Iduve and mri aliens
Descriptions and glossaries for my two favorite aliens, the iduve and mri, from two of C. J. Cherryh’s novels.
Covers at The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for Faded Sun – Kesrith, Shon’jir, Kutath; Hunter of Worlds.
Iduve
He was suddenly kneeling on a carpeted floor that still felt strangely like the padded plastics of the cell. The lights were dim, the walls expanded into an immense dark chamber of carven screens and panels of alien design. A woman in black and diaphanous violet stood before him, a woman of the Orithain, of the indigo-skinned iduve race. Her hair was black: it hung like fine silk, thick and even at the level of her shapely jaw. Her brows were dark, her eyes amethyst-hued, without whites, and rimmed with dark along the edge of the lid. Her nose was arched but delicate, her mouth sensuous, frosted with lavender, the whole of her face framed with the absolute darkness of her hair. The draperies hinted at a slim and female body; her complexion, though dusky from the kalliran view, had a lustrous sheen, as though dust of violet glistened there, as if she walked in another light than ordinary mortals, a universe where suns were violet and skies were of shadowy hue.
– Chapter 1
He knew the iduve finally.
Predators.
Outsiders had never understood the end of the Domination, the Sundering of the iduve empire. He began to. They were hunters from their very origins – a species for whom all else that moved was prey, for whom others of their own kind were intolerable. They had hunted the metrosi to exhaustion and drifted elsewhere. Now they were back. The enormity of the surmise grew in him like a sickly chill.
The nasul – jealously controlling its territory.
Perhaps even the iduve themselves had forgotten what they were; the pride of ritual and ceremony shielded their instincts, civilized them, as civilization had dealt with the instincts of kallia, who had been the natural prey of other hunters in packs, on the plains of prehistoric Aus Qao. Subtle reactions, a tensing of muscles, an interchange of movements, the steadiness of the eyes – these defined hunter and hunted. That was the thing he had looked in the face when he had stared into Chimele’s at close range. He had wished to run and had instinctively known better – that if he stayed very, very still, it might pad softly away.
– Chapter 4
Iduve faces, whose eyes were almost incapable of moving from side to side, had always a direct, invading stare, communicating little of what processes of thought went on behind them.
– Chapter 5
Glossary of Foreign Terms
I
THE KALLIRAN LANGUAGE: like human speech in its division of noun and verb concepts. There is, however, a fossilized Ethical from the time of the Orithain Domination. Although the Ethical corresponds to the Verb of Orithain speech, it has been made an Adjective in the kalliran language.
arethme: (ah-RETH-may) city-deme of kalliran political structure: on the home world, equal to a city and all its land and trade rights; in the colonies, often equal to a hemisphere or an entire world, with its attendant rights.
ehs, pl. ehsim: (ACE) cubed measurement approximately 10 inches.
elethia: (el-eh-THEE-ya) honor, gentility, sensitivity to proper behavior; faithfulness to duty.
Esliph: (EHS-lif) the Seven Stars: a heavily planeted region lying between the metrosi and human space.
giyre: (GIU-rey) recognition of one’s proper place in the cosmic Order of things; also, one’s proper duty toward another. It is ideally mutual.
Halliran Idai: (hah-lee-HRAN ee-DYE) the Free Union, the political structure of the metrosi, the capital of which is Aus Qao, the fifth of Qao.
ikas: (EE-kas) disregarding of giyre and kastien: presumptuous.
kallia (KAL-lee-ah) man, woman; men, women.
kamesule: (kah-MAY-soo-leh) to associate with the iduve; to be servile of manner.
kastien: (KAHS-tee-yen) being oneself; virtue, wisdom; observing harmony with others and the universe by perfect centering in one’s giyre toward all persons and things.
marithe: (mah-REE-theh) a pale-pink wine.
men, pl. meis: (MEN, MACE) a linear measurement of approximately 10 inches.
metrosi: (MAY-tro-see) the Civilized Worlds, those within the original area of kalliran-amaut colonization.
Orithain: (o-rih-THAIN) mistakenly used as generic term for the iduve.
parome: (PAHR-ohm) governor of an arethme
Qao: (KHUA-o) the Sun; home star of the kalliran species.
II
THE IDUVE LANGUAGE: differs from both kalliran and human speech to such a degree that translation cannot be made literally if it is to be understandable. Paraphrase is the best that can be done.
