30 January 2014

today is gaunän (revisited)

gaunän = today (adverb) (some things Google found for "gaunan": an uncommon term; a rare last name; user names; name of a place in North Cotabato province in the Philippines; part of island names in Basilan province in the Philippines)

Word derivation for "today":
Basque = gaur, Finnish = tänään
Miresua = gaunän

My previous Miresua conlang word for today was gänan. I decided to make this a 6-letter word. There are more than enough 5-letter words.

The word today (actually as to-day) occurs four times in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The Cheshire cat asked Alice, "Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?"

26 January 2014

yesterday is ailo (revisited)

ailo = yesterday (adverb) (some things Google found for "ailo": a common term; an unusual Scandinavian masculine first name, notably Ailo Gaup which is the name of a Sámi author and also a Norwegian motocross rider; AILO is an acronym for the Association of International Life Offices; AILO is an acronym for American Indian Liaison Office; an unusual last name; Ailo is a dance band project; Ailo-Atynakovo is the name of a place in Russia; name of a place in Papua New Guinea)

Word derivation for "yesterday":
Basque = atzo, Finnish = eilen
Miresua = ailo

My previous Miresua conlang word for yesterday was azei. I changed this word because I didn't want the diphthong to be on the end of the word.

The word yesterday occurs three times in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Soon after Alice first enlarged, she said, "Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual...."

22 January 2014

hand is uski (revisited)

uski = hand (noun) (some things Google found for "uski": a common term; an unusual last name that can be Finnish; Uski Roti (English title: Our Daily Bread) is a 1969 Hindi drama film; USKI ski equipment designed for children; in Serbo-Croatian uski is forms of uzak meaning narrow; means her in Hindi (transliterated); name of places in Finland and Russia)

Word derivation for "hand" :
Basque = esku, Finnish = käsi
Miresua = uski

My previous Miresua word for hand was uskä. This is a very minor change. I'm trying to lessen the number of nouns ending in a or ä. It'll make the grammar somewhat simplier.

The word hand occurs many times in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. When the Hatter was called as the first witness in court, "he came in with a teacup in one hand and a piece of bread-and-butter in the other."

18 January 2014

narrow is keptu

keptu = narrow (adjective) (some things Google found for "keptu": an uncommon term; one of the many races of humanoids in the role-playing fantasy video game The Elder Scrolls; user names; a very rare last name; name of a World of Warcraft gaming character; similar keptų means baked or fried in Lithuanian)

Word derivation for "narrow"
Basque = estu, Finnish = kapea
Miresua = keptu

Another Basque word for narrow is mehar.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, after Alice enlarges inside the White Rabbit's house, Alice said, "...this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but I THINK I can kick a little!".

14 January 2014

fast is azano

azano = fast (adjective) (some things Google found for "azano": an uncommon term; Azano Pharmaceuticals of New Mexico; Salon Azano of New Jersey; Grupo Azano is a Mexican engineering and construction company; Azano Pty Ltd is an Australian weighing and packaging systems company; an unusual last name; name of a place in the Canary Islands of Spain; name of a place in Togo)

Word derivation for "fast (quick)"
Basque = azkar, Finnish = nopea
Miresua = azano

This is the adjective for fast, meaning capable of moving with great speed. Not fast meaning firmly or securely fixed in place, or meaning a deep or sound sleep.

I didn't find the word fast with this meaning in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, although I found three occurrences of the comparative adjective faster.

10 January 2014

slow is gedis

gedis = slow (adjective) (some things Google found for "gedis": an uncommon term; GEDIS Studio is an online test data generator; a rare last name; a rare first name; Gedis is a Muslim Online Bookshop based in France; GEDIS is an acronym for Geological Exploration and Development Information System in Australia; similar gediş in Azerbaijani means departure; similar Gediz is the the of a place in Turkey)

Word derivation for "slow (sluggish)"
Basque = geldi, Finnish = hidas
Miresua = gedis

In English there are a number meanings for the adjective slow. For example, slow can mean taking a long time to move a short distance; or happening gradually; or lacking promptness; or lacking liveliness; or being dull-witted.

The English word slow doesn't translate easily to Basque. There are multiple Basque words meaning slow. In addition to geldi, which means "slow, sluggish; still", other Basque words that can mean slow are motel, mantso, astitsu, patxadatsu and geldo. There are somewhat different meanings to all these words. I can say with some confidence, geldo means slow as in dull-witted.

The word slow doesn't appear in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but the adverb slowly occurs eight times.

06 January 2014

vanilla is banilja

banilja = vanilla (noun) (some things Google found for "banilja": a very rare term; bad OCR of texts; similar Banileja is a female person from the city of Baní in the Dominican Republic; similar banilla is a flavor consisting of both banana and vanilla; similar banilya means vanilla in Tagalog; similar Russish Banilya (aka Banyliv) is the name of a place in Ukraine)

Word derivation for "vanilla"
Basque = bainila, Finnish = vanilja
Miresua = banilja

I defined the Miresua word for chocolate, so thought I'd do vanilla too. The word vanilla doesn't appear in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or in Through the Looking-Glass.

The j in Miresua is pronounced like y.

02 January 2014

chocolate is txukola

txukola = chocolate (noun) (some things Google found for "txukola": an unique term; txukola did not match any documents; similar tuKola is a brand of cola soft drink produced in Cuba)

Word derivation for "chocolate"
Basque = txokolate, Finnish = suklaa
Miresua = txukola

The word chocolate doesn't appear in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or in Through the Looking-Glass, but I want chocolate.

The tx consonant combination in Miresua (as in Basque) is pronounced like ch.