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<center><h1><!--title-->Compass directions
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<p>Posted by <b><!--poster-->Mark Rosenfelder</b>
on <!--date-->00:22 9/14/01
<p>In reply to: <a href="162.html">Pangram</a> posted by Philip Newton</b> on 9:26 9/11/01
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<p>
<blockquote>
<p>are the compass directions (N S E W = nan er sar tel) in Verdurian only
nouns, or can they be adjectives or adverbs as well?</p>
</blockquote>
Just nouns and adjectives, as we'll see below.
<blockquote>
<p>For example, how would one translate <em>10 </em>cemisî<em> south
of Pelym</em>? I can imagine any of</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Dec cemisî er Pelymei</strong> (though this sounds like
<em>10 </em>cemisî<em> <u>and</u> of Pelym</em>)</li>
<li><strong>Dec cemisî ad/im erán Pelymei</strong></li>
<li><strong>Dec cemisî erece Pelymei</strong></li>
<li><strong>Dec cemisî er azh/dör Pelymán</strong></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
None of the above. :( I would write <b>azh Pelymán erán po dec cemisen</b>. And "south of Pelym" is simply <b>azh Pelymán erán</b>.
<blockquote>
<p>And how about <em>southern Viminia</em>? Is that <strong>er
Vimínë</strong>, which sounds to me more like <em>the south of
Viminia</em> (which, admittedly, has a similar meaning)? Or maybe
<strong>erise/erete/erë Vimínia</strong>?</p>
</blockquote>
If it's a fixed part of the region's name, it's (somewhat boringly) <b>Er Vimínia</b>. You can find a few names like this on <a href="../../drill5.htm">the Verduria Province map</a>, such as <b>Nan Oripër</b> and <b>Er Oripër</b>.
<p>The one grammatical oddity is that the direction in a region's name is declined as a noun. That is, it doesn't agree with the toponym in gender. (Another example is the town <b>Sarsasna</b> 'eastern pine' in Krasnaya.)
<p>Note that when the expression is old enough, the direction simply fuses to the name and is no longer declined: <b>Lädam Sarnáen</b>, we're going to Sarnáe. <b>Eretald</b> is another example.
<p>For non-regions, the direction is an adjective. We can distinguish between <b>tela mazhtana</b> "the western (part of) the city" and <b>mazhtana telán</b> "a city to the west". You can also say <b>so tel mazhtane</b> "the west of the city", or even <b>so nan Vimínë</b> "the south of Viminia".
<p>(You'd almost think I chose <b>nan</b> 'north' to confuse Chinese speakers. Or perhaps it means the same thing: closer to the equator!)
<blockquote>
<p>And is <em>Viminia is west of Caizura</em> translated as
<strong>Vimínia zet tróue im (soán) telán
Caizure</strong>? Or perhaps <strong>Vimínia zet tróue telece
Caizure</strong> or something like that?</p>
</blockquote>
I'd say <b>Vimínia zet tróue azh Caizuran telán.</b>
<blockquote>
<p>How would one express <em>North Elbonia</em> or <em>Lower Slobovia</em>,
if that's a country name? For example, there's a difference between
<em>west(ern) Germany</em> and <em>West Germany</em> (the second no longer
exists, while the first just describes a region inside a country). Is
<em>northern Elbonia</em> <strong>nanise/nanete/nanë Elbonia</strong>
while <em>North Elbonia</em> would be <strong>Nan-Elbonia</strong> or
something like that? Or is no distinction made?</p>
</blockquote>
<b>Nan Elbónia</b>, which could be either "North" or "Northern Elbonia". As above, you could say <b>(so) nan Elbónë</b> for "the north of Elbonia."
<blockquote>
<p>And would <em>Lower Slobovia</em> be <strong>Hip-Slobovia</strong>, by
analogy with <em>upper</em> which is translated as <strong>ir</strong> =
<em>above</em> in Eng2Ver? Or maybe <strong>Basë Slobovia</strong>? And
are their pals further into the mountains <strong>Ir-Slobovia</strong> or
<strong>Altë Slobovia</strong>?
</blockquote>
I'd say <b>Ira Slobóvia</b> and <b>Basë Slobóvia</b>-- these are regular <i>adjectives</i>.
<b>Ir</b> can be a preposition or an adjective:</b>
<p><b>Soa musca letne ir mettan.</b> The fly flew above the table.
<br><b>Soa musca letne soan iran mettan.</b> The fly flew to the upper table.
<blockquote>
<p>How about <em>He lives in the South</em>? <strong>Zhesei im soán
erán</strong>, perhaps?</p>
</blockquote>
Better: <b>Zhese erán.</b> Though the above seems correct to me also.
<blockquote>
<p>Finally, is there a traditional order in Verdurian for reciting the
compass directions? English and German both have <em>North, South, East,
West</em> and <em>Norden, Süden, Osten, Westen</em>, but Japanese, for
example, has 東西南北 <em>tou-zai-nan-boku</em> or
<em>East, West, South, North</em>.</p>
</blockquote>
Remember <b>Zon Erei</b>: the most important direction to the ancient Cadinorians was the <b>south</b>, since that was their part of the world. Next most important was the <b>west</b>, where Cuzei was; then the <b>north</b>, where the Monkhayu still lived; finally the <b>east</b>, for the "demon worshippers" as Shm Revouse calls them. (That this was considered least important suggests how ancient this conception must have been.)
<blockquote>
<p>And what about compass directions in between? English, German, and French
have <em>northeast</em>, <em>Nordost(en)</em>, and <em>nord-est</em> (that
is, first north-south, then east-west), while Japanese has 東北
<em>touhoku</em>/<em>higashikita</em> or <em>east-north</em> (that is, with
the two components in the opposite order). Does Verdurian have
<strong>sarnan</strong> or <strong>nansar</strong>? Or maybe some other
compound of the two words such as <strong>sarise/sarete/sarë
nan</strong> <em>eastern north</em> or <strong>sar nanei</strong> <em>east
of north</em>? And how is <em>(something is located) northeast of ...</em>
expressed?</p>
</blockquote>
I like <b>nansar, nantel, ersar, ertel.</b> These act like the ordinary directions: thus, <b>Kebri zet tróue azh Erenatán nantelán.</b>
<p>Thanks for the very interesting questions! I'll have to modify the dictionary to include more examples.
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<b>Mark Rosenfelder</b>
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