First, there is no clear distinction between the concepts of noun and verb, between solid and action. Reality consists instead of the situational combination of Tangibles and Ethicals; but an Ethical may be converted to a Tangible and vice versa. Most ideas are grammatically complete in two words: an Ethical is affixed to the Tangible. Meanings may be altered or augmented by Prefix, Infix, or Suffix upon either Ethical or Tangible. The nature of these added particles may be: Negative, Intensitive, Honorific, Hypothetical, Interrogative, Imperative, Directional, Futuritive or Historical, Relational or Descriptive.
Second: the language has only scant designation of gender. It is impossible to distinguish sex save by adding the male Honorific -toj or the female Honorific -tak to the word in question. Concepts which would seem to make gender distinction inevitable (man, woman, mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife) exist only as artificial constructs in the iduve language.
In the pronunciations given below, an asterisk (*) indicates a guttural sibilant produced by -kk or -kh-: a throat-sounded hiss resembling a soft kh.
akites, akitomei: (ah-kee-TEHS) a Voyaging Ship
akitemekkhe: (ah-kee-toh-MEK*-heh) worldbound; having bond to person or place outside the nasul.
akkhres-nasuli (AK*-hress-NAH-su-lee) joining of two akitomei for the purpose of kata-sakke among the members of both clans.
anoikhte: (ah-noik*-TEH) bondless; not “free” (akita) but “loose,” and therefore fair game for m’melakhia, q.v. Manlings (m’metanei) cannot enjoy arrhei-akita; by their very terrestrial natures they are akitomekkhe and therefore limited in their sensitivities.
arastiethe: (ah-rahs-tee-AY-theh) honor; the power and burden of being iduve, of being of a particular nasul, or simply of being oneself. Honor is the obligation to use power, even against personal preference, to maintain moral and physical integrity. M’metanei naturally possess no arastiethe, but to describe admirable traits in m’metanei, the iduve have adopted the kalliran word elethia.
arrhei-akita: (AH-hrrey-ah-kee-TAH) being free; an ethical necessity for the happiness and arastiethe of the nasul; especially, the free range of their ship.
arrhei-nasul: (AH-hrrey-nah-SOOL) leaving clan, usually for kataberihe with another’s Orithain. Doing so for any other reason is to invite violence from the receiving clan. Not the same as arrhei-nasuli (AH-hrrey-nah-su-LEE), which is exile from all the Kindred, equal to a death sentence.
Ashanome: (ah-SHAH-no-may)
asuthe, asuthi: (ah-SOOTH, ah-su-THEE) lit.: companion. A person linked to another by chiabres.
asuthithekkhe: (ah-su-thi-THEK*-heh) mental linkage.
Chaganokh: (cHag-ah-NOKH*)
chanokhia: (cHan-ok*-HEE-ah) artistry; (2) as an Ethical: the practice of virtue, the studied avoidance of crudity, and a searching after elegance and originality.
chiabres: (cHee-AH-bress) internal device for communication.
dhis: (d*eesss) lit.: nest. A communal em-bryonics laboratory and nursery for the nasul. Children leave at maturity.
dhisais, dhisaisei: (d*EE-sice) female driven to temporary madness by biological changes at childbirth; may last years.
e-: (ay) negative prefix: not, un-.
ghiaka, ghiakai: (zhee-AH-kah) curved sword, now ceremonial.
harachia: (ha-rak*-HEE-yah) lit: presence, seeing. Visual impact of a person, thing, or situation which elicits an irrational emotional response.
idoikkhe, idoikkhei: (ih-DOYK*-heh) from idols, jewel. The bracelet of a nas kame, patterned with the heraldry of the nasul, and capable of transmitting sensory impulses.
iduve: (ih-DOOVh) man, woman, mankind.
Iqhanofre: (ik-HAH-no-fray)
izhkh:(izsk*) mountainous region of Kej IV famed for its geometric art.
kameth, kamethi: (KAH-mef) Honorific of nas kame.
kataberihe: (kah-tah-beh-REE-heh) mating of an Orithain to produce orithaikhti, heir-children. Only children of such a mating may inherit the title; it goes to the eldest regardless of sex. The bond of kataberihe forbids the woman in the pair from katasakke for ten months after announcing her intention; the male suffers a ritual abstinence for twenty days. This is for the sake of establishing paternity, and for mental preparation, as kataberihe- mates are usually from another nasul.
katasathe: (kah-ta-SATH) pregnant
katasakke: (kah-ta-SAK*h) mating-for-children, requiring a three-month abstinence should the woman desire to change mates. It is also counted improper for the male to have more than one current mate. Each katasakke mating will almost certainly result in a child; such a high rate of conception was once advantageous to species survival. Extreme longevity and limited space on the akitomei have made it otherwise, giving rise to the custom of katasukke.
katasukke: (kah-ta-SOOK*h) mating-for-pleasure, done with m’metanei, and not (for aesthetic reasons) with amaut. This cannot result in offspring, and neither the purification period of kataberihe nor that of katasakke forbids katasukke.
