Linguifex - User contributions [en]

Knench/Lexicon

2026-05-20T12:50:00Z

IlL:

* ''rib'' 'thing; (archaic) dispute, matter'
* ''tentod, tentedi'' (from Latin ''attemptātum'') 'danger'
** ''tentyd'' 'to endanger'
* ''motor'' 'rain'
* ''baɣl'' (literary) 'rain'
* ''beth'' 'house'
* ''zeth'' 'oil'
* ''samn'' 'fat'
* ''dam'' 'blood'
* ''jam, jemi'' 'sea'
* ''jům, jůmi'' 'day'
* ''ybluɣ'' 'to eat, to corrode'
* ''moɣůr'' 'daily life'
* ''ylůh{{umlaut}}, ylůh{{umlaut}}i'' 'god'
* ''ecles'' 'church'
* ''cudus'' 'place of worship'
* ''lů'' 'no (negative answer)'
* ''bal-'' 'non-'
* ''sfut'' 'to rule'
* ''sůfet, sůfeti'' 'ruler'
* ''mysfot, mysfeti'' 'rule (control), judgment/ruling'
* ''mem'' "water"
* ''some'' "sky"
* ''bin'' "(literary) to understand"
* ''theth'' "to give; ''ditransitive auxiliary where dative object = recipient and accusative object = theme''"
* ''ɣbur'' "to suffer; ''passive auxiliary for objects of monotransitive verbs and inanimates of ditransitive verbs''"
* ''caqhth'' "to take; ''passive auxiliary for animates of ditransitive verbs''"
* ''eɣbyr'' "to make someone suffer"
* ''carth'' "town, city"
* ''qhodos'' "new"
* ''mens, mynesi'' "month" (IE loanword)
* ''mocům, mocůmůd'' "place"
* ''cim'' "to arise"
* ''cůl, cůlůd'' "voice"
* ''Thonoch'' "Tanakh"
* ''qhymůr'' [ˈqʰəmʉɾ] "donkey"
* ''sůr'' "bull, ox"
* ''faro'' "cow"
* ''bocor'' "cattle"
* ''cefel'' "horse"
** ''xix'' (literary) "horse"
* ''ɣůlom, ɣůlemi'' "century; (literary) eternity"
* ''rab, rebi'' "master, lord"
** ''rabo'' 'lady'
* ''sam'' 'there'
* ''sama'' 'thither'
* ''chů'' (literary) "thus, so"
** ''Chů so Zarathustra mur'' "Thus spoke Zarathustra"
* ''fů'' "this, here"

Knench/Lexicon

2026-05-20T12:47:53Z

IlL:

Knench/Lexicon

2026-05-20T12:46:25Z

IlL:

2026-05-17T12:56:55Z

IlL:

Knench/Lexicon

2026-05-17T12:53:07Z

IlL:

* ''rib'' 'thing; (archaic) dispute, matter'
* ''tentod, tentedi'' (from Latin ''attemptātum'') 'danger'
** ''tentyd'' 'to endanger'
* ''motor'' 'rain'
* ''baɣl'' (literary) 'rain'
* ''beth'' 'house'
* ''zeth'' 'oil'
* ''samn'' 'fat'
* ''dam'' 'blood'
* ''jam, jemi'' 'sea'
* ''jům, jůmi'' 'day'
* ''ybluɣ'' 'to eat, to corrode'
* ''moɣůr'' 'daily life'
* ''ylůh{{umlaut}}, ylůh{{umlaut}}i'' 'god'
* ''ecles'' 'church'
* ''cuds'' 'place of worship'
* ''lů'' 'no (negative answer)'
* ''bal-'' 'non-'
* ''sfut'' "to judge"
* ''sůfet, sůfeti'' "judge"
* ''mysfot, mysfeti'' "judgment, verdict"
* ''mem'' "water"
* ''some'' "sky"
* ''bin'' "(literary) to understand"
* ''theth'' "to give; ''ditransitive auxiliary where dative object = recipient and accusative object = theme''"
* ''ɣbur'' "to suffer; ''passive auxiliary for objects of monotransitive verbs and inanimates of ditransitive verbs''"
* ''caqhth'' "to take; ''passive auxiliary for animates of ditransitive verbs''"
* ''eɣbyr'' "to make someone suffer"
* ''carth'' "town, city"
* ''qhodos'' "new"
* ''mens, mynesi'' "month" (IE loanword)
* ''mocům, mocůmůd'' "place"
* ''cim'' "to arise"
* ''cůl, cůlůd'' "voice"
* ''Thonoch'' "Tanakh"
* ''qhymůr'' [ˈqʰəmʉɾ] "donkey"
* ''sůr'' "bull, ox"
* ''faro'' "cow"
* ''bocor'' "cattle"
* ''cefel'' "horse"
** ''xix'' (literary) "horse"
* ''ɣůlom, ɣůlemi'' "century; (literary) eternity"
* ''rab, rebi'' "master, lord"
** ''rabo'' 'lady'
* ''sam'' 'there'
* ''sama'' 'thither'

Knench/Lexicon

2026-05-17T12:52:10Z

2026-05-16T18:30:45Z

IlL:

Knench/Religion

2026-05-16T18:07:21Z

IlL:

Main differences from OTL:
* Ashokan missionaries get to Carthage (this fact isn't provable in-universe)
*... whose lect of Canaanite also somewhat differs from OTL and is more IE-influenced (from Azalic speakers; e.g. tense markers and negated adjectives/abstract nouns (e.g. ''bl h3wlt'' or later ''hbl 3wlt'' 'refraining from violence/wronging/victimizing') are more common)

== Hadīqūt ==
Hadīqūt (out-of-universe note: this is a loan translation from Greek ''eusébeia'', which translates ''dharma'') is an offshoot of Punic religion that among other things condemns both human and animal sacrifice; its beliefs are somewhat poorly attested because of Christian suppression, but evidence about it survives in Latin and Greek texts.


In translation, a Hadīqūt teacher is described as teaching as follows: "The Way of Piety is justice and righteousness; lovingkindness towards every soul and refraining from wrongdoing towards any of them; and steadfast devotion to the study and practice of Piety."

== Middle Knench religion ==
Middle Knench Christian Bible translation (from the Vulgate, not the Hebrew/Greek) codifies Knench

== Modern Knench religion ==
There is a "xenharmony but for religion" culture of comparative religion

Qhirom ben-Qhenni constructs a neo-Hadīqūt to rebel against what he views as the exclusivism of Christianity; he translates many Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain texts into Knench. He views paganism as natural, rather than racial/essential to IE-speaking people. (He studies Judaism just like any non-Christian religion and focuses on the rabbinical texts; he notes how Rabbinic Judaism encourages pluralism in interpretation, and he even sees some common cause with the Tanakh itself, because some objectionable things it condemns were also condemned by the Hadīqīm. Thus he emphasizes that Jews are not the enemy of pluralism.)

Another Knench scholar Mathaj Faros disagrees somewhat, saying that he can't believe in any gods because he already started out disbelieving in most gods thanks to Christianity

Another Knenchman, Antre Niri, proposes a more Japanese model for neopaganism

Most modern Knench people describe themselves as not being in any particular religion, because of the enduring influence of "xen-religion" in Knench culture. Among the religious, the largest religions are Christianity > syncretic paganism (modeled after Indian and Japanese paganisms) > Judaism ≈ Islam (People usually don't go from Christianity/Islam to paganism, they go to irreligion)

Many Knench people, even nominally irreligious people and Christians, have folk beliefs

2026-05-11T23:17:42Z

IlL: /* Newton's laws of motion */

{{List subpages}}
'''Knench''' /nɛnt͡ʃ/ (natively ''Finid'' /ˈfi{{long}}nɪð/ or ''losůnaz Fini'') is a divergent descendant of Canaanite spoken in Lõis Great Britain. It does not lose Semitic triconsonantal morphology, but it loses older Semitic conjugated verb forms in favor of constructions using the infinitive construct. Knench is the second largest Irta British minority language after Welsh, in fact its syntax is similar to Colloquial Welsh.

Move to Spain?

Revamp prosody to a more Welshy one

Make Ancient Knench stage a bit more like Togarmite and less Hebrew
* ''dobor'' [ˈðoːvʌɾ] "(literary) a thing"
* ''doboraz'' [ðʌˈvoːɾaz] "the thing"
* ''deberi'' [ðɛˈveːɾi] "things" (affection; plural -īm -> -i)
* ''deberimel'' [ðɛvɛˈɾiːmɛl] "the things"
* ''qhymůr'' [ˈqʰəmʉɾ] "donkey"
* ''jůno'' [ˈjyːnʌ] "a pigeon"
* ''jůnozů'' [jʉˈnoːzʉ] "the pigeon"
* ''jůnůd'' [ˈjyːnʉð] "pigeons" (Hebrew has yōnīm but let's use the f. pl. ending)
* ''jůnůdel'' [jʉˈnyːðɛl] "the pigeons"

