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Thread: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

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    Βασιλευς και Αυτοκρατωρ Αρχης Member Centurio Nixalsverdrus's Avatar
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    Default Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    I started a Sweboz campaign yesterday and I wonder very much about the pronounciation of the names.

    For example the Druhtiz. Is that "h" making the "u" longer or is it like a german "ch" / spanish "j"?

    Then, is the "th" a normal english th or just plain T?

    Are the end syllables like the "boz" in Sweboz long or short?

    Some of the buildings for the Sweboz end with a seperate word like "te" or "ti". What does it mean? It seems strange for a germanic language adding such little words towards the end.

    Please enlighten me, it's annoying not being able to pronounce it correctly in your thoughts.

  2. #2
    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    On a related note, it would be rather appreciated if there were some sort of general pronunciation guide for those of us not familiar with a particular language. I don't know, for example, whether "Sweboz" is pronounced "Swee-bohz", "Swee-bahz", "Sway-bohz", or "Sway-bahz" (or, indeed, something else), or whether "Casse" is pronounced "Cass" or "Cassay" (or "Cassee", for that matter). If somebody could shed some light on this, that would be awesome. (Sorry to piggyback on your post, Centurio, but it was something I was just thinking about yesterday, so I felt compelled to chime in).

    On a note related to that, I was wondering what program/means the EB team used to generate the "battle-speech" of all the units, such as when you click on one and it identifies itself by name. I'm curious about this, because I've noticed that a lot of the Greek words are mispronounced, both in terms of accent type and location and, especially, around diphthongs. For example, the game pronounces "Deuteroi" as a five-syllable word (Day-oo-ter-oh-ee) with the accent on the second syllable (whereas Greek had no words accented before the antepenultimate, or third-to-last, syllable), instead of as a three-syllable word (Dyew-ter-oy) using the "eu" and "oi" diphthongs. Since I don't know how the team went about generating these "speeches", I don't know how easy or difficult it would be to fiddle with them in a future release, but I thought I'd raise the point just in case.

    Of course, I love the fact that the units speak in their native language. I almost laughed the other day when an Epeirote unit of mine shouted "hos tachistos!", since I (1) wasn't used to them speaking their native language yet, and (2) actually understood what was going on. Yay for studying Greek.

    Cheers.
    "ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third."

    "ARMY, n. A class of non-producers who defend the nation by devouring everything likely to tempt an enemy to invade."
    --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

  3. #3

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    I believe the "th" in Sweboz names are pronounced more or less like "th" in modern English, or the weird d in Icelandic. Or the regular d in Danish (the soft kind anyway).
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    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Sakkura
    I believe the "th" in Sweboz names are pronounced more or less like "th" in modern English, or the weird d in Icelandic. Or the regular d in Danish (the soft kind anyway).
    There are, linguistically, two "th"s in modern English, although they're represented by the same letters--they are, however, represented as different symbols in IPA and some Scandinavian (and possibly other Germanic/Celtic?) languages. Basically, it boils down to a vocalized "th" (like in the English word "there") and a voiceless "th" (like in the English word "thick"). Which one of these is being used by the Sweboz, or are they both used? Or, a third option, is it simply an aspirated "t"? Mysteries galore...

    Cheers.
    "ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third."

    "ARMY, n. A class of non-producers who defend the nation by devouring everything likely to tempt an enemy to invade."
    --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

  5. #5

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Landwalker
    There are, linguistically, two "th"s in modern English, although they're represented by the same letters--they are, however, represented as different symbols in IPA and some Scandinavian (and possibly other Germanic/Celtic?) languages. Basically, it boils down to a vocalized "th" (like in the English word "there") and a voiceless "th" (like in the English word "thick"). Which one of these is being used by the Sweboz, or are they both used? Or, a third option, is it simply an aspirated "t"? Mysteries galore...

    Cheers.
    Those two are pretty damn close anyway. I know Icelandic uses those two (with two different letters actually; ð and þ), and Icelandic is pretty close to Old Norse which again is pretty close proto-Norse which is basically an outrunner of proto-Germanic from (pre)Roman times.
    According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Germanic_language, Germanic of that time included a "voiceless fricative" þ-th, and a "Voiced fricative" đ-th. But apparently it is still not an academically settled matter how things were originally pronounced.
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    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Sakkura
    Those two are pretty damn close anyway. I know Icelandic uses those two (with two different letters actually; ð and þ), and Icelandic is pretty close to Old Norse which again is pretty close proto-Norse which is basically an outrunner of proto-Germanic from (pre)Roman times.
    According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Germanic_language, Germanic of that time included a "voiceless fricative" þ-th, and a "Voiced fricative" đ-th. But apparently it is still not an academically settled matter how things were originally pronounced.
    Yes, that's the difference I was talking about. It does seem awfully trivial, but try pronouncing "with" with the voiceless instead of voiced th, or switching the fricative in other words. It's not a big difference, although it does make them sound awfully awkward.