Kej: (Kezh) the Sun; home star of the iduve.
-kkh: relational infix, from kame, bond, bind. Binding or obligation: necessity.
-kutikkase: (ku-tih-KAH-seh) lit.: things. Earthly necessities, food, bodily comforts, all arts save the pursuit or use of intangibles. Opposite of chanokhia.
lis, lioi: (lihss, LEE-oi) 1,000 paces, approximately 3/4 mile.
Melakhis: (meh-lakh-HEESS) from m’melakhia; the Council of Acquisition, composed of the Orithain, his/her sra, and one member from each of the elder or major sri of the nasul. The Melakhis assists the Orithain in decisions of major importance and technical complexity.
Mijanothe: (mee-jah-NOTHe)
m’melakhia: (meh-meh-lak*-HEE-ya) desire of acquisition; sometimes used to approximate m’metane concept of “love”; sometimes translated “ferocity.” A basic and constant activity of the iduve, necessary for arastiethe. (2) m.-tomes: the acquisition of prestige or spatial lordship, needful as operating room for the dignity and freedom of the nasul. (3) m.-likatis: acquisition of knowledge, most honorable of activities.
m’metane, m’metanei: (meh-MEH-tah-nay) manling: a being which approximately conforms to iduve appearance: kallia and humans.
nasithi: (nah-sih-THEE) Honorific plural of nas, a member of the nasul.
nas kame, noi kame: (nahs KAH-may, noi KAH-may) bondchild; a m’metane in service to the nasul.
okkitan-as, okkitani-as: (OK*-hee-tahn-AHSS) lit: helper. Amaut in service to the nasul.
Orithanhe: (oh-rih-THAHN-heh) council of all available orithainei of orith-nasuli, at least twenty for a quorum. It meets on the home world. Due to the iduve predilection toward arrhei-akita, it is almost never convoked.
paredre: (pahr-ED-hre) ceremonial center of authority of an akites; the hall of the Orithain.
prha: (prah) particle meaning “hypothesis” or “one supposes.”
serach: (SEH-rak*) funeral display; a destruction of kutikkase in proportion to the arastiethe of the dead.
sorithias: (so-rih-THEE-ahss) from orithois, mastery. The obligation of an Orithain to the nasul.
sra: (ssrah) bloodkin (ship) (2) bhan-sra: vertical (parent-child). (3) iq-sra: lateral (brother-sister; half-brother and half-sister).
-tak: female Honorific suffix.
takkhe: (tak*h) having takkhenois in agreement.
takkhenes: (TAKH*-he-nayss) group-consciousness of the nasul, by which decisions are made and justice determined.
Tashavodh: (tah-sha-VOD*h)
tekasuphre: (tek-ah-SU-frey) stupidity, irrationality, nonsense.
-toj: (tozh) male Honorific suffix.
vaikka: (VAI-k*hah) or (vai-K*HAH!) a demonstration of arastiethe; could roughly be translated as “revenge” if not that vaikka is often taken in advance of actual injury, to offset niseth (disadvantage). Vaikka need not involve damage, for arastiethe can be demonstrated by help as well as harm. It is, however, a fighting or predatory instinct basic to the iduve psychology.
vaikka-chanokhia: an art form peculiarly iduve, practiced generally upon other iduve, as m’metanei have limited appreciation of chanokhia. True vaikka-chanokhia is such that the recipient cannot possibly reciprocate.
vra-nasul: (vrah-nah-SOOL) subject-clan; formed when an elder clan splits because of size or disunity.
III
THE AMAUT LANGUAGE: similar to kalliran speech in structure, with many kalliran words appropriated into the language, and showing much tendency to imitate the elaborate politeness styles of the iduve. The alphabet is native, but literature as such dates from first contact with the iduve.
amaut: (ah-MAUT) man, woman; people.
bnesych: (b’NAY-sikK) director; karsh- head at colony’s foundation.
chaju: (CHAH-ju) a musky, potent liquor.
geshe: (GESSH-eh) a stringed instrument.
habish: (hah-BEESH) all-night bar and sidewalk cafe, featuring music, singing, dancing, and chaju.
habishaap: (hah-beesh-APPPH) keeper of a habish.
karsh, karshatu: (kahrssh) basic family unit of the amaut, taking its name from the founder, either male or female, who acquired land and began the family line. Without land there is no karsh save the one of ancestry. Possessing land entitles one to found a karsh of a size commensurate with the productive capacity of the land.
