Miscellaneous Vocabulary

Kaltxì nìmun, ma frapo—

Here are some new words I hope you’ll find useful. Thanks as always to the Vocabulary Committee for their excellent ideas. Much of the following material is due to their efforts.

  • stxenu (n., STXE.nu) ‘offer’

This word originated from stxeli ‘gift’ + lonu ‘release, let go.’ It refers to anything that’s given freely, whether tangible or intangible.

Po poltxe san tìtstewnga’a stxenuri irayo seiyi oe ngaru nìtxan.
‘She said, “I thank you very much for your courageous offer.”’

    • tìtstew (n., tì.TSTEW) ‘courage, bravery’
    • tìtstewnga’ (adj., tì.TSTEW.nga’) ‘courageous, brave’ (nfp*)

Note: *nfp = not for persons. Contrast ofp = only for persons. In English, the word “brave” can be used for both people and things/actions: a brave person, a brave deed. That’s not the case in Na’vi. Certain adjectives have one form for persons and another for things. An example of this is the contrast between the two adjectives tstew and tìtstewnga’:

Kem atìtstewnga’ si tute atstew.
‘A brave person does brave deeds.’

The related verb is:

  • stxenutìng (vtr.: STXE.nu.tìng – inf. 3,3) ‘offer’

Oeri tìreyti oel stxenutolìng fpi olo’ awngeyä.
I offered my life for the sake of our clan.

Related vocabulary:

  • mll’an (vtr.: mll.’AN – inf. 1,2) ‘accept’
    • tìmll’an (n., tì.mll.’AN) ‘acceptance’
  • tsyär (vtr.) ‘reject’
    • tìtsyär (n., tì.TSYÄR) ‘rejection’

Ngal lumpe oeyä stxenut tsyolängär?
‘Why did you reject my offer?’

Stxenutolìng oel futa lì’fyat leNa’vi poeru kivar. Mol’an nìprrte’.
‘I offered to teach her Na’vi. She accepted gladly.’

  • kam (adp.-) ‘ago’
  • kay (adp.-) ‘from now (in the future)’

These adpositions refer to time backward or forward from the time of speaking:

Tskot sngolä’i po sivar ’a’awa trrkam (or: kam trr a’a’aw).
‘He started to use the bow several days ago.’

Zaya’u Sawtute fte awngati skiva’a kay zìsìt apxey (or: pxeya zìsìtkay)!
The Sky People will come to destroy us three years from now!

Note: If the measure of time is relative to another event rather than to the time of speaking, use the adverbs srekrr ‘beforehand’ and mawkrr ‘afterwards’:

Polähem Sawtute kam zìsìt amrr, hum mezìsìt mawkrr.
‘The Sky People arrived five years ago and left two years later.’

  • ’awnìm (vtr.: ’AW.nìm – inf. 1,1) ‘avoid’

This word stems from ’ì’awn ‘remain’ + alìm ‘at a distance.’

Ngal ’erawnìm oeti srak?
‘Are you avoiding me?’

Poltxe po san oe ke tsängun ’ivawnìm futa kutuhu oeyä ultxa si.
‘He said that sadly, he can’t avoid meeting with his enemies.’

  • ’ä’ (conv.) ‘whoops!’

(I mentioned this one in a comment in the previous post—I just didn’t want it to get lost.)

’Ä’! Oel tsngalit tìmungzup. Ngaytxoa!
‘Whoops! I just dropped the cup. Sorry about that!’

  • steng (adj.) ‘similar

Meuniltìrantokx Toktor Kìreysä sì Tsyeykä ke lu teng ki steng.
‘The avatars of Grace and Jake aren’t the same, but they are similar.’

Ngaru tìyawr. Lolu oer stenga säfpìl.
‘You’re right. I had a similar idea.’

And here’s a very nice proverb the Committee came up with:

Säfpìl asteng, tìkan ateng.
‘Great minds think alike.’

Derivation:

  • nìsteng (adv., nì.STENG) ‘similarly’

Tseyk tswamayon fa ikran srekrr; tafral fmoli fìkem sivi fa toruk nìsteng.
‘Jake flew with an ikran before; therefore he tried to do it with a toruk in a similar fashion.’

(Note: The verb tswayon ‘fly’ is intransitive—you fly by means of an ikran.)

  • nim (adj.) ‘timid, shy’

Yerik lu swirä anim nìtxan.
‘The hexapede is a very timid creature.’

