Boral scratchpad

[Jackk]

A Bookshop

another excerpt in translation from the first chapter of Clarissa Bellamy's 1920 work A Door, Once Opened.

Y livrary meðes aye galleir streit e darsoval, ant scaffal anneyað par tout entr picq descovannet e rig enter emplið de tom lort.
The shop itself was cramped and maze-like, with shelves overflowing with everything from pamphlets to great collections of heavy tomes.

L'aer aye fler de papir eð encost, malgrað i manca y brum pouvrous figurað par Fred, e lumner aurfiað dy crevoscr accenoy y roum par y ci fenestr larc a jois rout.
The air was redolent of paper and ink, though it lacked the dusty haze Fred had expected, and golden evening light illuminated the space through the shop's large street-facing windows.

Ny cogn jagerrem sceye un gran tablaur gaubanneresc eð un caðer a reðrtien haut ados, eð ag mur ados ancour penoy un cart citaðer immanessem a toð ci jamay seyon vis.
In the far corner sat a large mahogany desk with a high-backed chair behind it, and on the wall behind that was hung a map of the city larger than any he had ever seen.

Jois y caðer azia y livrer, un picq livr nijommað par cogr vert closiscent e sgardant haut por bonjorn luy beudar.
By the chair stood the bookseller, closing a small book bound in green leather and looking up to greet him.

---

suðel "patch"

suðel /siˈðɛl/ [sɪˈðɛw]
- patch, small piece of fabric used to mend an article of clothing;
- workaround, kludge, hack, a temporary repair intended to be of use for a limited time until a more lasting solution can be found
- plaster, an adhesive piece of material used to cover a wound

Etymology: inherited via Old Boral from Latin sūtēla "a sewing together, a cunning stratagem" (the second metaphorical sense having been lost already in post-Classical Latin). This is a nominal derivation from the verb suō "I sew, I stitch".

Com suðel eu nos y fenestr zachettað ne closið.
/kɔm siˈðɛl aw nɔz i feˈnɛstr̩ ˌza.kɛˈtaθ ne kloˈzɪθ/
[kɔm sɪˈðɛw ɐˈnɔz i fɪˈnɛs.tɐ ˌza.kɪˈtah ne klʊˈzɪh]
as patch have.1p 1p def window glue-p.pst in close-p.pst
As a hack we've glued the windows shut.

---

oblimanç "passion"

oblimanç /ˌo.bliˈmants/ [ˌo.blɪˈmans]
- desire, craving, longing, strong attraction towards something or the condition of wanting something deeply;
- passion, enthusiasm, zeal, fervour, a powerful emotion or excitement in the pursuit of some end goal;

Etymology: nominal derviation from oblimar "to desire, crave", from synonymous Medieval Latin oblīmō (or directly from a Latin noun oblīmantia, though there is no record of this derivation in Latin until the fifteenth century). This verb is formed from the intensive prefix ob- and the verb līmō "I am eager for, I lust after".

In turn, līmō and the related noun līmus reflect a relatinisation of Old Boral lim "lust" (now archaic outside the expression lim aïr "be eager"), which must be a descendant of synonymous Latin libīdō (accusative libīdinem; compare the outcome of Latin -tūdinem as -tum in e.g. soltum "solitude", presumably via an intermediary -tūmine).

Nuvr ay jo un oblimanç aut vars possenç illimitabr.
/ˈni.vr̩ e ʒo ɪn ˌo.bliˈmants ot varz poˈsɛnts iˌli.miˈta.br̩/
[ˈni.vʀ‿eˈʝo ˌno.blɪˈmans ot vɑːz pʊˈsɛns ɪˌli.mɪˈta.bɐ]
recent have.1s 1s indef desire have.p.pst towards might unlimited
Lately I have had a craving for unlimited power.

---

vraseyant "impressive"

vraseyant /ˌvra.ziˈjant/ [vʀɐˈzjant]
- impressive, splendid, surprisingly good and tending to make a positive impression;
- moving, affecting, having a strong effect on somebody and especially causing them to feel a strong emotion;

Etymology: participial adjective from verb vraseyar "to impress, to surprise (positively), to move emotionally", itself a late medieval borrowing from Saxon wrasijn "to impact, affect, impress". This is thought to be of Slavic origin, from some descendant of *raziti "to strike, to astound" (usually supposed to be Polish wraziç "to instil, push").

Vostr y loit autoschedon stan magn vraseyant.
/ˈvɔs.tr̩ i lɔjt oˌto.skeˈdɔn stan mɛjn ˌvra.ziˈjant/
[ˌvɔs.tʀ‿ɪ ˈlɔjt ʊˌto.skɪˈdɔn stam mɛjɱ vʀɐˈzjant]
2p.gn def fight hand-to-hand be-ipf.3p very impressive
Your sparring matches were very impressive.