    Of course, I would have been rather surprised if it were definitively known how Proto-Germanic was spoken, nice though it would be to know for certain how to pronounce all the names of their cities and units (and those of the other "barbarian" factions).

    Cheers.
    "ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third."

    "ARMY, n. A class of non-producers who defend the nation by devouring everything likely to tempt an enemy to invade."
    --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

  7. #7

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    To back the latter up, to my knowledge - what I recall from my Old High German seminar, most proto-germanic words are are endued with an asterisk*, meaning that this word is reconstructed by linguistical means. This applies for the majority of today's assumed proto-germanic. IIRC, as said, please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not to deep into this matter (though I would be interested in it).

  8. #8

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Landwalker
    Yes, that's the difference I was talking about. It does seem awfully trivial, but try pronouncing "with" with the voiceless instead of voiced th, or switching the fricative in other words. It's not a big difference, although it does make them sound awfully awkward.
    It's actually not totally trivial in modern English. Look at "thin" and "then", for example. A lot of people pronounce these two words the same except for the "th" sound.

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    Peerless Senior Member johnhughthom's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    I thought to myself theres no difference in how I say the "th" in "there" and "thick." Then I actually tried it, I wonder how many people are sitting at keyboards right now repeating "there thick" over and over. Luckily I'm alone so nobody can hear me

  10. #10

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    But apparently it is still not an academically settled matter how things were originally pronounced.
    I don't study langauges, but how could it every be? We'll never really be sure, will we?

    Then I actually tried it, I wonder how many people are sitting at keyboards right now repeating "there thick" over and over.
    I did, too, though I knew there would be a difference.

    Anyway, about the Greek pronunciation, there was a big discussion about it a ways back. It may not be relevent to the current state of things, but the differences in pronunciation from the ingame Greek and modern Greek were on purpose.

  11. #11
    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Bellum
    Anyway, about the Greek pronunciation, there was a big discussion about it a ways back. It may not be relevent to the current state of things, but the differences in pronunciation from the ingame Greek and modern Greek were on purpose.
    Well, I was actually not referring to modern Greek at all--I have no idea how the pronunciations have changed in that (aside from Beta turning into a "v" sound rather than "b"). All I know about Greek pronunciation, I know from ancient/Attic Greek, and that is definitely not how the voicemod is rendering a lot of the names (both in accents and diphthongs). I looked for this thread, but wasn't able to find it; I did find a short (21-post) thread about it, mostly centered around "thureophoroi", but it didn't answer the question about why the voicemod doesn't quite get the correct pronunciation on most of the Greek words.

    (As an aside to that conversation, though, the accent on Thureophoroi" should be on the omicron preceding the phi--although diphthongs are considered long, and thus would normally render the accent on the "pho", in classical Greek, at least, the diphthongs "oi" and "ai" are treated as short for purposes of accent when they are in the word-final position. Thus, "t'hoo-reh-aw-p'ho-roy" in the nominative, but "t'hoo-reh-aw-p'ho-royce" in the dative. This is, of course, assuming that the original accent (in "thureophoros", the singular) is also on the "o" instead of the "pho", which may or may not be the case and which I can't check because I left my damn dictionary in the library.)

    Cheers.
    "ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third."

    "ARMY, n. A class of non-producers who defend the nation by devouring everything likely to tempt an enemy to invade."
    --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

  12. #12

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Well I certainly don't know, of course.

    Anyway, this is the discussion, if I remember correctly.

    https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=74169

  13. #13
    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    I admittedly didn't read the whole discussion (just the first full page), but it seems to focus more on the qualities of vowels (e.g. pronouncing "ei" as "ay" vs. "ee") and of consonants (aspirated t and p, for example, as opposed to th and ph, and B as opposed to V). It didn't ever get at the points I'm wondering about, which are the accent placements and the separation of diphthongs into their component vowels. I'm hardly claiming to be an expert on the linguistics of ancient Greek, and I wouldn't get into an argument with a Hellenic scholar of ancient Greek, but as I have been taught (both by American and European (in this particular case, German) professors), the accents and diphthongs seem a bit strange to me.

    Make no mistake, it doesn't ruin my outstanding playing experience, it's just something I'm curious about.

    Cheers.
    "ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third."

    "ARMY, n. A class of non-producers who defend the nation by devouring everything likely to tempt an enemy to invade."
    --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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    Large Member Member NightStar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Well, one thing for sure is that some of the Sweboz units (at least in .81) had names that I could understand. Like framherjoz is framherji in icelandic and is today used mostly in football terms as attacker but literally means someone who makes war (or attacks) from the front or front ranks. Ridherjoz would be put together from Riddari (rider) and herji (he who makes war) and would be translated as Rider who makes war or attacker on horseback

    As for the Þ and Ð. the Þ can only be used in a front of a word and Ð can only used in the middle of a word like Þáði (received), but both are very close to the soft th in english
    Last edited by NightStar; 10-21-2007 at 04:12.
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  15. #15

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Landwalker
    Well, I was actually not referring to modern Greek at all--I have no idea how the pronunciations have changed in that (aside from Beta turning into a "v" sound rather than "b"). All I know about Greek pronunciation, I know from ancient/Attic Greek, and that is definitely not how the voicemod is rendering a lot of the names (both in accents and diphthongs). I looked for this thread, but wasn't able to find it; I did find a short (21-post) thread about it, mostly centered around "thureophoroi", but it didn't answer the question about why the voicemod doesn't quite get the correct pronunciation on most of the Greek words.

    (As an aside to that conversation, though, the accent on Thureophoroi" should be on the omicron preceding the phi--although diphthongs are considered long, and thus would normally render the accent on the "pho", in classical Greek, at least, the diphthongs "oi" and "ai" are treated as short for purposes of accent when they are in the word-final position. Thus, "t'hoo-reh-aw-p'ho-roy" in the nominative, but "t'hoo-reh-aw-p'ho-royce" in the dative. This is, of course, assuming that the original accent (in "thureophoros", the singular) is also on the "o" instead of the "pho", which may or may not be the case and which I can't check because I left my damn dictionary in the library.)

    Cheers.
    Hmm... I'll point keravnos over to this thread. I'd like to say that dictionaries (unless they come with a complete guide to all them accents --which is a specialist study of its own, so I kinda doubt it) are not quite a good source for pronounciation though. Mainly because the accents themselves and their location within the word may differ depending on the words and their accents around it. (I myself do not know anything about it; luckily I needn't know because keravnos has some software which can do the trick for us AFAIK.)

    Mind you this is the kind of sensitive thing that did result in locked threads when they were first discussed. People tend to go hot-headed on this on, for god knows why...

    -------------------------------------------

    Now for what I do know:
    -This is not about a perfectly well pronounced speech to the public; it's about a General who may have just spoilt his pants; or who may just have discovered he can't see anymore because of the red mist....;
    -This is about a lot of officers who may have to worry about not being left alone by their men on the battle field (mind you there's this proverb that the men should be more afraid of their officers than of their enemy for a reason...);
    -Most people you hear are actors by profession (heck linguists wouldn't have been quite believ-able on the battle field, would they?), rather than linguists;
    -Some parts are deliberately not Attic. Example: "Ondres" as vocativus for some of the Cavalry because we reasoned that the people in the Cavalry would mostly be Makedonian or of similar descent --not the urban southerners; similar things exist elsewhere too;
    -Them Generals would often have simply been unable to pronounce the Attic according to the yard stick; heck even in modern, unstressful times people from Schotland, Tennessee and London can sound quite differently even though in ordinary day life they'll be using mostly the same vocabulary. (Apart from a couple of region-based colloquial expressions, but that's like the "Ondres" catergory.)
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  16. #16

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Landwalker
    Well, I was actually not referring to modern Greek at all--I have no idea how the pronunciations have changed in that (aside from Beta turning into a "v" sound rather than "b"). All I know about Greek pronunciation, I know from ancient/Attic Greek, and that is definitely not how the voicemod is rendering a lot of the names (both in accents and diphthongs). I looked for this thread, but wasn't able to find it; I did find a short (21-post) thread about it, mostly centered around "thureophoroi", but it didn't answer the question about why the voicemod doesn't quite get the correct pronunciation on most of the Greek words.