Nim rä’ä lu! Pohu pivängkxo!
‘Don’t be shy! Talk to her!’

(Note that it’s pohu, not poru. You can’t use the dative with pängkxo.)

  • srätx (vtr.) ‘annoy, bother’

Oeti rä’ä srätx.
‘Don’t bother me.’

Derivation:

  • säsrätx (n., sä.SRÄTX) ‘annoyance’
  • rì’ìr (n., RÌ.’ìr) ‘reflection’

This is a nice example of what linguists call iconicity, where the symbol itself (in this case, a word) mirrors what it represents.

Oeri payìl tìng rì’ìrit keyä.
‘My face is reflected in the water.’

Derivation:

  • rì’ìr si (vin.) ‘reflect, imitate’

Rì’ìr rä’ä sivi tsmuktur!
‘Don’t imitate your sibling!’

I think there’s some iconicity in the next couple of words as well:

  • tsìsyì (vin.: TSÌ.syi – inf. 1,2) ‘whisper’

Rutxe pivlltxe nìwok nì’it, oel ngati stum ke stängawm krra nga fìfya tserìsyì!
‘Please speak up a bit, I can barely hear you when you’re whispering like this!’

    • nìwok (adv., nì.WOK) ‘loudly’

Note: Na’vi doesn’t have a separate word for ‘hardly, barely, scarcely.’ Instead, stum ke ‘almost not’ is used.

Derivations:

  • sätsìsyì (n., sä.TSÌ.syì) ‘whisper’

Po pamlltxe a krr, frapo tarmìng mikyun nìpxi, taluna mokri lu sätsìsyìtsyìp.
‘When he spoke, everyone listened intently, because his voice was a tiny whisper.’

That last word makes a good tongue-twister. Fmi pivlltxe alo avol nìwin!  🙂

  • nìtsìsyì (adv., nì.TSÌ.syì) ‘by whispering, in a whisper’

Since tsìsyì is intransitive, to talk about “whispering something” we use this adverb:

Pol tstxoti oeyä poltxeie nìtsìsyì.
‘He whispered my name, I’m happy to say.’

  • fwefwi (vin., FWE.fwi – inf. 1,2) ‘whistle’

Nga fwefwi nìlkeftang a fì’u lu säsrätx atxan oeru.
‘It’s a major annoyance to me that you whistle continuously.’

Derivation:

  • nìfwefwi (adv., nì.FWE.fwi) ‘by whistling, in a whistling manner’

Like tsìsyìfwefwi is intransitive. To express the idea of whistling a tune, we use the following vocabulary and structure:

  • lawr (n.) ‘tune, melody’
    • tìng lawr (vin.) ‘sing wordlessly, give out a tune or melody’

’Evanìl alo a’awve nì’awtu na’rìngit tarmok, ha tolìng lawr nìfwefwi fteke txopu sivi.
‘The boy was alone in the forest for the first time, so he whistled a tune to calm his fears.’

  • säomum (n., sä.O.mum) ‘(piece of) information’

As in many languages (but emphatically not as in English), the word for ‘information’ is countable and can be used in the plural. If it’s a single piece of information—one fact—use the singular; if several pieces of information are being conveyed, use the plural.

Aysäomumìri lesar seiyi oe ngaru irayo nìtxan.
‘Thanks very much for (all) this useful information.’

Ulte nìsyen:

  • kosman (adj., ko.SMAN) ‘wonderful, terrific, fantastic’

Fol lì’fyati awngeyä sar a fya’o lu kosman.
‘It’s wonderful the way they use our language.’

Alternatively, we can use the adverbial form of this word:

  • nìksman (adv., nìk.SMAN) ‘wonderfully’

Fol lì’fyati awngeyä sar nìksman.
‘They use our language wonderfully.’

Nìvingkap, what did you all think of the news about Avatar + DisneyLu fmawn a eltur tìtxen si nìtxan, kefyak?

As always, please let me know about any typos and slips you discover.

Hayalovay, ma eylan.

Edits, 24 Sept.: Spellings of nìtsìsyi etc. and ’a’awa corrected.

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19 Responses to Miscellaneous Vocabulary

  1. Sxkxawng says:

    I noticed you mentioned a few words we already have, such as fwefwi. Fì’u lu kosman!…

  2. Kemaweyan says:

    Kaltxì, ma Karyu. Txantsana fmawn! Faylì’uri irayo nìtxan, nìpxi lam oer lesar mefum alu kamkay 🙂

    Ngian lì’uri alu ‘a’aw’a skxakep sweylu fwa lolu tsaw ‘a’awa – luke syena tìftang, kefyak?

