Thracian Language (RCU)

The SPQRverse's Thracian language, both reconstructed and fictionalised to create a language for use various movies and shows.

## Words

* R Indicates being an official Reconstructed word.
* F Indicates being Fictionalised.

## Notes

* **achel-** ‘water'
* **ala**‘current, stream'
* **alta(s)** ‘current, stream’
* **an(a)** ‘at, on’
* **ang-**‘curved, twisting’
* **ant(i)** ‘against’
* **apa, aphus**‘water, river; a spring’
* **apsa** ‘aspen’
* **ars-** ‘to flow; current, river’
* **arta(s)**, **arda(s)** ‘current. river’
* **asa(s)** ‘stone’
* **at** ‘at, towards’ [IE \*ad-, Latin ad 'to, towards', Latv. ad ‘at, towards’, Old-Icel. at ‘at, opposite to’].
* **ath-** ‘high, steep coast, a hill’ [Greek akté ‘steep coast, peninsula, cape’].
* **at(u)**‘current, stream’ [Latv. RN Adula, German Attel, Avest. adu- ‘current, stream, channel’].
* **bend-** ‘to bind’, marriage
* **berga(s)** ‘hill, bank’
* **berza(s)** ‘birch’
* **bor-** 'mountain'
* **bredas** ‘pasture-ground’
* **brink-**‘to swell’
* **briza**‘spelt, rye’
* **bruzas** ‘quick'
* **brynchós** a ‘Thracian guitar
* **brytos** ‘a kind of ale from barley, a beer'
* **bur**, **buris** (**boris**) ‘man’
* **burt-** (**burd-**)  ‘a ford’
* **dama** ‘settlement, place for settling’
* **daphas** ‘a flood'
* **darsas** (**dersas**) ‘brave, courageous’ [Old-Pruss. dyrsos (pl.) ‘able, brave’, Avest. daršyu- ‘brave, strong’].
* **datan** (**datas**) ‘place, settlement’ [Alb. datë ‘place, settlement].
* **dentu-** ‘clan, tribe’ [Latv. gens ‘clan, tribe’].
* **dero, dur** 'a stockade', [IE \*dhwer- 'a door, a gate'].
* **desa(s)**, **disa(s)** ‘deity, god’ [IE  \*deiwo-, Greek théos ‘a god’].
* **didzos, -didza** 'to create' [Russ. so-zdat 'to create', Lith. z'iedz'iu 'I form, I mould', Goth. deigan 'to puddle', Old-Ind. déhmi 'I plaster', Old-Pers. didá 'a fort', Greek teikhos 'a wall', Latin fingo, fictus 'I puddle', Oscan feihúss 'walls'].
* **dinga** ‘fertile  ground’
* **diza** ‘fortress’
* **dón** ‘place, country(side)’
* **dul** 'a house, a family'.
* **dumas** ‘dark’
* **dún-** ‘hill, mountain’
* **e(i)b-** ‘to flow, to drip’

