Idiomatic Phrases
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List of idioms in First Speak
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 8 Apr 2020, 06:35.
[comments] spxtetymologyidioms
Many words and locutions in First Speak are influenced by plants in the culture of its people, for example:
Plant growth is associated with life
The verb isà, sprout, shifted to also mean begin
A foetus is described with the same word as seed: kerano; once born, a child is perùta, a sprout
This describe biological children, as a non-biological or adopted child is perùtaxeikorafeina, a "child who is grafted" (from the verb korafeina, graft); their adoptive parents are lùtokorafeina, lit. "a person who makes a graft".
The verb perìfilose, wilt, also means be weak in a figurative sense
Dew (which literally means "water from the plant") is associated with sadness; hence the noun rekohlanate, dew, that shifted to the adjective meaning sad
Lavenders are associated with a feeling of pleasure; hence the noun hlowaneta that means both lavender and pleasure
Lilies are associated with a feeling of happiness
The phrase esè wa liriu, lit. "I am (like) a lily" means I'm well, I'm happy
The phrase sufimì wa liriu, lit. "I suffer lily", means I love; hence, sufimì wa hle yemi liriu I love you and the noun akasufimìliriu, love (lit. "lily suffering")
Mud is associated with slowness; hence the adjective fèromù that means both muddy and slow
Reeds are associated with calm and serenity; hence the adjective and the noun fèrorosehla, calm, that mean "reed-like" (from rosehla, reed)
Thornbushes are associated with difficulties
The phrase esè wa ferusa sepina, lit. "I'm in a thornbush" means I'm in a difficult situation, and semilà ni sepina, lit. "it looks like a thornbush", means it looks difficult
The noun wiratlo, rose has a figurative sense of "someone or something with two antithetical properties at the same time"
Trees have the meaning of both time/direction and safety:
The noun ratitsi, root (as in, "the root of a tree") was shortened to ratsi, down
The growth of trees is associated with the passage of time: tetsialitu, lit. "up time" means after and tetsiratsi, lit. "down time" means before
The phrase wetualitu wa seka weruto, lit. "I climb up the tree", also has the meaning of I keep myself on guard, I protect myself; hence alituseka, safety (lit. "up the tree")
The verb sinìsaseka, cut the tree, shifted to mean betray; the meaning can be explained by the fact that cutting the tree where someone reached a safe position is similar to betraying them
A branch is keratsitoru, a "tree horn"
The bark of a tree is pehlitoru, a "tree skin"
A bone is xeitorupotika, "body wood", and a skull is xeitorupotikakapita, a "head bone"
As writing was first developped with carving messages and directions on trees, it is logical that the verb kerufitoru, write, translate literally to "carve trees"; it also gave the noun torukerufi, book (lit. "carved wood")
As writing on a tree, writing direction went top to bottom, left to right; hence, the two directions senoxata, left (lit. the "first direction" or "the place where you start to write"), and senokalo, right (lit. the "good direction" or "the direction in which you must continue to write")
The Sun is associated with time and days:
First, you have forotisoxuhla or "the birth of the Sun", that describes both dawn and morning
Then, you have soxuhlaalitu or "the high Sun", which is noon
After that, you have soxuhlaweturatsi or "the descending Sun", that describes both afternoon and evening
Finally, you have soxuhlatoromà or "the sleeping Sun", which is night
There is also the noun soxuhlanèfo to mean tomorrow, which is literally "the new Sun"
The two Moons of the planet Inran gave idioms associated with weeks and months:
The fastest Moon changes at a rate of half a cycle per week (if it is full on a given day, it will be a New Moon one week later, and full again another week later); hence, the noun menòsine, week, literally means "changing moon"
A month is yòromenò, lit. "a moon year", or the time that the Moons take to make a complete cycle; due to the fact that one Moon orbits twice as fast as the other, it also happens that a month is the time taken for both Moons to be full at the same time again, hence the phrase menòlineuìso or "aligned moons" to describe a month
The four compass directions are also referring to the Sun and Moons:
Given the path of the Sun in the sky during the day, east is senosoxuhla, "the direction of the Sun" (as in "where the Sun rises") and west is senomenò, "the direction of the Moon" (as in "where the Sun sets and you can see the Moons rise")
At noon, the Sun is facing south, giving senoleokò for south and senotera for north (lit. "the light side" or "the side that gets the sunlight" and "the dark side" or "the side that doesn't")
Wind is associated with the idea of freedom, as in the adjective fèrowènetsi, free, which literally means "wind-like" (from the noun wènetsi, wind)
Clouds are associated with ambiguity or doubt, reflected in the adjective iteesèfèrohlùtasa, clear, which translates to "that is not cloudy"
A galaxy is lokuweturekoxesotèro, a "star river"
The phrase yòti o kàlo, the earth and the sky, shifted to a single idiomatic word yòtiokàlo meaning all, every, and also gained the meaning of full
The phrase aluo wa ferusa lokuwetu senotuo, I walk a two-way path means I'm looking at both sides of a problem
The phrase apura wa, I say, shifted to the noun apurawa, name (as in "I say something is good" to be interpreted as "Name: 'something is good'")
If you "catch an idea", then you firenetietiya, understand
The verb katlateiwò, believe derives from the verb katla, hope, and the noun teiwò, god
A friend is lùtosekaròxini, "someone you share a fire with"
All numbers up to 1,000 are in a regular pattern of base 20 with a sub-base of 10, except for 500, which is mesokisimi and means "in the middle of 1,000"
The noun oyoma, omen, derived to the greeting oyomaxute, hello, with the implicit meaning of "I wish you a good omen"
A feather is pohlòmiawikela, lit. "a bird leaf", and an egg is sitayaawikela, lit. a "bird stone"
The noun rekokuixetsi, blood, translates to "the water of life"; interestingly, rekokuixetsixena, or "animal blood", also describes grease
Even if you can use it to describe human flesh, the etymology of the noun comes from "animal stuff" or "thing you can find on an animal" (xeixena)
A tooth is sitayapotika, a "body rock"
The noun sitayakoratumerekarì, which translate to "trade metal", refers to money
There are two nouns describing autumn: tseitiyòronèfo, "the new season", and yòronèfo, both meaning "the new year" (as First Speak people celebrate New Year on the autumn equinox) and being a shortening of tseitiyòronèfo
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