Eldraeic Word of the Day: Serev

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serev (n.): Blood, or other primary life-fluid (e.g., myneni crystalplasm, codramaju suspension, mezuar sap, etc. – even, to stretch a metaphorical point, digisapience electricity.)

A word notable for its use in many metaphor-based compounds and etymological cousins, notably seredar (“blood-person”, or paramedic); seredhain (“blood-war”, or war of extermination/genocide); seredáné (“blood-precursor”, or genetic parent); sereglés (“blood-key”, or biometric security system); sereqártill (“blood-price”, or weregeld); seredelefí (“blood-oath”, a contract secured on one or both parties’ lives); and saráv (justice).

 

6 thoughts on “Eldraeic Word of the Day: Serev”

    • In this case, most of the compounds are made out of what were, originally, tra- descriptions; so, to take el seredhain as an example, it’s based on the original phrase el traserev hain, and retains the ordering of its components.

      (A tra- description is the simplest and least precise, even semi-metaphorical, way of “adjectivization” in Eldraeic. Basically, you prefix one anesprel (predicate) with another, attaching tra- to the prefixor, which then modifies it. So

      el traserev hain

      is to be read as

      a blood TYPE-OF war

      and

      el traserev táné

      is to be read as

      a blood TYPE-OF parent

      without being too particular about the nature of the TYPE-OF relationship, you see?)

      ((For extra fun, you can stack up modifiers so that you can use modified predicates as modifiers for other predicates, by repeating the tra- prefix to indicate level of nesting, thus:

      el tratrakercal trakecbal itavir

      The (prey TYPE-OF animal) TYPE-OF yell.

      So you can say the old linguist’s cliché, “pretty little girl’s school” in Eldraeic and express all the different possible meanings unambiguously.))

      • ((For extra fun, you can stack up modifiers so that you can use modified predicates as modifiers for other predicates, by repeating the tra- prefix to indicate level of nesting, thus:

        el tratrakercal trakecbal itavir

        The (prey TYPE-OF animal) TYPE-OF yell.

        So you can say the old linguist’s cliché, “pretty little girl’s school” in Eldraeic and express all the different possible meanings unambiguously.))

        Is there a way to make such a construction intentionally ambiguous, as (say) a quasi-poetic double entendre where both (or each, if more than two) meanings may overlap and be meant at the same time? (e.g. the TVTropes page “Last Second Chance,” which can be interpreted as “another chance offered at the last second” and “the last offer of a second chance” equally validly.)

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