* **ermas** ‘fierce, mad’
* **esko** 'to eat' [IE \*ed- 'to eat'].
* **esvas** (**ezvas**), **esb** ‘a horse’
* **gagila** 'a jackdaw'
* **gaidrus**‘bright, clear’
* **gava(s)**‘county, countryside’
* **germas**‘warm, hot’
* **gesa**‘stork kingfisher’
* **gin-**‘to languish, to spoil, to dry out’
* **haimos (-on), \*saimas (-an)**‘ridge, mountain chain’
* **heris**'a hand'
* **ida (ide)**‘tree; forest’
* **iet(e)r (=jeter-)**‘quick, agile’
* **iltea '**a chosen woman'.
* **íl(u)-**‘silt, mud’
* **iúras (=júras)**‘water, river’
* **kaba(s)** ‘bog, swamp’
* **kalas** ‘district, border region’
* **kalsas** ‘dry, dried up’
* **kamoles** 'beloved'.
* **kapas** ‘hill, slope'
* **kel(l)a** ‘a spring’
* **kik-** ‘live, agile’
* **kiri-** [or **kira**] ‘mountain’, ‘forest’
* **knisa(s)** ‘eroded place’
* **kupsela** ‘a heap, a hillock’
* **kurp-** ‘to burrow
* **kurta** ‘groove, wood’
* **laza** (**-as**) ‘clearing (in forest), glade’
* **lingas** ‘depression, meadow’
* **mandakes** ‘a binder for sheaves’
* **marieus** 'lime' [IE \*mar- 'dirty, unclear'].
* **mar-**‘water, river, bog’
* **marka**‘bog; swampy country’
* **melda(s)**‘marshy reed'
* **mér-**‘large, great’
* **mezéna**‘a horseman'
* **midne '**a settlement'.
* **muka** ‘seed, clan, posterity’
* **mukas**‘swampy country, a bog’
* **musas** ‘moss, mould’
* **neos** 'new' [IE \*newo- 'new'].
* **nest-** ‘rumbling, roaring’
* **óstas**‘river mouth’
* **pa(i)vis** ‘child, son’
* **paisa(s)**‘soot’
* **pala** ‘swamp, bog’
* **palma** ‘swamp, bog’
* **pan(i)** ‘swamp, quagmire, peat-bog’
* **para**, **phara** ‘settlement, village’, marketplace
* **paurakis** 'small'
* **pauta(s)** ‘foam’ or ‘foaming’
* **per(u)-** ‘a rock’
* **pés**‘boy, child’
* **pi** - 'beside, more'
* **pitye** 'a treasure'
* **piza(s)** ‘bog, meadow’ [Latv. písa ‘deep swamp’, Greek písea, pl. ‘damp places, meadow’].
* **pras-** (resp. **\*praus-**) ‘to wash, to splash, to bedew’ [Lith. prausti ‘to wash, to sprinkle’, Latv. prauslat ’to splash, to besprinkle’, Old-Ind. prusnó'ti ‘to splash’].
* **puis**, **pus**, **pys** ‘child, son’
* **pupa** ‘beans’ or ‘hill’ (?)
* **pura-** ‘maize, spelt’
* **purda** ‘swampy, damp place’
* **puris**, ‘son, boy’
* **pus**, **pys** ‘child, son’ - see **puis**.
* **pusinas** ‘spruce forest, pine forest’
* **putras** ‘bawler, squaller, babbler’
* **raimas** ‘motley’
* **raka(s)** ‘eroded place, a gully’
* **ramus** ‘quiet, calm’
* **raskus** ‘quick, agile, live’
* **rera** ‘stones, stony ground’
* **rézas** (**resas**) ‘king’
* (**rink-** ‘quick, skillful’
* **romfea** 'an arrow, a staff'
* **rudas** ‘red, reddish’
* **rumba(s)** ‘edge; rapids’ [Lith. rumbas ‘periphery’, Latv. rumba ‘waterfall, rapids’].
* **rús-a** (-**as**, **-is**) ‘a pit’ or **rus-** ‘slowly flowing’ [Old-Pruss. PN Russe (a village and a swamp), Lith. rúsys (and rúsas) ‘potatoe’s pit; hut’, Latv. rúsa ‘pit; or the Litv. ruse.ti ‘to flow slowly’].
* **sabazias**‘free’ [Old-Bulg. svobod' ‘free’].
* **saldas, saltas**(instead of \*zaldas) ‘golden’ [Old-Bulg. zlato (from the Proto-Slavic \*zalta) ‘gold (noun)’ , New-Bulg. zlato ‘gold’, zlaten ‘golden’].
* **sara**‘current, stream’ [Old-Ind. sará ‘river, stream’].
* **sartas**‘light-red’ [Lith. sartas ‘light-red (for horses)’, Latv. sarts ‘red’].
* **satras (satrus)**‘live, quick, agile’ (?) [Lith. šatrus ‘live, quick, agile, row’].
* **saut-is (-as)**‘lazy’ [Latv. sautis ‘lazy man, who sleeps all the time’].
* **sei(e)tuva ‘**deep place in the river’ [Lith. sietuve. ‘deep place in the river’].
* **seina(s)**‘village, settlement’
* **sékas**‘grass, greenery; hay'
* **sem(e)la** (= **zeml’a**) ‘land, earth'
* **serma**, **sermas** ‘current, stream’
* **siltas** ‘warm, pleasant’
* **sind(u)-** ‘river’
* **singas** ‘low land, depression’
* **siros** 'a granary'
* **skaivas** ‘left’
* **skalp-** ‘to beetle, to hit’
* **skaplis** ‘axe’
* **skapt-** ‘to dig’
* **skaras** (**-is**) ‘quick’
* **skarké** 'a coin'
* **skarsas** ‘transverse, slanting’
* **skilas** ‘quick, impetuous’
* **skreta** ‘circle, circumference’
* **skumbr-as**(or **-is**) ‘hill, mountain’
* **spinda(s)** ‘clearing (in the forest)’
* **spinos** 'coal'
* **stra** (from an earlier **\*strava**) ‘current, torrent'
* **strambas** ‘stubble-field’ [Old-Pruss. strambo ‘stubble-field’, the Latv. struobs ‘a spray, a stem, a straw’ ].
* **strumá**, **strumón** ‘current, river’ [Old-HighGerman stroum, German Strom ‘current’ river’, Lith. sraumuo, -ens ‘fast current’, srúti (srúvu, dial. srúnu) ‘to fill with water’ and ‘to flow, to outflow the banks (for a river)’].
* **strúna** ‘current, river’
* **stur(ia)** ‘country, countryside’
* **suchis**, **sukis**, **suku**(**s**) (**-os**) ‘girl’, resp. ‘boy, juvenile’
* **suka** ‘a crack, a gorge, a pass’
* **sula** ‘groove’
* **sunka** ‘sap, fluid’
* **sura** (**zura**) ‘current, stream’
* **suras** ‘strong, brave; a hero’
* **suras** ‘salty, bitter’
* **svit-**‘to shine, to twinkle’
* **tarpas, terpas**‘a gap, a crack’
* **taru-**‘spear’
* **therm**'a tribe'
* **thin- ‘**to hold, to carry’
* **thurd-**‘to crash, to collapse’
* **tirsas**‘thicket’
* **titha**‘light, radiance’
* **tón  '**a present'
* **tranas**‘rotting’
* **traus-** ‘to break, to crumble’
* **tri** 'three' [IE \*treyes, \*trí 'three'].
* **tund-** 1. ‘to push, to knock’; 2. ‘river'
* **tuntas** ‘a flock, a flight; a heap’
* **turm-** ‘a run, a flight’
* **udra(s)** ‘otter’
* **udrénas** ‘water, aquatic’
* **úkas** ‘mist; misty, turbid’
* **upa** ‘river’ [Lith. úpe. ‘river’, Latv. upe ‘river, stream’].
* **-upula** 'apple?' [IE ***\*amlu-, \*samlu-*** 'apple'].
* **urda(s)** ‘stream’
* **usku-** ‘water; aquatic, marshy’
* **utos**‘water, river'
* **vair-as** (**-us**) ‘spinning'
* **varpasas** ‘whirlpool’
* **veger-** (resp. **\*veker-**) ‘damp; to bedew’ or ‘haymowing’
* **veleka(s)** ‘place for washing’
* **ver-**‘to spring, to issue’
* **verza(s)**‘a barrier used for fishing; dam’
* **zalmos '**a skin'
* **zan**'a clan, a family'
* **zbel- (from an initial \*zibel-)**‘shining; a thunderbolt, a lightning’
* **zburul-**‘light (noun); shining’
* **zeira** 'a kind of chiton'.
* **zelas** - 'wine'.
* **zelmis** ‘an offspring, descendant'
* **zenis**, **zenés** ‘born, born in’
* **zéri-** (from an earlier **\*zvéri-**) ‘an animal, a beast’
* **zilas** ‘grey,  turned grey’ or ‘blue’
* **zilma(s)**‘greenery’
* **zombros** 'a bison?'
* **zum-, zuml-**‘dragon'
* **zvaka(s)**‘bright, white’