  3. Tirea Aean says:

    I like how we now have a new word similar to txantsan. I’m sure we are all getting tired of always saying txantsan XD. Kosman!

    Was this an error:

    nìtsyìsyì (adv., nì.TSÌ.syì) ‘by whispering, in a whisper’

    Since tsyìsyì is intransitive, to talk about “whispering something” we use this adverb:

    Great post as always, loads of really useful words i have been waiting on in ages! 😀

    Also, that article is pretty interesting… Unexpected interesting news. Thanks for sharing!

  4. `eylan Ayfalulukanä says:

    Irayo, ma Karyu Pawl! Thank you for the new words.

    I find srätx and its derivatives particularly interesting. They have a tricky pronunciation that by its very nature implies annoyance! rì’ìr is also very interesting. I like the reflexive words you have put in Na’vi.

  5. SGM (Plumps) says:

    Kosmana pamrel, säomum a eltur tìtxen si teri lì’u alu säomum 😛

    Mìftxele, is fmawn treated in the same vein? “news, something to report” is plural in English but in other languages (such as German) this meaning can be a countable noun.

    „eine Neuigkeit“ – (one piece of) news
    „Neuigkeiten“ – (several pieces of) news

    I noticed that there are inconsistancies as how to transcribe the name “Jake” in Na’vi. Sometimes it’s Tsyeyk, sometimes Tseyk. Are both correct?

  6. 'Eveng says:

    Wwow you’ve invented such a beautiful words!!
    sätsìsyìtsyìp is a very Palatal word and make twist yur toungue very hard!! 🙂
    Good job! Eywa ayngengahu! 🙂

  7. Dawid says:

    I really enjoy reading these updates, Paul. Keep up kosmana tìkangem ngeyä! 🙂

  8. Wm Annis says:

    How would one say, “this is similar to that”? Steng lu na …? Or just X sì Y lu steng?

  9. Kamean says:

    Irayo nìtxan, ma Karyu! 🙂
    Koren teri san kam sì kay sìk, tì’efumi oeyä, lu frato eltur tìtxen si.

  10. Kemaweyan says:

    Nìvingkap lolu oer tìpawm alahe. Pamrel soli nga san krra. Rutxe ftxey tsaw eyawr lu fuke? Tslam oel futa tsaw lu krr a, slä srake tsun fko pamrel sivi ‘awsiteng? Irayo nìli 🙂

  11. Ftiafpi says:

    For stxenutìng, regarding “intangible offerings” would this work with ideas (noun) (e.g. Oel stxenutìng oeyä säfpìlti ngaru.) or by intangible do you only mean offering things such as “offer my service” or “offer my help” and so on?

    Loving the differences between the NFP and OFP adjectives.

    “The Sky People will come to destroy us three years from now!” Foreshadowing for the next movie?? 😛

    ’ä’ I’m ridiculously excited about having this word.

    “You can’t use the dative with pängkxo.” Is this common for other verbs or is it only on pängkxo and the other speaking words (such as tsìsyì)?

    I’m very excited for the new Disney Avatar attraction, I definitely will have to get down there at some point to see it. It seems like Avatar will translate well to a theme park in my mind.

  12. Tanri says:

    Pxaya säomumìri amip irayo seiyi ngar, ma Karyu.

    A little notice about nìksman:
    The adverb derivational prefix “nì-” is productive for adjectives. So the long variant “nìkosman” should also be correct and understood, isn’t it?

    • SGM (Plumps) says:

      I was wondering about the same thing. We have a few shortened forms of adverbs derived from adjectives now, i.e. nìk’ong, nìksman, nìmwey, nìmweypey etc. The longer forms must have been an ‘older’ form of the language. I’m also wondering if the long forms would be correct, if a bit ‘archaic’…

    • Tirea Aean says:

      Yeah… I wondered about those too. but I just kinda accepted the stortforms as they are, as a derived work, shortened.

      Also, *nìsìltsan sounds weird to me 😛

  13. Kxrekorikus says:

    Ma Karyu,

    Pehrr mipa ‘upxare payahem?
    Tora ‘upxare polahem ‘awa vospxìkam..

    Ta Kxr 😉

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