---

Monarchs of Borland

summary of the lives of two rulers of Borland in the first millennium.

Victor Rossetus 'the Red-haired' (fl. c6) was the first Prase of the Boral Diocese. He was the first unitary ruler of an independent polity comprising a significant fraction of the island of Borland. He unified the urbanised east of the land while the west and south were settled by Anglians to form Anglont and Sothbar, respectively, and it was under him that so-called 'Roman Borland' first began to succesfully repel the new settlers.

---

Jothey, King of Borland (fl. 898), known in Borlish as Joðeg /ʒoˈðij/, was the last ruler of the First Kingdom of Borland before it fell to the Danes in 898. The kingdom was conquered when Jothey was only a young man, shortly after his marriage to Brenna of Barrow, niece of King Roderick of Dunclothe.

However, the life of King Jothey (as recorded in Brethin chronicles) continued as a monarch-in-exile for several more decades. He fled with his wife to Sothbar, where they had several children. They remained at court there for over twenty years, until the skirmishes between Sothbar and Dane Borland finally ended with Sothbar's capitulation and the unification of the island for the first time since being part of the Roman Empire.

Fearful of imprisonment or even execution so as to fully extirpate the former royal line and thus nullify the possibility of future rival claimants, Jothey fled once more with his wife and children to Kent.

[Jackk]

Film Review

excerpt in translation from a review of Zachariah, a horror film about a vampire released in 1950.

Un sgaranç deull'ouvr usual de Kiawaman, l'oc fabr zortlasc nos ramen vars y dezein 1820, parmy y scadriscenç dy Paç Lonc eð y commet d'Abat Reagent.
A departure from Kiawaman's usual fare, this blacklair tale takes us back to the 1820s, amid the disintegration of the Long Peace and the beginning of Reaction War.

Des y rout accis sou aer ny Boxa autonom vars l'ossatur parsanant de Stamboul, l'oc adaptation dy trevold canonic de Petcov 'Majat Cherveniat' (Y Segr Roug) atten a form redar ag gur e l'enigma ne nostr y catr heros sgardar y natur vray dy Zacharia eponym descovrir cos lent.
From the gaslit streets of independent Boxa to the recovering shell of Stamboul, this adaptation of Petcov's classic trevold 'Majat Cherveniat' (The Red Man) tries to recreate the dread and mystery of watching our four heroes slowly discover the true nature of the eponymous Zachariah.

Infeliç es ig y ci bel horam d'œcumen e l'affixion d'un cogmaðer risc tavancian (dont y cainç secuð es majortaðer emprontað des y ci d'Elenor ny livr) sein y zantr soltumesc n'un film scompiglous ceter.
Unfortunately, the beautiful landscape shots and the addition of a rich Tavancian tourist (whose plotline is mostly borrowed from the book's Elenor storyline) are the high points of an otherwise messy film.

---

çavel "brain"

çavel /tsaˈvɛl/ [tsɐˈvɛw]
- brain, brains, organ of the human or animal body responsible for perception, cognition and memory;
- intellect, mind, the capacity for intelligent or rational thought;
- (botany) pith, the soft and spongy white matter on the interior of a plant

Etymology: descending from Old Boral cea(r)vel, cerbel "brain", and reflecting Latin cerebellum "little brain, intellect", a diminutive of cerebrum "brain, skull". In the last sense it appears to be a Revitalist-period calque, since the Latin etymon could also refer to a plant's pith.

Y çavel de ty sour es parnommað.
/i tsaˈvɛl de ti sur ɛz ˌpar.nɔˈmaθ/
[i tsɐˈvɛw de tɪˈsʊː‿ʀɪz ˌpɑː.nʊˈmah]
def brain of 3s.ps sister be.3s celebrate-p.pst
Your sister's intellect is renowned.

---

zantr /ˈzan.tr̩/ [ˈzan.tɐ]
- zenith, the point in the sky directly above a given position or observer;
- the highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body;
- (by extension) pinnacle, apex, acme, the high-water mark of a thing or trend's quality or popularity;
- fever pitch, climax, high drama, a state of extreme excitement or emotional investment

Etymology: borrowed in the Middle Boral period via French and Italian from Medieval Latin zantura, zamtaris et al. "zenith" (seen in various declension patterns but usually feminine in modern descendants). This is borrowed from Arabic
سَمْت الرَّأْس‎ (samtu r-ra's) "direction of the head", the first part of which comes via Aramaic from Classical Latin sēmita "narrow footpath".

Sceye combat a spað ny zantr dy lasc.
/xiˈje kɔmˈbat a spaθ ni ˈzan.tr̩ di lax/
[çje kʊmˈbat ɐ ˈspah nɪ ˈzan.tɐ dɪ ˈlax]
there.be-imp combat at sword in-def zenith of-def film
There was swordfighting at the climax of the film.

