Substantial postings about constructed languages and constructed worlds in general. Good place to mention your own or evaluate someone else's. Put quick questions in C&C Quickies instead.
Tormiott has no real word for 'comfortable'. Instead a construction like the following is used for furniture:
i miccgou liam mie o miag/i ˈmiʔˁːuː jam mjə ʊ mjaː/ – the bed is comfortable (lit. the bed lies itself comfortably; or, the bed is laid comfortably)
For being comfortable with one's environment, you can use:
mogspatte /ˈmoːspɪtːə/ (v) to be gentle, to be kind; to be passive; to be calm, to be at ease, to be laid back; to be comfortable (with one's surroundings); to be carefree, to be untroubled, to be lighthearted
- mogs /moːs/ (pref) soft, cushioned; smooth, polished; mellow, subdued, tranquil, relaxing
- patte /ˈpɛtːə/ (n) belly, gut
mosliam ˈmosjam, ˈmoɕam (n) altar
- mos- mos (pref) by or for parents or ancestors; naturally, of natural causes; logically, by default
- liam jam (v) to lie, to lie down (oneself); to lay, to lay down (something); to be placed horizontally, to be placed flat on a surface
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next: washing machine (or washboard, if not available)
I actually dont know what a washboard is but I know some people wash their clothes in what's basically an oversized sink, either because they dont have a working washing machine or because they have clothes that require hand washing. I imagine this idea is very old, perhaps even going back to before the common availability of running water. The word for this is popi, a catch-all term for anything between a urinal and a hot tub in size that holds water. There are lots of words for clothes, and a few words for towels and washcloths. But lupum is the only word that covers both concepts. People often also wash their hands in a washbasin, since it is after all just a sink that is a little bit larger than average, but this can probably be ignored. So,
lupumpopi "wash basin" is one possibility. The other possibility is to just use the word for "wash", perhaps best expressed by rumu. However, there is no way to mark out whether the verb is transitive (in the case of washing clothes) or not (in the case of a bathtub where you wash yourself). Thus nothing separates this from the word for bathtub. I thus will stick with the first word. However that still does not mean washing machine. For this I could use the verb lepanta "to be forced to turn or rotate". Thus the proper translation for washing machine could be
lupumpopi lepanta, literally "clothes tub (that is) forced to rotate".
next:
to surround an object with one's body, to sit around something
A washboard is a wooden frame with horizontal, often metal ridges which you rub clothes up against. I've never used one, and they look like they'd tear up your clothes, but they must work, because that's what people use(d). My grandma has one on the fence in her backyard for decoration, but she used it when she was younger.
Anyway,
in Tormiott:
sihngite ˈsiɕnʕɪtə (v) to sit around, to sit in a circle around
(from ngite (v) to sit, to be seated, to remain seated; and sih- (pref) moving around, encirling, circumscribing, delineating, outlining, touring, going around; moving outward in all directions
With a bonus expression: tolla sihngitenius i aiˈtolːa ˈsiɕnʕɪtəˌnyːs i ɛː (expr) let's discuss things, let's sit together; we should speak (lit. let's sit around the fire; BEGIN sit.around-3p.MOM fire)
For the other definition you gave:
cassuipa ˈkɛsːwɪpa (v) to hold tightly, to hold lovingly; to wrap one's body around (someone)
(from suipa (v) to wrap, from ON sveipa; and cath- (pref) endearment, friendliness, providing comfort; positive attitude)
For objects, I guess you could use the following word instead. I actually made the word and then found that I'd already derived the exact same word with the exact same meaning. At least my thinking processes are consistent...
soccain ˈsokːɛːn (v) to grasp (not mentally), to clutch, to firmly hold (onto), to keep; to defend (honor, pride)
(from cain (v) to grab; to clutch; to clasp onto, to attach, to link up; and sodd- (pref) around or pertaining to the limbs; of or pertaining to the bones)
open ˈowən (n) division; half; separation; part, piece (commonly iogopen); shore, coast (more commonly staropen); (v) to divide; to cut, to slice; to pare, to cut off (compare dotsion, natian, miun)
din wrote:hair gel (or some other hair product people in your con-whatever use)
Poswa: safamišiem, from safa "beauty; hair of the head" + miši "liquid soap" + džim "slime; ooze; stretchable solid". Poswa has aggressive sound rules that replace unacceptable sound sequences with other (generally shorter) ones. The first two morphemes by themselves, safamiši, mean "shampoo" and this is the base word from which all other words for hair products are formed. The Poswobs are a very hygiene-conscious culture, and despite living at a level of development comparable to medieval Earth they already have two basic root words for soap, one (mabem) for the solid form and the other (miši) for the liquid form. They also are stereotypically obsessed with hair styles, of both men and women, to the point that their primary word for beauty is also a word for the hair on top of the head.
Pabappa: apubliparpa for now, though I'm not so sure they would have the exact same morpheme breakdown as the Poswa word despite having all three morphemes be from sources different from the Poswa counterparts. Essentially this word would be a calque, and I don't really like using calques.
