Old Elven

Old Elven is the old formal tongue the scholars still name things in; in its own words it was Albisk, elvish, for a tongue goes by the word for its people. Every people's formal name is Old Elven (the Vetti): the high elves are the Leuhtalbi, the old tongue's light elves, and the dark elves the Þarkalbi, its dark elves.

For every day the High Elves speak High Elven, the lingua franca, which is why the common names are theirs. It is the old stock and a great deal else: High Elven has taken words from every people it has dealt with, as the High Elves take most things. Dark Elven — Av, its speakers call it — is the dark elves' own tongue: its words come from the same old roots as Old Elven's, worn down by three long shifts of sound, so that Old Elven Albi and Dark Elven Av are one word, elf.

How it is written

A long vowel is written twice: aa, ee, ii, oo, uu — Meenaz, the moon; Lootav. Þ is the th of thin and ð the th of this; ǫ is an open o. Dark Elven writes ä and ö as well (Täk, dark). Both tongues give a noun, and a verb, a capital letter.

The elves, in the old tongue and in Dark Elven

• elf — Albi · Dark Elven Av (a species: Avi)
• light elf, the high elves — Leuhtalbi · Dark Elven Lootav (Lootavi)
• dark elf — Þarkalbi · Dark Elven Täkav (Täkavi)
• dark — Þark · Dark Elven Täk

The dark elves call themselves Av, elves, and Täkav when they mean their own kind and not the High Elves, whom they call Lootav. The High Elves do the same in High Elven: Elf, and High Elf beside the dark.

The tongues by name

A tongue is named for its people, by their adjective: in the old tongue, the old tongue itself is Albisk (elvish), the High Elves' speech Leuhtalbisk and the dark elves' Þarkalbisk. The record calls the old tongue Old Elven, as the living tongue does.

Species are neuter

A species' formal name is neuter and ends in -i, whoever the people are and whatever their sex: Albi, Trovi, Dverfi, Vatli. Dark Elven keeps the -i on a species name (Avi, Täkavi) and on nothing else.

Nouns

Old Elven has three genders and four cases — the one who does a thing, the one it is done to, whose it is, and to whom or where — and one regular pattern for each gender:

• Kuning-, king (masculine): Kuningaz · Kuningan · Kuningas · Kuningai — and many: Kuningooz · Kuninganz · Kuningǫ · Kuningamaz
• Stern-, star (feminine): Sternoo · Sternoon · Sternooz · Sternooi — and many: Sternooz · Sternooz · Sternǫ · Sternamaz
• Gat-, gate (neuter): Gati · Gati · Gatis · Gatim — and many: Gati · Gati · Gatoo · Gatim

Dark Elven gives a noun no endings at all: Konung is a king, any king, doing or done to.

Word order

Old Elven puts the verb last and a describing word after its noun, and marks who did what by the endings. Dark Elven goes subject, verb, object, with no articles and no endings, and puts whatever describes a thing before it.

The dark elf sees the star above the forest.
Old Elven: Þarkalbi Sternoon uf Waldai Sehwit.
Dark Elven: Täkavi Sev Uv Vald Ster.

The moon shines, and the god guards the gate.
Old Elven: Meenaz Gliimit, ak Gudaz Gati Wardit.
Dark Elven: Meen Gleem, na Gud Vard Gat.

Some words

• fire — Fuuri · Dark Elven Fuur
• forest — Waldaz · Dark Elven Vald
• gate — Gati · Dark Elven Gat
• god — Gudaz · Dark Elven Gud
• hall — Halli · Dark Elven Haal
• ice — Iisi · Dark Elven Iis
• king — Kuningaz · Dark Elven Konung
• moon — Meenaz · Dark Elven Meen
• mountain — Bergaz · Dark Elven Berg
• night — Nahtoo · Dark Elven Naht
• oath — Aiþi · Dark Elven Aath
• queen — Kweenoo · Dark Elven Kween
• realm — Riiki · Dark Elven Riik
• river — Floodaz · Dark Elven Flood
• rune — Ruunoo · Dark Elven Ruun
• shadow — Skadwi · Dark Elven Skad
• star — Sternoo · Dark Elven Ster
• stone — Stainaz · Dark Elven Staan
• sun — Sunnoo · Dark Elven Sun
• wyrm — Wurmi · Dark Elven Wurmi

Words brought back

A High Elven word of the old stock can be taken back to its old root and brought forward again into either tongue — the scholars' way of naming anything new (a word the High Elves took from another people has no old root, and is first swapped for one that has):

• home — *haimaz — Haimaz · Dark Elven Heimr
• house — *huusaz — Huusaz · Dark Elven Huusr
• ship — *skipaz — Skipaz · Dark Elven Skxiffr
• child — *kildaz — Kildaz · Dark Elven Kxildr
• word — *wurdaz — Wurdaz · Dark Elven Vudr
• white — *hwiitaz — Hwiit · Dark Elven Hviissr
• old — *aldaz — Ald · Dark Elven Aldr
• strong — *strangaz — Strang · Dark Elven Szrangr
• world — *weraldaz — Weraldaz · Dark Elven Veraldr

See also: the Vetti · the Hollow