Kesuat: (KEZ-wat) the Sun; home star of the amaut
rekeb: (REK-ebp) a sistrum-like musical instrument.
shakhshoph: (sshak-SHOPPH) lit: hiding-face. Politeness to hide true feelings from outsiders.
sushai: (ssu-SHAI) from sus, Shade. A word of greeting.
Mri
They were mri.
In their tongue, when they made this statement, they were merely saying that they were of the People. Their word for other species was tsi’mri, which meant not-people, and summed up mri philosophy, religion, and the personal attitudes of the elders at once.
They were, as a species, golden-toned. Mri legends said that the People were born of the sun: skin, eyes, coarse shoulder-length manes, all were bronze or gold. Their hands and feet were narrow and long, and they were a tall, slender race. Their senses, even in great age, were very keen, their hearing in particular most sensitive. Their golden eyes were lid-folded, double-lidded as well, for a nictitating membrane acted on reflex to protect their vision against blowing dust.
They were, as outsiders believed, a species of warriors, of mercenaries – for outsiders saw the Kel, and rarely the Sen, and never the Kath. Mri served outsiders for hire – served the regul, the massive tsi’mri merchants native to Nurag of the star Mab. For many centuries, mri kel’ein had hired out to protect regul commerce between-worlds, generally hired by one regul company as defense against the ambitions and ruthlessness of some business rival, and mri had therefore fought against mri. Those years and that service had been good for the People, this trying of one kel’en of a certain service against the kel’en of another, in proper and traditional combat, as it had always been. Such trials-at-arms refined the strength of the People, eliminating the weak and unfit and giving honor to the strong.
– Chapter 1, Kesrith
They were a beautiful people, tall and slim and golden beneath their black robes: golden manes streaked with bronze, delicate, humanoid features, long, slender hands; their ears had a little tuft of pale down at the tips, and their eyes were brilliant amber, with a nictitating membrane that protected them from dust and glare. The mri were at once humanlike and disturbingly alien. Such also were their minds, that could grasp outsiders’ ways and yet steadfastly refused to compromise with them.
– Chapter 1, Shonjir
The mri language
*a- – honor (see a’ani)
*ani – combat (see a’ani, yin’ein and zahen’ein)
*a’anu – champion (see a’ani, su-she’pani kel’en a’anu)
a’ani (I:7) – “honorable combat,” apparently consisting primarily of single combat between matched warriors with ancient weapons
a’ai sa-mri (II:109) – “the beginnings of the People,” the original mri homeworld
ab’aak (III:21) – a kind of stew, made in the field of whatever is available
*-ai – locative suffix (see nla’ai-mri)
ai’a (II:211) – “self-peace, being right with one’s place”
*-al – nominalizing suffix, “that which is done” (see seta’al)
*an – house, home
an’edi (II:211) – “house-peace,” being together under the leadership of one she’pan
an-hi (III:148) – a greeting
An’jir (III:212) – the song of the mri who stayed behind on Kutath
*-anth – caste leader (see kath’anth, kel’anth and sen’anth)
*ar- – speech, tongue (seemu’ara and hal’ari)
Arain
(I:16) – the sun of Kesrith (this may be a regul word, cf Kesrith*as – singular of as’ei
as’ei (I:5) – short blades used by kel’ein in playing shon’ai, or worn sheathed on the belt, its hilt can be touched to give warning that an intruder is not wanted
as’en (III:180) – singular of as’ei
ath-ma’ai (II:111) – tomb-guardians (the concept appears in the first book, but no term is provided)
*av – a blade, particularly a long blade
av’ein-kel (I:66) – long blades characteristic of the kel
av-kel – “Kel-sword,” apparently the singular of av’ein-kel, although one might expect *av’en-kel
av-tlen (I:174) – a bladed weapon, smaller than the av-kel, but apparently longer than the as’ei
bu’ina’anein (II:129) – presumptuous
ch’au (I:208) – an expletive of frustration
cho-silk (I:65) – a very delicate type of silk (this may not be a mri word)
*daith’ – son (see tsi’daith’)
daithon (II:200) – son (but different)
daithenon (III:146) – a variant of daithon
dus (I:9) – creature rather like a cross between a bulldog and a bear, self-aware but inarticulate, living in a semi-amicable companionship with mri of the Kel caste
dusei (I:56) – plural of dus
*-e- – feminine infix (see kel’e’en, sen’e’en)
e’atren-a (II:133) – a song associated with Sa’an (the text is unclear as to whether this is a term for that particular song, or of a general type of song)
edun (I:15) – House, the citidel in which mri make their home
edunei (I:121) – plural of edun
Edun Kesrithun (I:15) – House of Kesrith, the mri citadel on the world of Kesrith
*e’ed – entrance, entryway, access
e’ed su-shepani (II:190) – entryway to the tower of the she’pan
e’esin (II:114) – inner robe of the Kel
*-ei – pluralizing suffix
*-ein – plural form of -en, but is also a simple plural in mez’ein and zaidh’ein
elee (II:207) – the other surviving sapient race native to Kutath, tall humanoids resembling the mri in social order, but different (for instance, their she’pan is not necessarily celibate.