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I don't imagine any of the traditional Miott dances to look anything like break dancing, so if I had to borrow the word, it would either just be breakdance, or pricdans, which would both be pronounced /ˈpɾiɡdɪns/.
If I really insisted on translating it, it would be meitituara /ˈməjtɕəˌtwaɾa/, which would be odd, because the 'break' in break dance is from 'breakdown' (in music), rather than the act of breaking (meiti).
Ive always felt that hands are adorable and I find it strange that a fist is used as a symbol of violence. a fist is just a ball of soft skin and flesh with some of the body's most easily breakable bones inside. if Im fighting someone, but he moves out of the way and i hit a tree by mistake, i'll hurt myself and probably start bleeding too. What kind of a weapon is that?
In fact just this morning I had a dream that a man was arguing against a bunch of other humans that people needed to take action against a species of creeping grass that was taking over their lawns and even climbing up buildings ... it may have been part vine, part grass, like kudzu. He specifically said that it was nature that was hurting them, not the grass, so when nobody seemed to agree with him, he said "Nature is red in tooth and claw". Then he was immediately pounced on by a black cougar and his argument was over.
So, currently Poswa does not have a word for fist. What I can say is that it is a temporary state of being for a hand, and therefore the word would need to take the form of "hand" + a verb meaning "curl up, form a ball". Pep is the common word for hand, although it has a suppletive form, py, which appears as the initial element in SOV compounds. A verb meaning to curl up is masep. Therefore, with Poswa's aggressive sound rules, the word for fist could be
Pympep
"Hand curled up"
I do have a word for punching, rupwus, which i seem to have derived from a word for the back of the hand (opposite the palm, I dont think English has a name for it), and another one, webi, that is mostly used with the iterative aspect marker -at-, thus forming webwate, meaning "to pound repeatedly with the hands, as if to break or break open". This word is simply derived from the word for hand rather than the word for fist. In some contexts Poswobs are likely to use verbs where English speakers might use nouns, so one could say
Žysiepapi vaffebi webwafub.
I broke the glass with my repeated pounding.
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next: treasure, especially a secret hidden from close relatives and friends
mmeosh-kaunbhah, mmeoshme-kaunbhah Secret treasure; unspoken opinion; mistake fixed before others see it. kaunbhah Covering oneself when eating or laughing, after coughing or farting, etc. mmeosh, mmeoshme Bones; minerals (in the earth).
bbhigih A youthful dance style involving a lot of spinning, dipping, and swooping low to the ground; to fall and catch oneself. bbhigih-ppha Signature move, elegant flourish, exciting stunt; to (fall and try to catch oneself and) hit the ground hard (anyways).
weh-niu, gghau-niu Mockery, ridicule. weh Light laughter, titters. gghau Heavy laughter, guffaws. niu To spear, stab, sew.
llawlah-choh Hairstyling. llawlah-choh-sshaushi Hair gel. llawlah Hands in water; testing the temperature of water; splashing; fin. choh Fur, lining; manuscript decorations. sshaushi Sap, syrup; thick liquid.
shuoshkhuh-nnah Sit around; sit at a table. chuh-nna Sit around; stealthily surround an enemy/animal. ppipa-nna Sit closely to something (e.g. fire). shuoskhuh Around; perimeter, surroundings. nnah Sit, crouch.
atohuird ˈɛtahwɪɹn (v) to attribute to, to give credit to
- a (pref) transitive
- tohuird ˈtohwɪɹn (v) to honor, to regard with respect
- - toh (pref) passing by, passing over, going by; also succeeding, surpassing, completing; from one to the other, transferring
- - uird wiɹn (v) to be honorable; to be dignified; (n) honor, dignity, worth {from ON virðing}
Poswa: pumbva "feud, anger, dedication to revenge" + soppto "counterattack", which is itself a compound of sop "re-, reverse; answer, reply" and poto "attack". An -m- links the two words together, as well, showing the attack was *caused by* the feud. Therefore, with regularly applied sound rules, the word becomes
pumbvampoppwo.
As a verb, this behaves as a regular verb of the -o conjugation. Thus one can say
Mabvop pimpožebesap, pumbvampoppwabebi. I took revenge on the one who stole my soap.
Pabappa: The same morphemes used in the Poswa word have cognates in Pabappa which are respectively pimpini and sopartu. However, Pabappa doesn't generally use nested compounds, and so I think the Pabaps would be willing to sacrifice the precision of meaning given bu the Poswa word in favor of just using a word for "attack", and that instead of using the cognate of the Poswa word they would use their more common native word, pupola. Also, there is no need to insert an -m- between the two morphemes. With Pabappa's regularly applied sound changes, the resulting word could be
pimpinibupola. Often, even this compound would be broken up in favor of juxtaposing the two words and stressing both words equally, giving pimpini pupola (sandhi does not cross word boundaries in Pabappa).
lailtoil ˈlɛːltʊjl (v) to interpret (music, art, writing)
- lait- lɛːt (prep) on purpose; with a certain goal or outcome; giving ... to
- loil lʊjl (n) voice