Sidhaisin

The language of the elves of Narth

Sidhaisin is the language of the elves who remained uncorrupted by Ntono after the Second Day of Creation. Despite the long lifespans of its speakers, it has evolved and changed over the 10 or so elven generations since the creation of Narth's sentients, though at a much slower rate than the tongues of humanity and the other races.

The following information on Sidhaisin is available:

The Yadhai Language -- "Yadhaisin"

The Yadhai have displayed obvious linguistic divergence from their aboveground cousins. In general, the softer consonants and dipthongs have become harder, and certain vowels have shifted. The tables below note the primary phonetic changes:

Vowel shifts Consonant Shifts
AE became AH
AI became AE
I became E
 B became P
D became T
DH became TH
G became K
J became CH
SH became ZH
TH became T
V became F

Additionally, many hard terminal consonants, such as "P", have been dropped; terminal "S" has become a "Z" sound. Also, weak internal syllables (usually schwas) have vanished from some words.

Here is a sample text given in both Sidhaisin and Yadhaisin for comparison. Formal written style excluding elisions has been followed here for clarity.

Sidhaisin:
Nauras ad taila auth aithrimas andothas tho thel fira, auth ad tovas nyistel :: Alb tai tho thel fira, Yadhavailde siv rinya, nyolm tho taila dhras thel del :: Auth o esinn athloa tha telna edhehnas fis, tha o talathel ad nossalar auth othral iela de thel, auth thel yilledha si o ralme, aibas taila del thel nieniru, auth thel imadhiru de ethasa thadras othral auth nithua nau thelas yarithel eni.

Yadhaisin:
Nauraz at taela aut aetremas antotaz to tel fera, aut at tofaz nystel :: Alp tae to tel fera, Yathavosand sef renya, nyolm to taela thraz tel te'el :: Aut o esenn atloa ta telna ethnaz fez, ta o taltel ad nosslar aut otral iela te tel, aut tel yeltha se o ralme, aibas taela te'el tel nieneru, aut tel imatheru de etasa tadraz otral aut netua nau telaz yar'tel ene.

(Long of life and wondrous wise she made them, and of great beauty. But as she made them, Ntono stole two, before she did put life into them. And using the material which he had held ready, planted he the seeds of corruption and evil in them, and returned them to the goddess, that she might breathe life into them, and that they might appear in later days to cause evil and strife between their brethren.)

In addition, there have been certain idiomatic and vocabulary shifts in the Yadhai tongue, but except to note that some were without doubt the result of word collision during phonetic shift and others are motivated by differences in religion and philosophy, their exploration is beyond the scope of this web page.


This page was created on November 7, 1997.
Last modified March 12, 2011.