    (As an aside to that conversation, though, the accent on Thureophoroi" should be on the omicron preceding the phi--although diphthongs are considered long, and thus would normally render the accent on the "pho", in classical Greek, at least, the diphthongs "oi" and "ai" are treated as short for purposes of accent when they are in the word-final position. Thus, "t'hoo-reh-aw-p'ho-roy" in the nominative, but "t'hoo-reh-aw-p'ho-royce" in the dative. This is, of course, assuming that the original accent (in "thureophoros", the singular) is also on the "o" instead of the "pho", which may or may not be the case and which I can't check because I left my damn dictionary in the library.)

    Cheers.
    The intonation would be something like this if we were dealing with single words.

    Thu-re-os+phoros meaning thureos shield + "bringer/carrier" =the one who carries a thureos.

    Let's take some other words like that...

    "ΠΑΛΑΙ+ΜΑΧΟΙ"
    "ΑΛΕΞ+ΑΝΔΡΟΙ"
    "ΗΜΙ+ΟΝΟΙ"

    Initially you appear to be right... but

    @Landwalker, I cannot disclaim what you say out of hand, yet ALL words with "+phoros"/"phoroi" at the end, are intonated at "pho", despite whatever is before that. An irregularity, but it is so. Both in ancient and in modern greek. I guess to emphasize the person carrying it, not the thing he carries.

    -"ΣΗ+ΜΑΙ+Ο+ΦΟ+ΡΟI"
    -"ΣΤΑΥ+ΡΟ+ΦΟ+ΡΟI"

    in fact the only one that is different from that is

    -"Ε+ΦΟ+ΡΟΙ".

    Feel free to disprove my claims. Look for the intonation in all "+phoroi" words.

    why the voicemod doesn't quite get the correct pronunciation on most of the Greek words.

    Please tell us what is wrong. I aknowledge there may have been some mistakes, but do tell us what those are. Otherwise I am inclined to YELL something containing "BULL"+"excrements".

    Please, do.
    Last edited by keravnos; 10-21-2007 at 18:43.


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  17. #17
    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Ah, thanks for clarifying where the accent generally is on -φορος words--I thought that might be the case, but didn't have my dictionary on hand at the time, though now that I have it back, I can see it backs you up on that. However, it still leaves the diphthong question--even with the accent on the penult, the final -οι diphthong should be a single syllable "oy" instead of separating into a disyllabic "oh-ee" (as happens not just in θυρεοφοροι, but all of the -οι words, such as 'απλοι* or δευτεροι). The separation of the diphthongs is, really, my primary question, and the root of "the voicemod doesn't quite get the correct pronunciation on most of the Greek words", since most of the identifying words that get shouted during combat are plural, and thus contain diphthongs (namely 'ιππεις anything ending in -οι; interestingly, the final -αι diphthong is pronounced as such).

    So, I suppose I am left with this, the question of diphthongs. As to the accent thing, thanks for clearing up the accent location on -φορος compounds--you're probably right about the intent to emphasis the carrier rather than the carried, as that makes perfect sense.

    Cheers.

    *I suppose it might be the case that this is being pronounced as if it is not contracting, since its nominative singular form, 'απλοος, would yield the pre-contraction form 'απλοοι, in which case it is not incorrect, just uncontracted (as may have happened in certain dialects).

    Edit: I've now found that not all "-οι" words are having their final diphthong separated; the Misthophoroi Iphikratous Hoplitai and Misthophoroi Toxotai Kretikoi, at least, both get it correct (the Cretan Archers nail the diphthong in both Misthophoroi and Kretikoi, in fact). Thus, I will gladly admit to being in error by assuming that the problem was consistent throughout "-οι" names.
    Last edited by Landwalker; 10-21-2007 at 22:55.
    "ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third."

    "ARMY, n. A class of non-producers who defend the nation by devouring everything likely to tempt an enemy to invade."
    --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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    Whatever Member konny's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by Landwalker
    On a related note, it would be rather appreciated if there were some sort of general pronunciation guide for those of us not familiar with a particular language. I don't know, for example, whether "Sweboz" is pronounced "Swee-bohz", "Swee-bahz", "Sway-bohz", or "Sway-bahz" (or, indeed, something else)

    I would spell them Swe-bos (the "e" like in "end"). The modern name of those people is "Schwaben" (the "a" like the u in "nut"). That might point to a different way of spelling the "e" in Ancient times. But the Romans called them Suebi. So, the "end - e" pronaunication seems to be correct.