Ele’et (III:220: – the city of the elee
*-en – partative suffix, denotes a member of a group or a part of something
e’nai (II:117) – remove it
eshai’i (I:66) – “lack-honor,” an insult
fen’anth (III:155) – senior fen’en
*fen’en – singular of fen’ein
fen’ein (I:163) – “the Husbands,” kel’ein who are associated with the she’pan and sire the children on the kel’e’ein and kath’ein
*ha- – wild, free, unbound
ha-dus (I:164) – a dus unbonded to any kel’en, can be dangerous
ha-dusei (I:164) – plural of ha-dus
*hal – high, noble
hal’ari (II:121) – the High Speech, the sacred tongue of the mri which is preserved unchanged throughout their migrations
hao’nath (III:53) – a tribe of mri on Kutath, hostile
hne’mi (III:149) – friend
i (II:117) – all
*-i – adjectival suffix “of or pertaining to” (see Kesrithi)
*-i – plural suffix (see j’tai, sigai)
ika’al (I:59) – ritual suicide of a kel’en as a point of honor, comparable to Japanese seppuku
islai (III:188) – plural of islan
islan (III:187) – knot
ja’anom (II:202) – a group of mri on Kutath, led by Sochil
*jir – song
jo (I:241) – “mimic,” a creature native to Kesrith, harmless, an eater of snakes
j’tai (I:16) – medallions of honor, won by a kel’en through meritorious service to the People, worn on the siga
j’tal (I:160) – singular of j’tai
ka’ani-nla (II:136) – arrogant (perhaps more literally “buried by the weight of combat"?)
ka’islai (II:134) – weighted cords that hang from the belt
Kath (I:5) – the childbearing caste of the mri, blue-robed and children too young to enter the Kel or Sen caste. Only females may remain Kath after their coming of age.
kath’anth (I:168) – the senior membor of the Kath caste
kath’dai’ein (II:153) – children in the Kath caste
kath’en (I:205) – a member of the Kath caste, it has no feminine form because only females may remain Kath after coming of age
kath’ein (I:12) – plural of kath’en
Kel (I:5) – the warrior caste of the mri, black-robed, forbidden literacy but permitted to use a numerical keyboard, they live for the moment and question nothing. They are the Hand of the People, the Face that is Turned Outward, and because they interact with outsiders, they are permitted to know nothing that should not be discovered by outsiders.
kel’anth (I:6) – the senior member of the Kel
kel’anthein (III:154) – plural of kel’anth
kel’en (I:5) – a member of the Kel caste
kel’e’en (I:8) – female kel’en
kel’ein (I:5) – plural of kel’en
kel’e’ein (I:163) – plural of kel’e’en
Kel’es-jir (II:133) – the high songs of the Kel
Kesrith (I:15) – world on which the action of the first novel of the Faded Sun trilogy takes place, barren and desert
Kesrithi (I:15) – pertaining to Kesrith
*-ko – adjectival suffix, “in the condition of” (see miuk’ko)
komal (I:80) – a drink or drug used to bring sleep
kuta’i (II:211) – peace, “the tranquility of nature”
Kutath (II:170) – the original homeworld of the mri, an ancient, dying world, home of many other races now dead, and of the elee, also surviving.
lij’aiia (I:66) – the beginning of the Watch of the Dead, a ritual
lo’a-ni (I:222) – a form of respect
*mal – sleep, release (see komal, *ko)
mez (I:16) – veil worn by a kel’en to hide the face from tsi’mri
mez’ein (I:155) – plural of mez
miuk (I:74) – the Madness, an illness of dusei that causes them to behave abberantly
miuk’ko (I:74) – in the throes of the Madness
*mu – common, ordinary
mu’ara (II:121) – common speech, developed during the Between and cast aside during the Dark
mri (I:7) – the People
*-n- – elided form of ani (see a’ani, yin’ein and zahen’ein)
Na’i’in (II:169) – the Sun, the primary of Kutath, original homeworld of the mri
*nla – bury, burial (see nla’ai-mri).
