Conlang Autonym Etymologies

[Egerius]

Inspired by the corresponding natlang thread.

How did your con-people find names for themselves, their cities, states and languages?

Here are some autonyms from my Roman-like conpeople on Rodentèrra:

Romanz comes from Latin RÓMÁNICÉ 'in Roman manner' < RÓMÁNICVS '(little) Roman', applying first to the people living near the Ruma river, later to the people who spoke "in Roman manner", i.e. Western Rodentèrra-Romance (and even later any Romance); the term itself is a loan from late 7th-century Saselvan to the Buonavallese and Argemontese dialects.

• Buonavallese <BONA VALLIS 'good valley', the capital of the former Rodent Empire, laying by the river RÓMA.
  Saselváno < IPSA SILVA 'that forest', North-Eastern Romance of a region with dense forests.
  Flúmina < FLV́MEN 'river', the capital of the Saselva region.
  Argemontese < ARGENTÓ MÓNS 'silver mountain', South-Eastern Romance of a mountainous region.

Rodentèrra itself is my name for the planet my con people live on, being derived from RÓDÉNS 'rodent' and TERRA 'earth'. My conpeople themselves would refer to their planet simply as "tèrra".

Edit: Corrected a few errors.

I use the grave accent < ́> to mark long vowels, as established by ancient Roman epigraphic convension.

[Ahzoh]

In Vrkhazhian, they call their language Ashdu Yat-Vrkhazh "Mouth of the Great Land" of which Yat is a Middle Vrkhazhian word for "land", and Vrkhazh a Middle Vrkhazhian word for "great, large, significant", derived from a similar family of verbs...

[GrandPiano]

Oh, my... I was just asking the same question on the other thread.

[Lao Kou]

How did your con-people find names for themselves, their cities, states and languages?

Géarths refers to the social contract and reciprocal relationship between the monarch and his/her subjects: social duty and fealty on the one side, benevolent duty and something akin to noblesse oblige on the other. The word, like Gemütlichkeit or saudade, is considered a uniquely "untranslatable", indigenous concept, so it features prominently in words related to the national identity:

• Géarthnuns - the language < géarths + nuns, an archaic word for "language, speech"
  Géarthtörs - the island < géarths + törs, "island" (the word is still in use but the meaning has shifted slightly to "ait")
  Géarthfrens - the political entity, the kingdom < géarths + frens, "kingdom, country, 國"
  géarthçins - a person < géarths + çins, an archaic word for "person" (à la "wight")
  géarthçörs - the currency < géarths + çörs, "florin"
  
  Louverkranhürs - cove near Gdhírs where the parliament building is located; the building itself; a metonym for the legislature < louver, "(Japanese) pilchard" + kranhürs, "cove, inlet"

Other names are still up for grabs:

• Abdens - the former capital < maybe a funky pronunciation of "Sire's Place", but who knows?
  Gdhírs - the current capital < etymology has yet to be discovered

---

Géarthtörs - the island in the Sea of Japan near Vladivostok and the Tumen delta (where the borders of China [red], Korea [yellow], and Russia [blue] converge). Can you see it off in the distance? (clap if you believe)

Spoiler:

In this one, China is still red, Korea is blue, and Russia and its border outpost are in yellow. The red arrow points to the Sea of Japan.

[Birdlang]

My alien homeworld Dolphin Major
Birdazuoili (bird language) Bird-language
Bartalonzumixaraijoci (Bartalonian) (grey alien language with all pronounceable and unpronounceable sounds) Bart's Speech of the 80's (they believe in Bart Simpson)
Supero ukan (Sparrownese) Sparrow speech
Fakeic languages Fake+German,Spanish,etc. (any of 30 real languages)
Pigeon City in Pigeonland (the only fully industrial country in my conworld Dolphin Major)
from Pigeon+City and Pigeon+Land
Chickenaradise= Chicken plus Paradise the Chicken Country
Fakia (Fake plus the suffix -ia like a country humanoid countries)
Birdia (Bird plus -ia bird countries)
Buggington's Paradise (after a spider Sir Bugginton and Paradise the bug countries)
Ferretland (mammal countries)
Felitia (the reptile countries, from Felitia Unklikliyakk the reptile Miss Reptilia like Miss America)
Amphibia (amphibian countries)
And Alternate Earth
Missr (from Arabic Misr) the Romans are there and they are hamsters and the arabs are snakes.

[Thrice Xandvii]

The speakers of Isλǫtaλao /is.ɬɔ̃.'tɑ.ɬɑʊ̯/ (which comes from the word spēluncatōrem, very roughly meaning cave-dweller in Latin, which is itself a supposed etymology for the term Tsalagi/Cherokee) call themselves the Ęjinǫwisa /ɛ̃.ʔi.nɔ̃.'wi.sa/ (a term derived from Ani-Yunwiya, which is what the Cherokee people call themselves, this one isn't at all from Latin).

