Sudden bolt of idea while I was on the can earlier:
I've previously mentioned that XTC has a sort of construct state function that forces a second-register tone on the second (modifier) noun. It occurs to me that, while I knew that I wanted the city to be called "
Mjuy Baong" (ignoring tones), which was supposed to mean "Golden City" or "City of Gold", I wasn't sure how I was going to swing it. Now I can:
Mjǔy Bâong
- mjǔy
- city
- bǎong
- gold
- 2
- s.c.
'City of Gold/Golden City'
XTC /mɲoi̯
D2 bɔ̃
B1/
MB [mjyi̯ˀ˨˩ bãˀ˨˩˨]
Gu [mɲac˨˩˨ bã˨˩˨]
Gn [mneː˥˧ bɑ̃ˀ˥˧]
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Hemerythrin actually makes a ton of sense for the
adasar (
v.s. about the iron surplus), and it also would lead to a lot of imagery being changed.
- Blood = purple. Pervades everything.
- The Confederation of the Violet Sun can now be the
Confederation of the Blood Sun. More metal, while still retaining the tip of the hat to my mentor, Jack King-Spooner.
- The Red Death is now the
Violet Death. As the calendrical system was previously referred to as
RD, this would mean it would now be
VD. This is sub-optimal, so I've decided to go the Latin route and use
MP (
mors purpura), which has the bonus attribute of providing another, albeit somewhat inadvertent, shout-out to Mr. King-Spooner (whose flagship video game series is
Sluggish Morss).
Interestingly, CT only has three color terms:
sígna 'light; warm',
hûn 'dark; cool', and
kiĝ 'red; brown; ruddy, earthy'. This easily lends itself to a color-separated three-humours system:
Isë ekhím Héon ü
- isë
- three
- ekhín
- MW.bodily
- héon
- vapor
- ü
- DEF
'the Three Humours'
Note the archaic connotation of
héon (more literally 'mist, vapor') here (and its coöccurrence with the measure-word
ekhín 'bodily function/action').
The
éhon were held to be quasi-fluidic, quasi-vaporous humours that had effects on your personality and health in some way. They were associated each with a pair of
ela (
sg. líḫ, literally 'lacquer' but from an ultimate etymon in PB
*ðehiɢ 'sap, resin'), one
ir hoĝ ('remaining within') and one
ir súł ('going without') based on whether they were supposed to remain inside the body; one
Î Gi (<
ki 'hand; leaf'), basically which of the three kingdoms of plants is associated with you; one
hö (
lit. 'brother' but because of the names of the two moons it's kind of here like a catchall for certain astronomical bodies), either one of the two moons or Xi Boötis B; and one
kélen 'water', referring to what kind of literal water was yours. Some of the associations may be a bit opaque, so I'll try to explain some of them after the table.
Heón Humour | Líḫ ir Hoĝ Vital fluid within | Líḫ ir Súł Vital fluid without | Î Gi Leafy thing | Hö Astronomical Body | Kélen Water |
sígna warm; light | kélen sígna venous blood | íántád semen | díĝkü yellow plant | Hö Kahál Big Brother | ḫîn fresh/potable |
hún cool; dark | gîĝ arterial blood | łodká sweat | köglu black plant | Hö Nihír Little Brother | aĝmükní rainwater |
kiĝ red; brown | mhûi digestive juices | gáúmaga urine | kóḫreł red plant | Hadál Iénhu n Taád King-of-the-Sky | kélen î réthu seawater |
- Venous blood is considered
sígna because deoxygenated hemerythrin is, I'm told, clear. When it's oxygenated, it gains its violet color (clearly
hún).
- Urine is considered
kiĝ because
dahsar urine is iron-rich; some google fu says that this is sometimes called '
vin rose' and can occur in chelation patients due to high iron excretion via urine, which the
adasar have due to the higher iron content on the surface of Íröd.
- Hö Nihír is closer to Íröd but noticeably darker than its larger but more distant sibling Hö Kahál. Hadál Iénhu n Taád, which is Xi Boötis B, is a K-type star and appears a little orangey.
- The connection of sweat to
hún is thanks to the
adasar correctly identifying that sweat is water-based. The Beheic
Urheimat was in a region of fresh water, which was blue-tinted (blue and violet are both covered by
hún).
- Assigning rainwater specifically to
hún is not totally understood; prevailing theories suggest that it's due to the association of dark skies with stormy weather.
Sensu stricto, it's unusual that potable water is considered
sígna when water itself is
hún (
v.s.). It seems that the association with
sígna is due to the clarity of pure water. While heavy water
is clear, standard water having a slight blue tint,
kélen suú would not be discovered until
dahsar science got to the point where it was relevant, many thousands of years after the
floruit of CT.