Common Trade Language
A study on the origin of Common ToponymsThe toponyms in the Common Trade Language have been developed in the earliest years of the Dark Ages. From looking at the words and connecting the meaning of the words to the time they have been made, we can learn a little about those years. For example, not every place has a Common name. If it is not mentioned, it might have existed, but if it has been mentioned, it really was there. An undiscovered sea First, there are two seas named in the Common Language: yrgiakl and taegiakl. We can see that giakl means sea (the big water). The “yr” in the first word means fire, so yrgiakl means the sea of fire. This is the western sea, the sea in which the sun sets and leaves the water in a fury red. The other sea is called tae. This means “blue”. It was long supposed to be Kristalmeer, although the water of that lake is more greenish or white than blue. There are no other large waters in Daleth. The dry lake near Vameir was already dry in this period. Scientists said the colour of this lake would have been brownish to beige. Only recently, we have learned that the lands of the dark skinned people, the land known as Luban, forms the coast of a “Blue Sea”. The people there even call this the “blue sea”, and, according to travellers, the water of this sea is truly blue. Is it possible that there were contacts with the Luban people in the early Dark Ages? There is no other proof for it. Did the Naglani and/or the Sudzi have contacts with these lands? We will never know for sure. Regions Regions we know from the original Common are gi-albter, mihumter-çin, and zarvoyd, and maybe çinviz. The first, gi-albter, is the big white land, usually related to the Taycha, maybe even Trigohaima. Any way, this is the realm of the Naglani. The second, mihumter-çin, is the Cold Land of the Little Men, now known as het Koude Dal or the Forbidden Valley. This is the land of the Sudzi. The suffix “çin” indicates that there is more than one “mihumter”, if the Sudzi lived only in het Koude Dal it would not have been necessary to specify this Land of Little Men. Thus, we can say the Sudzi had more than one place to live, and one of the places was colder than the other(s). The third region is zarvoyd. The second part of this word, “voyd”, also found in “voydlosh” is close related to the word “vojd” in “Vojdec”, a Naglani farm. It means wood or forest. The zarvoyd is the forest of zar. This word, “zar”, we also find in zarhym, or “home of zar”. Zar might have been a new kind of people (poorters), living in the Ildritz region. The word never comes back in later documents and maybe has been replaced by Poorters. Finally, we see the region çinviz, now known as Ciniz. This is the only place that has kept its name: Ciniz and çinviz are more related to each other than any of the other modern and common toponyms. Could it be possible that Ciniz is a much older word that has been put into the Common Trade Language with a little misunderstanding about its meaning? But who gave Ciniz its name, and what does it mean then? The common word, meaning “cold sight” is rather strange - how can a sight be cold, and why was Ciniz that cold? Grapes grow there now, could it ever have been extremely cold? The viz part in this word is still used in the name Wythviz, the wide sight of the southern parts of Daleth. Good places to be in The toponyms vachazl and vagavor are two pretty places: a castle and a city. According to this, Unvar (vachazl) was only a (pretty) castle and not a town to mention. The city vagavor really was a large city then, according to the words. But some scientists have it that Vameir was already in ruins at the time the Common Trade Language was developed. Could it be that those who spoke this language liked the vast ruins of the city? Did they know any of the legends surrounding this place? Or was it a different city that was named vagavor? The little evidence we have on this only points in the direction of the middle of Salamandran... Another good place to be was voydlosh. Marez is still situated in the dark pine woods of the northern part of the White Mountains. It probably was a good place to live because of all the animals in the woods. Note that voydlosh and mihumter-çin are never really linked to one another, although they share the border. Maybe there was no relation in those times? Two mountains The places taeubmoth and yrmoth are easier to find. Yrmoth is the fire mountain, the only volcano in Daleth. Taeubmoth, whose name has only slightly changed, is Dernëv. It is not sure if the city of Dernëv is meant, or the land Tarnov. The name is mentioned an awful lot, because the people from Taeubmoth were the enemies of those who had the better culture and have written their literature in the Common Trade Language. Conclusion It is hard to say how the world looked in the days of the Common Trade Language. It would be better if there were more sources to this language. The poetry from later times gives no full view of the situation in the early Dark Ages, even worse: it has obscured those times in romantic rhymes and changed the meaning of many words. Another remarkable fact: there seems to be no relation whatsoever between the language of the Giants and the Common Trade Language. This is strange, because both the Naglani and the Sudzi must have known at least a bit of this strange language. May the future bring more clear facts to the light of science. Next chapter: Useful sentences and examples Related topics: |