    Disclaimer: my posts are to be considered my private opinion and not offical statements by the EB Team

  19. #19
    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by konny
    I would spell them Swe-bos (the "e" like in "end"). The modern name of those people is "Schwaben" (the "a" like the u in "nut"). That might point to a different way of spelling the "e" in Ancient times. But the Romans called them Suebi. So, the "end - e" pronaunication seems to be correct.
    Hmm, that might be the case. I don't know much about German, so I'm not sure how to approach most of those words. The circumflex over the "e" made me wonder if it was pronounced the same way as classical etas ("ey", or the modern English long-a), but really, I have no idea--which is why a pronunciation guide would be so handy. ~;-)

    Cheers.
    "ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third."

    "ARMY, n. A class of non-producers who defend the nation by devouring everything likely to tempt an enemy to invade."
    --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

  20. #20

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Si non e vero, ben e trovato?
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    Bruadair a'Bruaisan Member cmacq's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    It can be prononce Swa'-Bows, in english they're the historic Swabians
    quae res et cibi genere et cotidiana exercitatione et libertate vitae

    Herein events and rations daily birth the labors of freedom.

  22. #22

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    concerning Proto-Germanic pronunciation: long vowels have been marked for a reason, sorry if my attitude is bad on this, but why else would there be long vowels, although character names and map names remain unaltered because of time constraints and game mechanic reasons.

    I don't have lots of time to go into the many disputed elements of Proto-Germanic, suffice to say that there are many letters such as pointed out in 'd'/'th' that academics will debate into the future, since so much MUST be reconstructed to exist at all...

    in-game standardization-wise, [x] is represented by 'h' whether or not it is much more complex ('ch' in German) in sound with many derivatives, similarly [þ] is represented by 'th', and [đ] is represented by 'd'... and there are some problems with this, such as with the name Wōđanaz which definitely changes to a 'th' rather than 'd' sound in Old Norse Óðinn... but oh well, it took quite a while to do what has been done, so I'm not worried about it.

    in the future, fans can expect a pronunciation guide in the unit descriptions as well as a published guide accompanying the voice mod itself, but
    it makes no sense for me to spend time on this atm, when the voice mod itself needs development, but i will try to help when possible.

    for general reference, pronunciation of vowels in terms of Received Standard English:

    a as the first vowel of 'aha'
    ā as the second vowel in 'aha'
    e as in 'bet'
    ē approx. as in 'hate', but a pure vowel
    i as in 'tin'
    ī as in 'seen'
    o as in 'cough'
    ō approx. as in 'so', but a pure vowel
    u as in 'pull' [not 'hut']
    ū as in 'cool'

    like Germanic language in general, all consonants must be pronounced.

    I’ll try to add more when I have time. (I would like to discuss this stuff, like i said, i just don't have time currently... eventually i'd like to speak on [x] and [þ], because it's really interesting... Wikipedia can inform you for now although I by no means claim it to be entirely accurate.)

    Swēƀōz = (something like) Suay-bohz
    Last edited by blitzkrieg80; 10-22-2007 at 00:47.
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    Wes þū hāl ! Be whole (with luck)!

  23. #23

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    I'm with the guy at the top of thread here, also wondering how in the world you pronounce "Casse".
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  24. #24
    King of the Golden Hall Member Landwalker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Thanks for the quick-guide, blitzkrieg. Much appreciated!

    Cheers.
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  25. #25

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    np... i forgot to add:

    đruxtiz would probably have more of a 'ch' sound since it probably comes from the verb đreuǥanan "to campaign" originally, from which the new mercenary term is also derived: đruǥulaz: a brilliant idea by Swabian where in Germanic- verb + [vowel] + 'l' = 'adjective tending to perform the action of the verb', such as flugulaz 'swift', 'apt to fly'

    is a post-position (prepositions were used commonly in Proto-Germanic in the post position), literally "to" in Modern English and the word from which it has descended from, but it can also mean 'for', 'into' and 'as a', such as in Temran ƀrewwanđe tō "Building for Brewing" (Temran 'Timber', since house is actually an Indo-Iranian loanword and 'home' doesn't equate with building exactly, even way back when)


    I wonder how Casse is pronounced also
    Last edited by blitzkrieg80; 10-22-2007 at 00:25.
    HWÆT !
    “Vesall ertu þinnar skjaldborgar!” “Your shieldwall is pathetic!” -Bǫðvar Bjarki [Hrólfs Saga Kraka]
    “Wyrd oft nereð unfǽgne eorl þonne his ellen déah.” “The course of events often saves the un-fey warrior if his valour is good.” -Bēowulf
    “Gørið eigi hárit í blóði.” “Do not get blood on [my] hair.” -Sigurð Búason to his executioner [Óláfs Saga Tryggvasonar: Heimskringla]

    Wes þū hāl ! Be whole (with luck)!

