Geran
Geran is one of the seven major regions of Elondor, located between the rivers Ilathw and Kalpa. Adjacent to both the Olgish and the Aribelian domain of influence, it was a space of encounter between peoples for most of its history and is considered the homeland of the Kalparians, Norians, Yamenaens, and Wertian Olgs and often thought the place of origin of the Aribelian peoples.
Etymology and Names
The oldest known mention of the name is found in the inscription on the Menhir of Nambara, dated to the 16th century B.E.B., which credits Nambara, then ruler of a petty kingdom along the upper Ilathw, with
engeli lendes nærth Iglethi Gæran-kôrethin
‘a great victory (or many victories)[1] against the Iglethi of the Gæran-heath’
The Iglethi ‘people of thirst’ are thought to refer to the proto-Yamenaen Kattasi settlers who from ca. 1600 B.E.B. had begun to expand into the Geranian Heath and in the process had driven out the native Geranian population; the name Gæran itself, however, is presumably much older and originates in the common language of the Geranians. It most likely derives from a Common Geranian root *gyār- ‘extension, reach, plain’ (hence Kal. kear ‘bed, range’ and Haj. gor ‘plain, field, garden’), either with the Olgish nominalizing suffix -an, or directly from a form *gyārhāɲ ‘plain of heather’. The extent of the area so denoted is not known, and it can be presumed that
Geography
Geran
History
Notes
- ↑ In the Ebrinine dialect of Old Olgish, engel (jengíl in the dialect of Soskilón) could denote either size or quantity, and number was not yet consistently marked on nouns, lendes ‘battle’ being a singular form (cf. lendis in Soskilón). The '-i suffix has been interpreted variably as either signifying plural to engel, yielding a meaning closer to ‘many battles’, as an elative suffix, creating ‘a very great battle’, or as actually part of a second word ilendes, then meaning ‘a great slaughter’.