Confusing enough for ya?

[clawgrip]

Himmaswa just means "Himma language". Himma is the kingdom and later the empire in which the language is spoken. It literally means eye of the red trumpet vine. I have, to be perfectly honest, not fully explored why the kingdom has that name.

[Thrice Xandvii]

Oh, my... I was just asking the same question on the other thread.

A similar question, but not the same. This thread deals with conlangs, and conpeople, while as yours (being in the Linguistics and Natlangs area) deals with real-world examples.

[Serena]

In Gadyl, the root for "to speak" is D-Y-L. For example, my tutorial on Gadyl has the title "Doiallá hagdillir" which means "Speak the words". Gadyl has, however, many names:

• Gadyl (גדיל) - From the root D-Y-L and the prefix G- meaning "Tool of, method for". This is the most common name, as it is used by foreign scholars throughout all the Empire and beyond.
• Hagdillir (הגדיליר) - The same word, but pluralized and determined by the article. This is the traditional name, it is commonly used in the Scriptures and it is the name that most Keyali people would use.
• Logata kalista (λογατα καλιστα) - It is the name given by Hanilian poets and philosophers. It means "the most beautiful language" is it is used as a slight mockery, because they don't actually mean it.

[Chagen]

Pazmatā is composed of two roots:

"Paz" of course is simply the Paz's term for themselves. What it could mean is unknown, and the only clue is that the word for "people" in general is pez...but these words date far before any quality-based ablaut system ever showed up in any Pasuu language, they don't match to any system inside Pazmat, and "pez" itself ablauts (pezā "the person" pīz "a person"), and ablaut never applies twice on the same syllable.

"mat" is a root which means "to speak". The -ā is simply the definite article, so "the speech of the Paz". Note that compounds aren't too common in Pazmat, so this word is really old.

[Thrice Xandvii]

Do you mean "aren't too common"?

[Chagen]

Uhhhh...yeah, I did. I always end up forgetting a "not/n't" and completely changing the meaning of a sentence >_>

[GrandPiano]

I think I've come up with a name for my conlang (note that the original purpose of the natlang thread was so that I could get some ideas for my conlang's autonym). Since this is my first conlang (assuming I don't abandon it), I'd like you guys to tell me what you think.

The name I've chosen is Attaywipogg'oqa [atːaj.wipɔɢːɔ́qa] (I hope long names aren't a problem), which derives like this:
zlipet [zlípɛt] "home, house" + sogg'oqa [sɔɢːɔ́qa] "us" = zlipogg'oqa [zlipɔɢːɔ́qa] "homeland"
attai [átːaj] "sound" + ghum [ɣúm] "mouth" = attayum [atːá.jum] "language"
attayum [atːá.jum] "language" + zlipogg'oqa [zlipɔɢːɔ́qa] "homeland" = attaiwipogg'oqa [atːaj.wipɔɢːɔ́qa] "Attaywipogg'oqa language"

[Bristel]

Ercunich/Ercunic/Hercynian is the Ercunic, English and Latin terms from Proto-Celtic *perkuniā, later *erkunia. The word is derived from *perkʷus "oak", which is cognate with Latin quercus "oak", Old High German fereheih "oak", Sanskrit parkaṭī "fig tree", Old Norse fjörr "tree", Anglo-Saxon furh "fir", Modern English fir, and many others with different derivations. Also related to words for "mountain forest", or "mountain" and "rock" via PIE derivations. The Harz Mountains in Germany probably got their name from "Erkunia".

The PIE thunder/oak god Perkwunos is also related via a theonym suffix -no- that is common in Celtic theonyms as well.

[undergroundninja]

Ssikangul just means ''human speech''
Ssikan - Human
Gul - Speech,Language

[thaen]

Nillahimma is a nominalized verb.

Nillahimma
Nil-lah-i-m-ma
1P>3S-speak-GNO-ATELIC-NOM
"We speak it" (with the idea that "we" always spoken it and we always will spoken it, and that everyone knows it)

Tangent alert!

Spoiler:

Depending on things, the doubled letters may indicate the presence of a morphophonological glottal stop (I just really like writing "morphophonological" ), and thus may be written as Niqlahiqma if I choose to show this orthographically, or Ni'lahi'ma if I change how the glottal stop is represented. Anyways, tangent over, thank you for your time)

[k1234567890y]

Lonmai Luna/Liunan:

the word Lonmai Luna is the endonym from Lonmai Luna Lon "long-long" + -mai "derivational possessive suffix"+ Luna "language"

the word Liunan is the exonym, but the use of the word is perfectly acceptable, the word Liunan is originated from a Sakawi word lhünän meaning "far, faraway"

Sakawi:

the word Sakawi is from Saka+-wi, used for both of the speakers and language, and the part Saka is an exonym meaning "locust" in another language, as Sakawi speakers were considered to be invasive nomadic reavers, they got such a name and the word Saka was later adopted by Sakawi speakers.