== Phonology ==
Knench phonology is complex, with underlying phonemes resulting in multiple phones depending on the phonetic environment (most importantly, stressed versus unstressed syllables; prevocalic or non-prevocalic for certain laryngeals)
=== Vowels ===
'''a e y i o u ů''' /a~aː ɛ~eː ə~ɨː ɪ~iː ʌ~o̝ː ʊ~u̟ː ʉ~yː/

=== Consonants ===
==== Phones ====
==== Underlying consonants ====
* |ʔ| '''x''' (often lost) from Old Knench /ʔ/
* |v| '''v''' from Old Knench /b/
* |ɣ| '''g''' from Old Knench /g/
* |ð| '''d''' from Old Knench /d/
* |h| '''ḧ''' (often lost) from Old Knench /h/
* |w| '''w''' from Old Knench /w/
* |z| '''z''' from Old Knench /z/ (from PSem *z and ð)
* |qʰ| '''qh''' from Old Knench /χ/ (from PSem *x and *ħ)
* |t=| '''t''' from Old Knench /t{{phar}}/
* |j| '''j''' from Old Knench /j/
* |kʰ| '''ch''' from Old Knench /k/
* |l| '''l''' from Old Knench /l/
* |m| '''m''' from Old Knench /m/
* |n| '''n''' from Old Knench /n/
* |ɕ| '''çh''' from Old Knench /ts/ (from PSem *s)
* |ʁ{{tilde}}| '''ɣ''' from Old Knench /ʁ̃/ (from PSem *ɣ and *ʕ)
* |f| '''f''' from Old Knench /p/
* |p=| '''p''' from Latin/Romance /p/
* |ts=| '''ç''' from Old Knench /tsˁ/ (from PSem *s{{cdb}}, *ś{{cdb}}, and *θ{{cdb}})
* |k=| '''c''' from Old Knench /q/
* |r| '''r''' from Old Knench /r/
* |{{sz}}| '''s''' from Old Knench /s{{ret}}/ (from PSem *š, *ś, and *θ)
* |tʰ| '''th''' from Old Knench /t/

'''qh''' is in a process of merging with '''ch''' in Modern Knench. The merged sound is kʰ~x.

=== Mutation ===

== Morphology ==
=== Pronouns ===
* 1sg: ''i'' (after consonant), ''ni'' (after vowel)
* 2sg.m: ''tho''; ''-cho tho'' (after prepositions)
* 2sg.f: ''thy''; ''-chyth'' (after prepositions)
* 3sg.m: ''ůj'' (< -ů + ḧi)
* 3sg.f: ''oj'' (< -o/-oh/-ho + ḧi)
* 1pl: ''nu''
* 2pl: ''thym''; ''-chym thym, -chythym'' (after prepositions)
* 3pl: 'm

=== Verbs ===
The citation form is uninflected in Colloquial Knench:

: ''Re ni by bluɣ i tha laqhm.'' (PRES 1SG PROG eat 1SG ACC bread) 'I eat/am eating bread.'
: ''Bluɣ laqhmaz!'' 'Eat the bread! (both sg and pl)'

Knench verbs can be from inherited binyanim (fɣul, iffoɣel, ithfoɣel, faɣel, afɣel, isthafɣel) or from noun patterns.

==Sample texts==
===Newton's laws of motion===
''I: Re dobor by sbuth by demi, ylů by ɣythůc bal-sůny, lile força b acço ɣaju.''

I: An object stays at rest, or at a constant speed, unless a force acts on it.

''II: Re sanujaz ly momentaz ly gaf by mathchůni lid forçazů myfuçoro ɣaj gafaz; u re sanujaz by crůd darcho cůaz thecin as ɣaju forçazů myfuçoro.''

II: The change in the momentum of a body is proportional to the force applied to the body; and the change occurs along the straight line on which that force is applied.

''III: Jes ly chul acço tha reacço sowo u mythnegydo.''

III: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Semitic languages]]

Knench

2026-05-11T23:17:01Z

IlL: /* Verbs */

{{List subpages}}
'''Knench''' /nɛnt͡ʃ/ (natively ''Finid'' /ˈfi{{long}}nɪð/ or ''losůnaz Fini'') is a divergent descendant of Canaanite spoken in Lõis Great Britain. It does not lose Semitic triconsonantal morphology, but it loses older Semitic conjugated verb forms in favor of constructions using the infinitive construct. Knench is the second largest Irta British minority language after Welsh, in fact its syntax is similar to Colloquial Welsh.

Move to Spain?

Revamp prosody to a more Welshy one

Make Ancient Knench stage a bit more like Togarmite and less Hebrew
* ''dobor'' [ˈðoːvʌɾ] "(literary) a thing"
* ''doboraz'' [ðʌˈvoːɾaz] "the thing"
* ''deberi'' [ðɛˈveːɾi] "things" (affection; plural -īm -> -i)
* ''deberimel'' [ðɛvɛˈɾiːmɛl] "the things"
* ''qhymůr'' [ˈqʰəmʉɾ] "donkey"
* ''jůno'' [ˈjyːnʌ] "a pigeon"
* ''jůnozů'' [jʉˈnoːzʉ] "the pigeon"
* ''jůnůd'' [ˈjyːnʉð] "pigeons" (Hebrew has yōnīm but let's use the f. pl. ending)
* ''jůnůdel'' [jʉˈnyːðɛl] "the pigeons"

== Phonology ==
Knench phonology is complex, with underlying phonemes resulting in multiple phones depending on the phonetic environment (most importantly, stressed versus unstressed syllables; prevocalic or non-prevocalic for certain laryngeals)
=== Vowels ===
'''a e y i o u ů''' /a~aː ɛ~eː ə~ɨː ɪ~iː ʌ~o̝ː ʊ~u̟ː ʉ~yː/

=== Consonants ===
==== Phones ====
==== Underlying consonants ====
* |ʔ| '''x''' (often lost) from Old Knench /ʔ/
* |v| '''v''' from Old Knench /b/
* |ɣ| '''g''' from Old Knench /g/
* |ð| '''d''' from Old Knench /d/
* |h| '''ḧ''' (often lost) from Old Knench /h/
* |w| '''w''' from Old Knench /w/
* |z| '''z''' from Old Knench /z/ (from PSem *z and ð)
* |qʰ| '''qh''' from Old Knench /χ/ (from PSem *x and *ħ)
* |t=| '''t''' from Old Knench /t{{phar}}/
* |j| '''j''' from Old Knench /j/
* |kʰ| '''ch''' from Old Knench /k/
* |l| '''l''' from Old Knench /l/
* |m| '''m''' from Old Knench /m/
* |n| '''n''' from Old Knench /n/
* |ɕ| '''çh''' from Old Knench /ts/ (from PSem *s)
* |ʁ{{tilde}}| '''ɣ''' from Old Knench /ʁ̃/ (from PSem *ɣ and *ʕ)
* |f| '''f''' from Old Knench /p/
* |p=| '''p''' from Latin/Romance /p/
* |ts=| '''ç''' from Old Knench /tsˁ/ (from PSem *s{{cdb}}, *ś{{cdb}}, and *θ{{cdb}})
* |k=| '''c''' from Old Knench /q/
* |r| '''r''' from Old Knench /r/
* |{{sz}}| '''s''' from Old Knench /s{{ret}}/ (from PSem *š, *ś, and *θ)
* |tʰ| '''th''' from Old Knench /t/

'''qh''' is in a process of merging with '''ch''' in Modern Knench. The merged sound is kʰ~x.

=== Mutation ===

== Morphology ==
=== Pronouns ===
* 1sg: ''i'' (after consonant), ''ni'' (after vowel)
* 2sg.m: ''tho''; ''-cho tho'' (after prepositions)
* 2sg.f: ''thy''; ''-chyth'' (after prepositions)
* 3sg.m: ''ůj'' (< -ů + ḧi)
* 3sg.f: ''oj'' (< -o/-oh/-ho + ḧi)
* 1pl: ''nu''
* 2pl: ''thym''; ''-chym thym, -chythym'' (after prepositions)
* 3pl: 'm

=== Verbs ===
The citation form is uninflected in Colloquial Knench:

: ''Re ni by bluɣ i tha laqhm.'' (PRES 1SG PROG eat 1SG ACC bread) 'I eat/am eating bread.'
: ''Bluɣ laqhmaz!'' 'Eat the bread! (both sg and pl)'

Knench verbs can be from inherited binyanim (fɣul, iffoɣel, ithfoɣel, faɣel, afɣel, isthafɣel) or from noun patterns.

==Sample texts==
===Newton's laws of motion===
''I: Re dobor by sbuth by demi, ylů by ɣythůc bal-sůny, lile força b acço ɣaju.''

I: An object stays at rest, or at a constant speed, unless a force acts on it.

''II: Re sanujaz ly moment ly gaf by mathchůni lid forçazů myfuçoro ɣaj gafaz; u re sanujaz by crůd darcho cůaz thecin as ɣaju forçazů myfuçoro.''

II: The change in the momentum of a body is proportional to the force applied to the body; and the change occurs along the straight line on which that force is applied.

''III: Jes ly chul acço tha reacço sowo u mythnegydo.''

III: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Semitic languages]]