Meet my angry Dravian penpal!

[Izambri]

What is the capital of the country? And the native name of lake Balaton?

[Dewrad]

The national capital is Sojane, which is also the comital capital of Valeira. In Dravian the Balaton is called Latènca (hence the name of the contat to the north of the lake: it means "across the Latènca". Actually, my next task should be to add in the names of all those bodies of water.

[Izambri]

The national capital is Sojane, which is also the comital capital of Valeira. In Dravian the Balaton is called Latènca (hence the name of the contat to the north of the lake: it means "across the Latènca". Actually, my next task should be to add in the names of all those bodies of water.

Aaaah, "across the Latènca", ok. My Romance-thinking mind automatically translated that contat name as "beyond (or behind) the lake.ADJ": tra– "beyond" + lat– "lake" * + –ènca (adj) **.


*Don't ask me why, it was my brain who read it that way!
**In Catalan we have an adjectival suffix –enc –enca –encs –enques.

Edit: Oh wait. I think that lat– > "lake" thing is an influence from the Hellesan word for "lake", which comes from an earlier word for "wide".

[Salmoneus]

Impressive map - where are the names from?
[Ulterior motive for asking: I was doing an alt-history project like this a while back, and will get back to it in the future I think, and was getting really frustrated trying to name places because I didn't know the etymology of the real name. I don't suppose you've stumbled upon some super-resource of etymological place names, have you?
[[Frankly, even just a detailed map of Roman settlement names would be fantastic]]]

[Astraios]

Architecture? You're obviously in the closet.

[Aurora Rossa]

Architecture? You're obviously in the closet.

How so? Is architecture a gay pursuit now?

[Astraios]

No, I was just looking for an excuse to tell him to get out of the closet already.

[ObsequiousNewt]

Architecture? You're obviously in the closet.

How so? Is architecture a gay pursuit now?

Being "in the closet" does not necessarily have to do with homosexuality.

Dewrad, where are your resources on Dravian?

[Aurora Rossa]

Being "in the closet" does not necessarily have to do with homosexuality.

Not to sidetrack this thread further, but doesn't generally refer to that unless otherwise stated?

[Drydic]

That's the default, yes, but it has generalized well beyond that by now.

[Aurora Rossa]

You said that your penpal has heard all about me. What exactly has he heard and from what source did he hear it?

[Dewrad]

Impressive map - where are the names from?
[Ulterior motive for asking: I was doing an alt-history project like this a while back, and will get back to it in the future I think, and was getting really frustrated trying to name places because I didn't know the etymology of the real name. I don't suppose you've stumbled upon some super-resource of etymological place names, have you?
[[Frankly, even just a detailed map of Roman settlement names would be fantastic]]]

The names are from a variety of sources. Most of the main geographic features (major rivers, towns and cities that are of Roman antiquity) are derived from their Roman names: which, by and large, I believe I found on LacusCurtius, or by obsessive googling.

The rest were far harder. Where possible, I've attempted to find the etymology of the Hungarian settlement name: in those cases where the Hungarian name comes from a Slavic or other substratal name, I've kept it (where I can find it! Not knowing Hungarian hampers my investigations here, obviously). In other cases I've either calqued the Hungarian name or just derived one of my own, using either Romance or substratal elements. (I use at least four substrata: Celtic, Slavic, Proto-Albanian (which stands in for Illyrian) and Gothic).

Dewrad, where are your resources on Dravian?

On my computer

[Dewrad]

What is this crematura thing?

Fruit brandy, like palinka.

[Dewrad]

Dewrad, where are your resources on Dravian?

On my computer

I TELL A LIE:

We proudly present:

The Dravian Lexicon.

(With thanks to Maknas for the source code etc.)

[KathTheDragon]

Um, are those letter links meant to break?

[Dewrad]

Sorry, still cunting around with it. Give it a go now, it should work.

[Herra Ratatoskr]

Is this pdf still pretty accurate?

[Dewrad]

Is this pdf still pretty accurate?

Yeah, there's a slightly updated copy on the link in my sig.

[Astraios]

Yum!

[Salmoneus]

Is it just me, or are the Dravean grammar later chapters just blank?

[Dewrad]

Is it just me, or are the Dravean grammar later chapters just blank?

What's uploaded is just a draft version: i.e. it's just as far as I've got already. The incomplete sections are:

- Preface
- Introduction
- Prepositions
- Use of the verb (from section 12.1.3 Indirect questions onwards)
- Conjunctions
- Word order
- All the appendices

The appendix on historical phonology kinda-sorta exists, but it's as rather outdated draft that needs to be completely re-written. It'll probably be one of the very last pieces to be written, as I fear it might end up disproportionately large. Similarly, I want to get both Middle Dravian and some historical details solidified before I start work on the dialects and sociolects chapter.

If you've got any specific (or general) questions on any of the unwritten topics, though, I'm willing to answer.

[Salmoneus]

Not really, just curious about the direction you'd gone for the diachronics (and since your Dravian grammar will one day probably be the most accessible description of a non-Romanian eastern romance language, and probably the most accessible source on eastern romance historical processes generally...)

Incidentally, in the phoneme chart on page 3, you're missing a gap between 'f' and 'v'.