990
edits
Difference between revisions of "The Besokian Languages"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→History
| Line 43: | Line 43: | ||
== History == | == History == | ||
The history of the Besokians begins not far from that of the Ortûlékians, in the valley of the eponymous Besokan River (PBes. ''Kônôwîs''). This area, which had been a fertile refuge all throughout and long after the Ice Ages, was home to the presumed first farmers of Elondor. Their cult was centred at Nishûnâc, a sacred system of caves and caverns in the rocky gorge of the Besokan south of Lake Marin, or ''Tûkegûl'', as they called it. They language is now called Proto-Besokian as it is mostly the product reconstruction, but a small number of words and place names, including the ones mentioned here, are known from inscriptions at Nishûnâc, the oldest on the continent, and the language they use seems close enough to the last common ancestor of all Besokian languages, or at least a close relative of it. The script is the oldest known from the Rhombic family of Abugidas, from which the later Iilish and Reknayan writing systems were derived and the use of which seems to have at least partially inspired the introduction of writing in Belkondíl. | The history of the [[Besokians]] begins not far from that of the Ortûlékians, in the valley of the eponymous Besokan River (PBes. ''Kônôwîs''). This area, which had been a fertile refuge all throughout and long after the Ice Ages, was home to the presumed first farmers of Elondor. Their cult was centred at Nishûnâc, a sacred system of caves and caverns in the rocky gorge of the Besokan south of Lake Marin, or ''Tûkegûl'', as they called it. They language is now called Proto-Besokian as it is mostly the product reconstruction, but a small number of words and place names, including the ones mentioned here, are known from inscriptions at Nishûnâc, the oldest on the continent, and the language they use seems close enough to the last common ancestor of all Besokian languages, or at least a close relative of it. The script is the oldest known from the Rhombic family of Abugidas, from which the later Iilish and Reknayan writing systems were derived and the use of which seems to have at least partially inspired the introduction of writing in Belkondíl. | ||
Among the inscriptions is also a group of younger texts, written in a language not too distant but clearly distinct from Proto-Besokian: This idiom has been called Old Besokian or Ecclesiastical Besokian, and the time it was spoken in the Old Besokian Period. Initial expeditions to the north and south had grown into migrations, establishing the three nations of the Besokians: the Kattasi, who first migrated north into the mountains and later west into Geran, where they came in contact with the early Aribelians and finally vanished, leaving old place names as the only trace of their existence; the Reknayans, who followed the Kattasi north but remained in the fertile upper Besokan Valley into and past Lécaronian times; and the Sosks, who were the first to break the horse and conquered large swathes of land in Old Seligon and Belkondíl, forming the Soskish League in the west and the Kingdom of Môredh in the east. | Among the inscriptions is also a group of younger texts, written in a language not too distant but clearly distinct from Proto-Besokian: This idiom has been called Old Besokian or Ecclesiastical Besokian, and the time it was spoken in the Old Besokian Period. Initial expeditions to the north and south had grown into migrations, establishing the three nations of the Besokians: the Kattasi, who first migrated north into the mountains and later west into Geran, where they came in contact with the early Aribelians and finally vanished, leaving old place names as the only trace of their existence; the Reknayans, who followed the Kattasi north but remained in the fertile upper Besokan Valley into and past Lécaronian times; and the Sosks, who were the first to break the horse and conquered large swathes of land in Old Seligon and Belkondíl, forming the Soskish League in the west and the Kingdom of Môredh in the east. | ||
They spoke three dialects, the eastern of which disappeared when Môredh fell to the invading Auls but still lives on as substrate in Iilish; the dialect of Oakshire on the eastern outskirts of Belkondíl survived centuries after centuries, receiving little attention from any of the nations and polities that crossed and conquered the land; the western dialect, finally, was spoken in what would later become Morineb and the Edhennín, in the kingdoms of Hûnutû, Dûroc, and Norfêgu. All three eventually fell to the Olgish clans, but Soskish culture survived under their rule, and so did their language. They served and merchants and cavalrymen and later some even as rulers, shaping the history of the Olgish lands as much as the Olgs themselves. For all of its history, the east of Belkondíl was Soskish-speaking, and with the majority of expanding Olgish armies and settler corps composed of Sosks, most Olgish colonies were as well. By the seventh century B. R., long before the Olgish conquest of Seligon had come to a close, Soskish had replaced the earlier Hakessian dialects as the main ''lingua franca'' of Seligon. | They spoke three dialects, the eastern of which disappeared when Môredh fell to the invading Auls but still lives on as substrate in Iilish; the dialect of Oakshire on the eastern outskirts of Belkondíl survived centuries after centuries, receiving little attention from any of the nations and polities that crossed and conquered the land; the western dialect, finally, was spoken in what would later become Morineb and the Edhennín, in the kingdoms of Hûnutû, Dûroc, and Norfêgu. All three eventually fell to the Olgish clans, but Soskish culture survived under their rule, and so did their language. They served and merchants and cavalrymen and later some even as rulers, shaping the history of the Olgish lands as much as the Olgs themselves. For all of its history, the east of Belkondíl was Soskish-speaking, and with the majority of expanding Olgish armies and settler corps composed of Sosks, most Olgish colonies were as well. By the seventh century B. R., long before the Olgish conquest of Seligon had come to a close, Soskish had replaced the earlier Hakessian dialects as the main ''lingua franca'' of Seligon. | ||