---

gur "dread"

gur /gɪr/ [gɪː]
- dread, suspense, the feeling that something terrible is about to happen;
- gloom, pessimism, a black outlook resigned to terrible things happening
- sadness, depression, a state of melancholy

Etymology: from Old Boral g(r)ur "fear, dread", a borrowing from Old English gryre "terror, horror". This reflects Classical German grusias "fright" which is related to greusō "to frighten". Use of the noun in the shifted sense "sadness" is seen from the eighteenth century, principally in the constructions gur aïr "to be sad" and gur dar "to make sad".

Y scuir poðe noc le veir, oc gur luy dant.
/i xajr poˈðe nɔk le ˈvir | ɔk gɪr laj dant/
[i ˈxajɐ pʊˈðe nɔ lɪ ˈvɪː | ɔ gɪː lɐj dant/
def boy can-imp neg 3s.acc see-inf | s.px sadness 3s.obl give-p.prs
The boy couldn't see her, which saddened him.

---

The Wars of Fealty

The Wars of Fealty were a series of conflicts between the polities of Albion in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries which lasted almost fifty years.

History
The traditional account asserts that the Wars of Fealty broke out due to a dispute over the location of the Redstone Chair, a low-backed wooden throne inlaid with a sandstone block said to have been the stone over which the tenth-century Elved Marriage (which ended hostilities between Dane Northumber and Markland for almost a century and on which many subsequent monarchs had been crowned) was solemnised.

As political alliances enmeshed the polities of Albion, over some years the entire island was dragged into the conflict. It threatened to spread further still: France spent nearly two decades with growing animosity towards Kent under the Two Henries to the north, but the two polities reached reconciliation in the early 1490s.

The relatively-new Kingdom of Britain (formed of Wales and its outlying tallaths, along with Kernow and Sodrick) started from a position of strength, and managed to extract many concessions in the early years of the wars. This culminated in the 1483 Battle of Rexam, which expanded the borders of Wales in the north and killed the last Duke of Chestre; after this, Britain was able to avoid the harsher conflicts of the wars' latter years.

In the final years of the Wars of Fealty, a code known as Thieves' Script was employed by the forces of Andrew II of Mercia, apparently adapted from similar systems used by gangs of housebreakers in Nottingham. It is remembered today as a very early precursor of codes like steeplescript or modern one-zeffre encoding.

Aftermath
The poorer economic conditions of the Albick polities in the wake of the Wars of Fealty and the ongoing population displacements/migrations throughout the island left them woefully vulnerable to the ravages of the Second Great Dying. Almost twice as many deaths per capita are recorded in Markland and English Kent compared with Norman Kent or Willemy across the British Sea.

The advantageous position of the Kingdom of Britain, by contrast, contributed to the successses of King Howel of Britain's expansion of naval trade (typified by the ship Phœbos circumnavigating Africa and reaching Borune in 1516).

To the east, Borland (never directly involved in the Wars of Fealty) had received an influx of immigration from Albion, as people were displaced in the many border conflicts and attempted conquests. In particular, this period saw substantial Devoner and Kernish immigration to the cities of southern Borland.

[Jackk]

Wearing a Mask or a Suit

extract in translation from Ezio Carvallo's 1860 trevold Tejan de Masquira ou Jalico "Wearing a Mask or a Suit".

Ny dal dessou splendisce y floy l'arrimbandant con azauc, tandic repars dereðr stan y collin parmy crevoscr raðunant.
In the valley below, the river shone like a ribbon of quicksilver, while on the far side the hills were lost in the gathering dusk.

Poy lumner lougen dagaðy, pu il sarven soul a y vogdeç dell'œcumen remartellar.
A few lights twinkled here and there, but they only served to emphasize the emptiness of the land.

Matthias soupirau eð ençau tornant a rentrar, pu paravant l'yeme a parcevet cavir d'uncos movent tras l'ombr dy ci arbr.
Matthias sighed and turned to go back inside, but not before he caught a glimpse of something moving in the shadows of the trees.

Ne sgardant de cur may, l'oc surcou un segr pariscent y camin follar nacleu deur y floy. Matthias forrovau; luy souvenen noc y sigt d'alcun najel hormejað ag quarf, eð y floy trasir ceter vel lontan par najar.
Looking closer, it resolved itself into a man, who seemed to be making his way up the path from the river. Matthias frowned; he didn't remember seeing any boats moored at the landing, and it was a long way to swim.

Y segr sera donc un vecin, ac yent por sbay dar ag forannour.
The man must be a local, come to gawk at the foreigners.

