Erdanic scratchpad
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2026 4:42 am
Oh, I haven't done this for ages!
External history
I think there have been countless iterations of this language, none of which I was really satisfied with.
It's always been meant to sound vaguely 'European', and for conworlding purposes I needed a language that feels familiar.
So eventually, I figured - why not go for an IE language? I usually went, as you'll see, with options that would feel familiar to English or Romance language speakers.
Internal history
There always have been, at infrequent intervals, population exchanges between Earth and Massotis, by means that are still ill-understood.
The last two such episodes that we know of occured on the Eastern side of the Syrtan continent (on the Massotis side) and involved Indo-European speakers; the first wave involving speakers of the ancestor of the Kanien language family; the second wave probably involved speakers of proto-Germanic.
Erdanic is a member of the Kanien family. The Kanien branch of Indo-European is not clearly related to any of the terrestrial branches of IE, but it seems closest to Italic and Celtic.
Erdania, on the East side of the Central Seas, was firmly a part of the Tarandim cultural sphere; in a situation of diglossia -- various Tarandim languages, notably Arjirets being the prestige language. The Arjirets script was eventually adapted to the Kanien language we call Old Erdanic.
A few centuries later, the rise of the Mirist religion established Classical Erdanic as a literary language.
This sketch describes the modern language, natively Erdanika (about 1200 to 1400 years after Classical Erdanic)
Phonology
This is not intended as in-depth phonological study, but rather a guide to the romanization I'll use.
Consonants
Vowels
Diphthongs:
au /aw/ eu /ew/, ie /je/~/jɛ/ ue /we/~/wɛ/, ou /ɔw/
Notable allophony:
e is [e] in open syllabes, [ɛ] in close syllables, likewise o [o] or [ɔ].
V + n world finally or in close syllables usually results in a nasal vowel, sometimes followed by [ŋ] or homorganic nasal: jenan [dʒe.nã]~[dʒe.nãŋ] 'woman (acc.)', luvanz [lu.vãts] ~ [lu.vãnts] 'they love'
Stress.
Stress usually falls on the penultimate, but may occur on the antepenult or the last syllable, in which case it is marked with an acute in the romanization. Stressed vowels are somewhat longers.
Many speakers diphthongize stressed finals: vradó, vradón [vra'dow] [vra'dõw̃ŋ] ('comrade', 'comrade(acc.)')
Syllable structure:
Erdanic allows (C)(C)V(N)(C) syllables; most initial clusters are permissible though nasal+stop clusters must be homorganic. stop+stop clusters are permissible but both components must match in voicing: pkavó 'bishop', nter 'inside'
CV or CVC syllables are preferred: feranter 'from within' : fe-ran-ter, not fe-ra-nter
External history
I think there have been countless iterations of this language, none of which I was really satisfied with.
It's always been meant to sound vaguely 'European', and for conworlding purposes I needed a language that feels familiar.
So eventually, I figured - why not go for an IE language? I usually went, as you'll see, with options that would feel familiar to English or Romance language speakers.
Internal history
There always have been, at infrequent intervals, population exchanges between Earth and Massotis, by means that are still ill-understood.
The last two such episodes that we know of occured on the Eastern side of the Syrtan continent (on the Massotis side) and involved Indo-European speakers; the first wave involving speakers of the ancestor of the Kanien language family; the second wave probably involved speakers of proto-Germanic.
Erdanic is a member of the Kanien family. The Kanien branch of Indo-European is not clearly related to any of the terrestrial branches of IE, but it seems closest to Italic and Celtic.
Erdania, on the East side of the Central Seas, was firmly a part of the Tarandim cultural sphere; in a situation of diglossia -- various Tarandim languages, notably Arjirets being the prestige language. The Arjirets script was eventually adapted to the Kanien language we call Old Erdanic.
A few centuries later, the rise of the Mirist religion established Classical Erdanic as a literary language.
This sketch describes the modern language, natively Erdanika (about 1200 to 1400 years after Classical Erdanic)
Phonology
This is not intended as in-depth phonological study, but rather a guide to the romanization I'll use.
Consonants
| Labials | Dentals | Palatals | Velars | |
| Plosives | p b | t d | k g | |
| Fricatives | f v | s | š /ʃ/ | x |
| Affricates | z /ts/ | č /tʃ// j /dʒ/ | ||
| Nasals | m | n | ny /ɲ/ | |
| Liquids | l r | ly /ʎ/ | ||
| Semivowels | u | i |
| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | i | u | |
| Close | e | o | |
| Low | æ | a |
au /aw/ eu /ew/, ie /je/~/jɛ/ ue /we/~/wɛ/, ou /ɔw/
Notable allophony:
e is [e] in open syllabes, [ɛ] in close syllables, likewise o [o] or [ɔ].
V + n world finally or in close syllables usually results in a nasal vowel, sometimes followed by [ŋ] or homorganic nasal: jenan [dʒe.nã]~[dʒe.nãŋ] 'woman (acc.)', luvanz [lu.vãts] ~ [lu.vãnts] 'they love'
Stress.
Stress usually falls on the penultimate, but may occur on the antepenult or the last syllable, in which case it is marked with an acute in the romanization. Stressed vowels are somewhat longers.
Many speakers diphthongize stressed finals: vradó, vradón [vra'dow] [vra'dõw̃ŋ] ('comrade', 'comrade(acc.)')
Syllable structure:
Erdanic allows (C)(C)V(N)(C) syllables; most initial clusters are permissible though nasal+stop clusters must be homorganic. stop+stop clusters are permissible but both components must match in voicing: pkavó 'bishop', nter 'inside'
CV or CVC syllables are preferred: feranter 'from within' : fe-ran-ter, not fe-ra-nter