## Notes

* Use the lexicon that is known, and borrow any necessary words from other languages. This will create something of a pidgin, but based on the original language.
* A more creative way is to reconstruct vocabulary using the comparative method. This only works for languages that are part of a family, not for language isolates. I'll show you a (greatly simplified) example that I made up.

Kring is a “dead” language, whose last known speaker died in 1250 AD. Antarctican is a related language with living speakers.

First, we must compare the lexical items between the two languages, and discard any that are not cognates. In the list below : English - Kring - Antarctican. I'm using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

* Axe - axætsuk - ʃeitʃ
* Man - aɡanjuk - kaŋ
* Feather - aθætsamuk - seitʃam

Now, we want to construct a word for “printing press” in Kring, which never had such a word in the first place, having died out before the printing press was invented. But Antarctican has such a word : [ʃeiŋan] . Now, we have to use that, along with the rules we can deduce from the known cognate pairs, to construct our word:

* Nouns in Kring begin with /a/ and end with /uk/. In Antarctican, the initial /a/ and the final /k/ are absent, and, following a nasal consonant (such as /ŋ/, /n/, /m/) , the /u/ disappears, too. So we should expect to see something like [a\*\*\*nuk].
* /x/ in Kring corresponds to /ʃ/ in Antarctican. So we now have [ax\*\*\*nuk].
* /æ/ in Krinɡ corresponds to /ei/ in Antarctican. So we are up to [axæ\*\*\*nuk].
* Finally, /nj/ in Kring corresponds to /ŋ/ in Antarctican. So we can at last complete our construction as [axænjanuk].

We have just used the comparative method to construct a word that never existed, but likely *would have* existed, had Kring survived as a spoken language into the modern era.

Of course, my example is completely fictitious. In the real world, it's never that simple - correspondences can follow different rules depending on the context, and, as a result of borrowing from other languages, even closely related languages end up with pairs of words that are not cognates. Words change their meanings over time, too, resulting in what linguists call “false friends” - e.g., *Défense de fumer* in French does not mean that smoking is defended - quite the opposite, in fact. But this comparative method is the first step.