  26. #26
    Βασιλευς και Αυτοκρατωρ Αρχης Member Centurio Nixalsverdrus's Avatar
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    Default AW: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Thank you blitzkrieg. That helps very much!

    For some buildings I think "the guy took the english word and added a -z" (I know it's not the case), for example in "Wellanz andi Dikaz" - Wells and Dikes. At least most of the words seem to be very near to modern English, much more than to modern German.

    Oh one thing I wondered about: The level 4 government is Leudanz Waldan Frije (not exactly), and level 3 is Leudanz Waldan Semifrije. I understand that as "Leute walten frei", "people administer themselves" or "half-themselves". But isn't "semi" a latin word of greek origin?

  27. #27

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    the reason the words seem similar to English is because English is a very Germanic language... in fact, Old English (aka Saxon, and very close to Low German) is more Germanic in many ways than Old High German, because it developed farther removed in the Northern lowlands, where High German was set amidst a hub of language traffic and it reflects it in many of its loanwords... English has its own horde of borrowed words from Latin, French, ect. though, besides becoming totally weird (in the context of its related family members) as an syntactical language and tossing gender and inflection to the wind, yet keeping strong verb forms and irregular plurals, just to keep things confusing ... English and German actually have many common terms like stark, swart, fast (as in hold fast), although much of it is considered arachaic these days (yet slang is making a comeback to Old Germanic, with -z and -a endings!) but the commonality is pretty cool and makes learning easy for both... Dutch and the various Scandinavian languages shouldn't be forgotten either Ja, mann!

    Excellent question, I thought that myself, but it actually comes from the common Indo-European root from which Latin, Greek and Sanskrit have cognates. The reason it is not borrowed also, is that it's not exactly "semi" as we know it, but means 'half'/'incomplete' which is the same definition, but i don't think it can be applied to a circle

    btw, frijaz means "one's own" also (abstraction in relationship between the idea of freemen belonging and participating in the tribe)... anyways, so it's: "Half-one's-own Authority/Dominion of Subjugated People" or "Half-free Authority of Subjugated People" ('subjugated people' is implied in leudi, a term like folk which originated in "army/host" but changed to encompass a more abstract relationship of tribes/peoples)
    Last edited by blitzkrieg80; 10-22-2007 at 02:35.
    HWÆT !
    “Vesall ertu þinnar skjaldborgar!” “Your shieldwall is pathetic!” -Bǫðvar Bjarki [Hrólfs Saga Kraka]
    “Wyrd oft nereð unfǽgne eorl þonne his ellen déah.” “The course of events often saves the un-fey warrior if his valour is good.” -Bēowulf
    “Gørið eigi hárit í blóði.” “Do not get blood on [my] hair.” -Sigurð Búason to his executioner [Óláfs Saga Tryggvasonar: Heimskringla]

    Wes þū hāl ! Be whole (with luck)!

  28. #28
    Βασιλευς και Αυτοκρατωρ Αρχης Member Centurio Nixalsverdrus's Avatar
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    Default AW: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Alles klar!

  29. #29

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Quote Originally Posted by blitzkrieg80
    the reason the words seem similar to English is because English is a very Germanic language... in fact, Old English (aka Saxon, and very close to Low German) is more Germanic in many ways than Old High German, because it developed farther removed in the Northern lowlands, where High German was set amidst a hub of language traffic and it reflects it in many of its loanwords... English has its own horde of borrowed words from Latin, French, ect. though, besides becoming totally weird (in the context of its related family members) as an syntactical language and tossing gender and inflection to the wind, yet keeping strong verb forms and irregular plurals, just to keep things confusing ... English and German actually have many common terms like stark, swart, fast (as in hold fast), although much of it is considered arachaic these days (yet slang is making a comeback to Old Germanic, with -z and -a endings!) but the commonality is pretty cool and makes learning easy for both... Dutch and the various Scandinavian languages shouldn't be forgotten either Ja, mann!
    Definitely shouldn't forget the Scandinavian languages, since they not only developed from the same roots, but also had influence on English later on, with the Danish viking colonization of most of England. Words like law, thursday (Thor's day), they and anger came from those settlers.