Nevotak:

endonym, from Old Nevotak Nep-s-o "middle, central" + stakra "person", it's actually an ethnonym but is also used to call the language.

[cedh]

My conlangs mostly tend to form their names as some kind of variant on the "language of X" model:

The endonym of Buruya Nzaysa is just nzaysa, a reflex of the Ndak Ta endonym ndak ta, which uses the unusual "dynamic particle" ta and means something like "the dynamic aspect of Ndak culture (e.g. communication)". When contrasted against a closely related language or dialect, B.Nz. might also be referred to as lo nzaysa u Buruya "the Nzaysa of Buruya". The city name Buruya has its origin in a Meshi term meaning "great settlement".

Farwo n-Abebbu means "the (Fáralo) language of Abebbu". farwo is a reflex of the Fáralo ethnonym fáralo, now used in the sense of "any language or dialect that belongs to the Fáralo branch of the Edastean family". The city name Abebbu comes from Fáralo az bæbu "many anchors".

Cəssın is simply an adjective built from the city name Cəssa (which is of unknown origin).

Ronc Tyu means "language of the villagers", where ronc "language (of)" is obligatorily possessed, and tyu is a collective noun meaning "village-dwellers" which is also used as a self-designation of the speakers of Ronc Tyu.

Ree Rɛɛ Kıbyaa means "words of the tribe of Kıbyaa", where Kıbyaa is an unanalyzable name for the region in which the language is spoken.

Omari is primarily an ethnonym; a native term more specifically referring to the language is bųgieta ke-nómaru, translating to "speech of the Omari". The ethnonym has a rather interesting backstory though: When the Omari started invading the lands of the Wokatasuto speakers, the latter called them by a number of different derogatory names, including ko-kadaki rosoka "large horde", narohəa "those who destroy by fire", and omarireta "thieves". The last of these was apparently most common, and somehow it sounded sufficiently attractive for the Omari to use it as a self-designation. It is not clear whether they knew the true meaning of the word, but in any case, the meaning could be changed by reinterpreting the last two syllables as the native derivational suffix /-ret(a)-/ "belonging to". It probably also helped that the initial /o-/ resembled the native 3rd person singular animate noun prefix, so that /omarireta/ could be reanalysed as "a person of Omari ethnicity", with the short form /omari/ as the root describing their own ethnic group.


The main exceptions to the "language of X" pattern among my conlangs are the following:

Doayâu derives from Proto-Coastal-Western *duğàyòbu "good mouth" (named in contrast to the "bad mouth" of other Coastal Western dialects).

Hkətl’ohnim is an inflected verb with the literal meaning "we speak in a language together":
h-kətl’ohʷ-nim
1PL.NPST-speak_a_language-RECIP

Tsemehkiooni is similar; the name is an inflected verb with the literal meaning "we understand each other":
ts-emeh-kioow-ni
1PL.INCL.STAT-understand-by_speech-RECIP

[Egerius]

A few updates from Rodentèrra:

Grezognja < Polish gryzoń 'rodent' (a Ladroman city)
Chiarcità < CLÁRA CIVITÁS 'clear/white city'; the houses are white, like in Greece (but this is an Argemontese city)
Wínland < wine-land
Wínchaster < Old Wínlandish Wínċeaster < VÍNVS + CASTRVM 'wine-castle'
Gytenhem < Goth + home (a Wínlandish city)
Gniezdanian Republic/Gnezdania < conflation of Gniezno (a Polish city – the first Polish capital IIRC), + Polish gniazdo 'nest'

Edit: Well, how could I confuse toponymy with autonymy?

[druneragarsh]

šile is the Proto-Šile word for "person". There is no recoded reference of a linguo-autonym.
ašauviq eyþïq means "the language of the men". The common shortening, Eyþï, simply means man-GEN.
ǧaža žilèði means "language of people". It is likewise shortened to Žilèði, person-GEN
The oldest linguo-autonym of the Ḳixaḷi, pekke čukke, means "this language". Their current autonym is a translation of the Žilèði term for them: ǧaža gížɛði, "language of the North", ḳixaḷi čukke. The Mira call them pekahelejao, an archaic "low people" (lit. "low-livers"). The language is known as pekamira.
Mira comes from the Mira word for tongue. They call their language either ča mira, this language, or toškin mira, "(the) sky's language".
Drún is a word without an etymology. It is possibly related to the word for ten, drūn, the verb for understanding, drūm, or a dialectal word for house, trúm.