Middle Olgish language

Middle Olgish, also Middle Cëlacian or Middle Eastern Olgish (Olg. Olgenam), is a historical stage of the Eastern (Cëlacian) Olgish language, spoken in the late Iron Age and into the first centuries of the Lécaronian Empire. It is closely related to, but in both grammar and lexicon distinct from, Liturgical Middle Olgish.

History and classification

Etymology

The term Olgenam, earlier Olginam derives from the Ortûlékian ethnonym Olgi ‘the skilful ones’ + nam ‘custom, way, language’, from an original root *olg- ‘skilful, artful, deft’. The name was applied to one of the Three Peoples of Ortûlék, ostensibly the ancestors of the Olgs, beside the Géni and the Auli, traditionally considered the ancestors of the Aribelians and Iiles, respectively. It is used endonymically by all speakers of non-differentiated Cëlacian dialects (that being, those other than Corbian and Wertian) for their language.

Dating and historical scope

Middle Olgish is considered to progress from Old Olgish from the middle of the ninth century E.B. The first three centuries of this development, characterized by multiple waves of rapid sound change, the Middle Olgish Unrest, fall under the term Early Middle Olgish. It is during this phase that Fádin updates the language of the Lonsorigi, and his Liturgical Middle Olgish is a variety of this early Middle Olgish; under the prominence of Fádin’s Tongue, this stage of Middle Olgish is often as a whole grouped under the umbrella of Liturgical Middle Olgish, even though only a very particular idiom is in fact used by the Olgish church and, thereafter, the Lécaronian bureaucracy.

From the mid-twelfth century, the Middle Olgish Unrest begins to diminish, although it will not fully subside for another four hundred years. This second, more stable and consistent, stage of the language is considered Middle Olgish proper and the idiom generally referred to by the term Middle Olgish alone. It shows significant divergences from Liturgical Middle Olgish, from which it is over a century removed, but remains intelligible with the holy language, especially to those intimately familiar with Fádin’s Lonsorigi and their, from the Middle Olgish perspective, rather peculiar vocabulary.

After more than three centuries of relative stability, the final waves of the Unrest begin to emerge in the early third century L.R. (the 16th century E.B.), as the number of everyday Olgish speakers rapidly dwindles in an increasingly cosmopolitan Lécaron. The ensuing sound changes again are significant, and Middle Olgish transitions into New Olgish around the mid-third century. In Seligon, the dialect of the Olgish-speaking but linguistically fairly isolated Northern Feldin diverges independently from Middle Olgish around 200 years later and is considered an independent language, Northern Feldic.

Trivia

Middle Olgish, along with the Lécaronian Alphabet, was used for the LCC11 Conscript Relay in 2025.