?idnod, ekam-honor guide you, my brother(greeting) .
arwa-arvo olen isanta, ekam-honor keep you, my brother(greeting) .
arwa-arvo pile sivadet-may honor light your heart(greeting) .
arwa-arvod mane me kodak-may your honor hold back the dark(greeting).
asti-until.
avaa-to open.
avio-wedded.
avio palafertiil-lifemate.
belso-within; inside.