---

sbay "gawp"

sbay /sbe/ [zbe]
- open-mouthed expression, the act of gawping at something or someone either in stupefaction or intrusive fascination

Etymology: deverbal derivation from sbayar "to gape, gawp" via Old Boral from Medieval Latin exbadō "I gape, open wide". The somewhat pejorative sense in Modern Boral is likely due to interference from the circumfix s- -ar (as in sboccar "to smirk"). The Latin is a derivative of synonymous badō, which is of unclear (possibly onomatopoeic) origin.

Cogmaðer son sbay dant ag cascat n'Onnacra.
/ˌkɔj.maˈðɛr sɔn sbe dant ɛj kaˈxat ˌnɔ.naˈkra/
[ˌkɔj.mɐˈðɛː sɔn ˈzbe dant ɛj kɐˈxat ˌno.nɐˈkʀa]
tourist be.3p gawp give-prp to.def waterfall in=Onnacra
Tourists are gawping at the Onnacra waterfalls.

---

dagaðy "here and there"

dagaðy /ˌda.gaˈði/
- here and there, intermittently, in or at various places or times;
- sporadically, seldom, not often in space or time

Etymology: early Middle Boral univerbation of adverbial phrase d'ac að ii "from here to there" (compare dagormay "from now on" < d'ac or may "from here now [and] more]").

Dagaðy floriscen zillapr ny lag.
/ˌda.gaˈði ˌflo.riˈxɛn zɪˈla.pr̩ ni lɛj/
[ˌda.gɐˈði ˌflo.ʀɪˈçɛn zɪˈla.pɐ ni lɛj]
here.and.there bloom-ipf.3p in=def meadow
Buttercups bloomed here and there in the meadow.

---

fallout "venture"

fallout /faˈlut/
- (obsolete) godsend, lucky break, a sudden large benefit and especially a sudden or unexpected large amount of money;
- gamble, venture, a significant risk undertaken with a potential gain;
- quest, undertaking, a journey or effort in pursuit of a goal

Etymology: from Old Boral falloft "windfall (both literally and metaphorically)", from Borland Old English feallovet "fruit that falls from trees in the wind", a compound of feallan "to fall" and ofett "fruit".

Soð vos reusant aðief por surveur all'oc fallout?
/sɔθ vɔz rawˈzant aˈðjɛf pɔr sɪrˈvawr aˈlɔk faˈlut/
[ˈsɔvʊz ʀɐwˈzant ɐˈðjɛf pɔː sɪːˈvawɐ‿ʀɐˈlɔ fɐˈlut]
be.2p 2p cunning enough for survive-inf at.def=s.px quest
Are you canny enough to survive this quest?

---

The Drengot Collusion

The Drengot Collusion was a multinational alliance-federacy in north-western Europe. Named for the older Drengot Empires (themselves named for the Norman noble family who first united much of Gaul and Albion), it grew from various treaties in the mid-nineteenth century into the principal power in the region until its dramatic collapse in 1961.

History
The Drengot Collusion arose among the French polities of the Global Workshop period. Shortly thereafter the New Urban Mesh (a collection of somewhat-autonomous cities including independent London, as well as Axbane on Borland) was subsumed—or took control of, depending on one's personal biases—the nascent Collusion.

The entirety of Borland entered the Collusion in 1894 as part of a series of events there that also led to the abdication of the Queen Natalia II and the concomitant dissolution of the Borlish monarchy.

Alongside the cities of London and Paris, Kent was the political centre of the Drengot Collusion, with many governmental buildings located in Roun.

Tensions between the Collusion and their southern neighbours (to wit, Vascony and Provence) grew particularly tense in the two decades following the Millstone War. For this reason it is notable that the Fiellas Dimenja newspaper (headquartered in Marsella) enjoyed considerable readership across the Collusion even in the 1930s.

Although Portingale was never part of the Collusion, it occupied a peripheral position in its orbit. This led to diplomatic tensions with Vascony, located directly between the Collusion and Portingale. For a time, Drengot astraphor supplied (via undersea powerline) much of the baric needs of Portingale, thus relying on Vascon goodwill not to interfere. This situation changed in the 1950s, with Portingale funding threshold mills to supply its own astraphor.

The Furore of 1961
At the time of the Furore, the Collusion was being administered by a tinplate government under Romney Darchild.

One of the scandals of the Furore was the revelation of the clandestine activities undertaken by the Red House (the popular name of the Collusion's Ministry for Information) in Roun. These activities, enumerated in the Darchild memorandum, acted as a powderkeg, first bringing down the current administration and shortly thereafter the entire Collusion.

Aftermath
One effect of the collapse of the Drengot Collusion was the implementation of the Kentish ostracon reforms, which would go on to be used as a model in several polities across the globe.