    England really did change hands a lot of times until 1066 when you think about it. Celtic, Roman, Germanic, Norse (Danish), Norman... No wonder there's a big vocabulary.
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  30. #30

    Default Re: Proto-Germanic - help me please!

    Very Rough Proto-Germanic Pronunciation Guide / Map

    Typical Germanic rule: pronounce everything you see. Nothing is silent, really. And there is no mysterious change of the vowel because of other vowels. The same sound every time. Some of the consonants are weird, such as breathy-voiced phonation [ɦ] which I mark as an extra /h/ which means extra [h, x] (something similar to Dh, Kh, Gh), observable in modern Hochdeutsch Herrn, or the weird sound made in the throat for some Spanish (all Latin ?): SEE BELOW

    I've made an effort to get word stress rules accurate and use meter similar to that of Germanic prose/poetry.

    FYI for standardization, I am using something similar to this Table: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunc...respelling_key

    (NOT USING WEBSITE FOR DIPTHONGS [they’re the same for most])

    /r/ = rolled r (Alveolar trill)

    /j/ as in 'ja' aka 'ya'

    /h/ = phlegm! Lots of guttural voicing in the back of the throat, as in German / Scandinavian / Dutch, Scottish

    _______________________________________

    Keulaflutōn
    (KEUL-a-FLU-tohn)

    Χarjaskipõ Flutōn Mekilaz
    (HAR-ja-SKIP-ah FLU-tohn MEK-il-az)

    Ǥaizaleuđiz Aljē
    (GAIZ-a-LEUD-iz ALJ-ay)

    Marχaleuđiz Walχiskē
    (MARH-a-LEUD-iz VALH-isk-ay)

    Riđanz
    (RID-ans)

    Riđanz Đruǥulē
    (RID-ans DRUCH-UL-ay)

    Slaǥanz
    (SLACH-ans)

    Juǥunþiz Hattisku
    (JUG-UNTH-iz HATT-isk-u)

    Đruχtiz Bastarnisku
    (DRUHT-iz BAST-ARN-isk-u)

    Herþaǥanautōz
    (HERTH-a-ga-NAUT-ohz)

    Đuǥunþiz
    (DUG-UNTH-iz)

    Gaizafulkan Frijatō
    (GAIZ-a-FULK-an FRI-ja-toh)

    Speutaǥarđaz
    (SPEUT-a-GARD-az)

    Þegnōz Đruǥulē
    (THAYN-ohz DRUCH-UL-ay)

    Đruhtiz Habukisku
    (DRUHT-iz HAB-UK-isk-u)

    Herunautōz
    (HER-u-NAUT-ohz)

    Đruhtiz Skandzisku
    (DRUHT-iz SKANDZ-isk-u)

    Juǥunþiz
    (JUG-UNTH-iz)

    Skađuǥanǥanz
    (SKAD-u-GANG-ans)

    Skutjanz
    (SKUTJ-ans)

    Marχaþegnōz
    (MARH-a-THAYN-ohz)

    Đruχtiz Herusku
    (DRUHT-iz HER-usk-u)

    Đuǥunþiz Hattisku
    (DUG-UNTH-iz HATT-isk-u)

    Warǥōz
    (VARG-ohz)


    HOPEFULLY more than this being added to the unit descriptions makes it into 1.1... Quick and dirty (but well done) recordings possibly
    Last edited by blitzkrieg80; 02-05-2008 at 06:42.
    HWÆT !
    “Vesall ertu þinnar skjaldborgar!” “Your shieldwall is pathetic!” -Bǫðvar Bjarki [Hrólfs Saga Kraka]
    “Wyrd oft nereð unfǽgne eorl þonne his ellen déah.” “The course of events often saves the un-fey warrior if his valour is good.” -Bēowulf
    “Gørið eigi hárit í blóði.” “Do not get blood on [my] hair.” -Sigurð Búason to his executioner [Óláfs Saga Tryggvasonar: Heimskringla]

    Wes þū hāl ! Be whole (with luck)!

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