*nla’ai – burial-place (see nla’ai-mri).
nla’ai-mri (I:223) – burying place of the People, Sil’athen
*pan – sacred, holy (see Pana, pan’en and she’pan)
Pana (I:12) – the Revered Objects, the Mysteries, the Forbidden, usually kept in the sen-Shrine, behind the screen beyond which no kel’en may pass
pan’ai-khan (III:51) – the status of a kel’en who has handled a pan’en, halfway holy and halfway accursed.
pan’en (I:242) – sacred item retrieved by Niun and Melein, part of the Pana
*pan’ein – sacred things, several items from the Pana
*s’ – particle in mri naming that prefixes the name of the she’pan under whom one was born, this combination follows the personal name, i.e. Melain s’Intel Zain-Abrin
Sa’an (II:133) – the Giver of Laws, first of the Kel (the text is not clear on whether “Giver of Laws” is a translation of his name, or merely a descriptive)
sa’ahan (II:211) – peace, “the tranquility of strength”
Sa’er (II:216) – name of a Kath woman on Kutath, it is said to be “like the word for morning,” although that is never given
sa’jiran (II:199) – (?)is made (the text is unclear on the gloss)
Sen (I:5) – the scholar caste, gold-robed, celibate by law and custom
sen’anth (I:6) – the senior member of the Sen caste
sen’en (I:248) – a member of the Sen caste
sen’e’en (I:13) – a female sen’en
sen’ein (I:168) – plural of sen’en
*sen’e’ein – plural of sen’e’en
*seta – (?) cut, incise
seta’al (I:16) – distinguishing scars of a Kel, three blue-stained lines across the cheekbones
she’pan (I:8) – the sacred matriarch of a mri House, reckoned as a member of the Sen caste and thus celibate
she’pan’anth (III:201) – senior she’pan
she’panei (I:12) – plural of she’pan
*shon – pass, a core concept of the mri, shown both in the shon’ai or passing game and the Shon’jir or Passing ritual. To understand it is to understand the mri.
shon’ai (I:5) – the passing game or Game of the People, in which stones, swords or staves are tossed back and forth following the rhythm of a chant that describes the characteristics of the three castes of the mri.
shonau (II:120) – pass
Shon’jir (I:85) – the Passing ritual, a verse that speaks of the Dark and the times between, performed at a mri birth or death, also the period in which the mri migrate between homeworlds
siga (I:16) – long, flowing black robe worn by a kel’en
sigai (I:63) – plural of siga
Sil’athen (I:12) – mri burial ground
*sov – brother (see sov-kela)
sov-kela (II:186) – kel-brother
*su – prefix of specification, roughly corresponding to a definite article
su-she’pani kel’en a’anu (I:89) – the she’pan’s kel’en
*tsi – no, not, un – negativizing particle
tsi’daith’ (I:66) – “un-son,” an insult
tsi’mri (I:7) – “not-people,” all other sapient species beside the mri
tsi’seta (III:186) – lacking seta’al, the caste-scars of the Kel
*-u – agentative suffix, “one who does” (see *a’anu, a’ani)
*-un – genative suffix, “of or pertaining to” (see Edun Kesrithun)
yai (I:56) – meaningless syllable used to mean many things by a kel’en speaking to a dus
*yi – tradition, traditional
*yin – traditional combat
*yin’en – singular of yin’ein
yin’ein (I:8) – traditional weapons, used in a’ani, in which innovation is shameful
*zahe – modern
*zahen – modern combat
*zahen’en – singular of zahen’ein
zahen’ein (I:9) – modern weapons, in which innovation is permissable
zaidhe (I:16) – tasselled headcloth with a visor, worn by kel’ein
zaidh’ein (I:155) – plural of zaidhe
Source: The Mri Language at Leigh Kimmel’s website (Archive.org link).
3:00 PM Thursday, 21 June 2018
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