Let’s make a language, part 19c: Plants (Ardari)

Ardari mostly inhabits the same region of space and time as Isian, as we have previously stated. It’s a little more…worldly, however. Yes, it’ll take in loans from outside languages, but not always, and it’ll often change them around to fit its own style. It has essentially the same “stock” of native botanical terms as Isian, though with a few quirks.

Word List

General terms

Remember that Ardari has a gender distinction in nouns. It’s not entirely arbitrary, although it may seem that way when you look at the vocabulary list. But there is actually something of a pattern. “Flower” words tend to be feminine (byali “berry”, afli “flower”), while “stem” words (pondo “stem”, kolbo “root”) are often masculine.

  • berry: byali
  • flower: afli
  • fruit: zulyi
  • grain: tròk
  • grass: sèrki
  • leaf: däsi
  • nut: gund
  • plant: pämi
  • root: kolbo
  • seed: sano
  • stem (stalk): pondo
  • to harvest: kèt-
  • to plant: mäp-
  • tree: buri
Plant types

Ardari doesn’t like compounds very much, but nature is an exception, as you can see from nòrpèpi “orange” below. The other words are pretty standard, with the “foreign” plants often showing up in loanword form: bönan, pòtato, etc. Note that the masculine/feminine distinction above doesn’t carry through the whole language, but there is a tendency for fruits and flowers to be feminine, while “ground” crops are more often masculine.

  • apple: pèpi
  • banana: bönan (loan)
  • bean: bècho
  • carrot: dälyo
  • cherry: twali
  • corn (maize): mescon (loan, “maize corn”)
  • cotton: dos
  • fig: saghi
  • flax (linen): tintir
  • grape: kalvo
  • mint: òm
  • oak: ulk
  • olive: älyo
  • onion: ösint
  • orange: nòrpèpi (compound: “orange apple”)
  • pea: myo
  • pepper: pypèr (loan)
  • pine: byuno
  • potato: pòtato (loan)
  • rice: izho
  • rose: zalli
  • wheat: èmlo

Later on

Again, Ardari has more words for plants than I’ve shown here, but I don’t want to be here all month. We’ve got better things to do. The next part of the series moves on to animals, from the tiniest insects to the biggest behemoths nature can throw at us.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *