Old Daevite Translator

The study of the languages spoken by the Daevites is very much unique in the field of historical linguistics. Many aspects of Daevite culture, their language included, were seemingly developed completely independently from any other culture known to us. As such, the Old Daevite language is remarkably different from all of its neighbours, and is classified as a linguistic isolate. Regardless, many historical isolates are known and studied by modern linguistics. The most major difference between Daevite and other languages is the way in which the language evolved over time. Much like other aspects of Daevite culture, their language changed and diverged remarkably little over its long written history.
Historical Daevite inscriptions are generally divided, somewhat arbitrarily, into the following four languages:
Vowels: • Front . Close = i /i/ . Mid = e /e/ . Open = a /a/ • Back . Close = u /u/ . Mid = o /o/ . Open = á /ɒ/
The following diphthongs4 are attested:
• Initial a . Final u = au /a͡u/ . Final o = ao /a͡o/ . Final e = ae /a͡e/ . Final i = ai /a͡i/
• Initial e . Final u = eu /e͡u/ . Final á = eá /e͡ɒ/
• Initial i . Final o = io /i͡o/ . Final á = iá /i͡ɒ/
Consonants: • Labial . Nasal = m /m/ . Stop = p /p/ b /b/ . Ejective Stop = . Fricative = f /ɸ/ . Approximant = v /u/ . Lateral =
• Alveolar . Nasal = n /n/ . Stop = t /t/ d /d/ . Ejective Stop = ṭ /tʼ/ . Fricative = s /s/ z /z/ . Approximant = r /ɹ/ . Lateral = l /l/
• Post- Alveolar . Nasal = n /n/ . Stop = t /t/ d /d/ . Ejective Stop = ṭ /tʼ/ . Fricative = s /s/ z /z/ . Approximant = r /ɹ/ . Lateral = l /l/
•Velar . Nasal = . Stop = k /k/ g /g/ . Ejective Stop = ḳ /kʼ/ . Fricative = x /x/ . Approximant = . Lateral =
• Pharyngeal . Nasal = . Stop = . Ejective Stop = . Fricative = h /ħ/ . Approximant = . Lateral =
Phonotactics:
The following phonotactical rules apply in Old Daevite:
The maximum syllable is CVCC. Gemination is only allowed for nasals and stops.
Ejective consonants are not allowed in consonant clusters. If a consonant clusters with an ejective, the consonant is deleted. Voiceless non-ejective stops become aspirated when at the end of a word.
Grammar:
Grammatical Gender:
Quite unusually for a language of Siberia, Old Daevite possessed a thorough grammatical gender (or noun-class) system. This system affected pluralization as well as verb conjugation. When referring to groups containing multiple genders, a hierarchy was employed to determine which gender to use for the whole. The group was always referred to using the "highest" gender contained by it. The genders of the Daevite system are as follows, from highest to lowest in the hierarchy:
• Leading / Open-Form
. Examples: Potniá "Slave-Owner", Urdal "King"
• Conceptual / Coda-Form
. Examples: Tivik "One", Heug "Spirit"
• Animate / A-Form
. Examples: Leux "Child", Hiz "Tree"
• Inanimate / B-Form
. Examples: Hiázai "Tongue", Šeg "Rock"
Noun and adjective declension.
Old Daevite possessed three grammatical numbers - a singular, a plural, and, interestingly, a null or "zero" number not found in any other language of the region. As an example:
• Singular
The singular number is always unmarked. However, nouns in the plural and null numbers are marked with an affix that denotes their number and gender, as is any adjective referring to them. These declensions are as follows:

• Leading . Singular

. Plural

• Conceptual . Singular

. Plural

• Animate . Singular

. Plural

• Inanimate . Singular

. Plural
Possession is, in turn, managed by a completely separate set of suffixes which are marked on the possessee and change according to the gender and person of the possessor. If a plural noun is the possessee, these suffixes are added following the plural suffix.
•1st Person . Singular
•2nd Person . Singular
•3rd Person . Singular
In addition, there existed a simple adjectivizer prefix, á-, which may be used to transform any noun into an adjective. In case of the noun being adjectivized having adjectives itself, those adjectives are also marked with the prefix. For example:
• Noun
• Adjective
Diminutives A rarely-attested system of diminutification existed in Old Daevite. From the few occurrences that exist of it, it seems to have operated by the reduplication of the last vowel and the last consonant in the root. This diminutive form could then be used either derogatorily (as in "urdalal", "little king", attested as a mocking title for an unknown foreign ruler) or endearingly (as in "xaofaof", "little flower", attested as a nickname of a mother to her daughter).
Stop Mutation
Old Daevite included a unique system of stop mutation, based on the relative social standing of the speaker and the listener. This system was not considered to be simple allophony, but rather a core and grammatical part of the language, as is evidenced by these mutations being reflected in the Daevite writing system.
Daevite stop mutation involved shifting all stops in speech to a differet set if the listener was of significantly higher or lower social rank. These two sets being referred to as the High Register and the Low Register respectively, and are contrasted by the neutral Base Register.
Base Register: b, d, g, p, t, k, ṭ, ḳ
High Register: p, t, k, p, ṭ, ḳ, ṭ, ḳ
Low Register: b, d, g, b, d, g, t, k
As an example, the sentence "the king closed the door": Hios satoku urdal
Would be realized in the High Register as: Hios saṭoḳu urtal
And in the Low Register as: Hios sadogu urdal
Verb Conjugation
Verb conjugation in Old Daevite was somewhat complex, with each verb having 50 unique forms based on its number, tense, person, and gender.
The two tenses of Old Daevite were the Future and the Non-Future. The Non-Future was unmarked, while the Future was marked in the Animate, Conceptual, and Leading genders by the suffix -ge. In the Inanimate, this changed to -ke.
The Null number was marked, in both tenses, by the prefix maz-. No person or gender information was encoded in this number.
The person of the verb was encoded using the first consonant of a prefix attached to the verb. For the 1st Person, this consonant was a t, while for the 2nd and 3rd Persons, it was a x and a s respectively.
The vowel of this prefix was determined by both the person and the number of the verb. For the 1st and 2nd Persons, the vowel was i in the Singular and u in the Plural. For the 3rd Person, this vowel was a in the Singular and á in the Plural.
Finally, gender was encoded a few different ways. In the Animate, this was by not attaching any prefix in the Singular 1st Person, and attaching unmarked prefixes in the other conjugations. In the Inanimate, unmarked prefixes are added, and the first consonant of the base verb is geminated if possible.
In the Conceptual, a r is added to the end of the prefix. For verbs in the Leading gender, prefixes are unmarked, while the first vowel of the base verb undergoes a process of mutation wherein it is replaced by a more open vowel. As a and á are completely open vowels, they are unaffected, as are any diphthongs.
Base Vowel: i, u, e, o, a, á
Replaced With: e, o, a, á, a, á
To illustrate, various conjugations of the verb nuxe "to eat" and their translations are presented below.
• Nuxe
Syntax
The general order of sentences and verb phrases in Old Daevite was Object-Verb-Subject. Adjectives were always placed before the nouns they refer to. Somewhat due to the complete lack of any noun cases, this word order was extremely rigid, and materials deviating from it are rare and tend to be much shorter works produced by the lower classes.
It is notable that whenever one is talking of a noun belonging to the Leading gender, it was considered disrespectful to place it in any position in the sentence bar the Subject, in order to maintain their agency. This is reflected in how the Daevites describe both Leading-gender persons or forces they approve of, and those they disapprove of.
Old Daevite completely lacked any form of copula. In order to state equivalence between two nouns, a speaker simply placed one as the object and one as the subject of the sentence. As this carries no tense information, any change of this relationship over time must be specified using an additional sentence.
Old Daevite employed postpositions. Positional phrases were generally placed before their subject, much like adjectives.
Vocabulary
Pronouns:
• 1st Person Singular . Leading
• 2nd Person Singular . Leading
• 3rd Person Singular . Leading
• 1st Person Plural . Leading
• 2nd Person Plural . Leading
• 3rd Person Plural . Leading
• Null
The Null pronoun was primarily used to refer to the nouns the speaker was unaware of. This was particularly useful for forming questions, although the restrictive nature of the pronoun meant Old Daevite questions only accepted nouns as answers, and questions were always phrased appropriately for that restriction. As an example:
Mazšu xinuxe tuza? = What did you eat?
Demonstrative pronouns were formed by adding a demonstrative suffix, -ne, to the end of any existing pronoun.
Nouns: Ṭao = A Human Sacrifice Giáh = A Person Raex = A Religious Sacrifice Teá = Beast, Predatory Animal Reg = Bird Mašai = Blood Kae = Body Adv = Book Xiabbeá = Border Peuv = Bronze Laohor = Cause, Fact, Reason Leux = Child Neuh = Citizen Pádn = City Deaṭ = A Command, an Order Puvḳai = Creator, maker ḲḳṬṭ Daev = a Daeva Hezhum = Desolation, destruction Vaduk = Dominion, Sovereignty Hios = Door Aiktue = Large State, Empire Xaehn = End Faiḳae = Enemy Hiála = Family Bá = Father Kueše = Fellowship, Alliance, Many-Membered, Championship Dauhk = Fire Xaof = Flower Etail = Fool Ḳast = Fruit Peá = God, deity Zeu = Grass Ṭaulo = Grave Imai = Guest Botiáks = a Harvest Teán = Head Taef = Heart Vaon = Home Kiázai = Honor, Respect Kiáth = Horse Urdal = King, Queen, Monarch Gaiḳixel = knife, Dagger Ner = Lack Maopt = Leaf Fiáb = Life Kifenn = Longing Vam = Mother Kaes = Mountain Saro = Moon Tivik = One Aidr = Palace Aok = Place Kao = River Baox = Royal/ Paved Road Iohk = Road Xioṭo = Saliva Nelk = Sarkite Ḳun = Slave Unseg = Snake Deág = Solider Heug = Spirit, Lesser Deity Gai = (water) Spring, Fountain, the Font Geát = stone Daošre = thief, intruder Uṭu = Thing, Product Hiásai = Tongue Hisp = Tree Faen = Vessel, pot Tiálḳ = War Xokau = Wave Ṭeukm = Weapon Ḳioti = A Weight (in the inanimate), Weight (in the conceptual) Vaoš = Wind Aint = Wound Ba = Wrath
Verbs: Dará = To Arrive Tiká = To Battle Tema = To Be Able to Paba = To Be Worth Derá = To Bring Pove = To Call, To Term Bohu = To Capture Toku = To Close Piri = To Conceal, To Cover Dáṭe = To Command Hiorda = To Commend, To Praise Mauš = To Cover (in liquid) Hele = To Cool Tuṭá = To Cut Ṭaši = To Dance Hezu = To Destroy Musu = To Die Tiha = To Do Nuxe = To Eat Ḳofa = To Enslave, To Own Zexa = To Find Fikue = To Greet Pevá = To Grow Vepe = To Ingest (something that is not food, drink, or air), To Intake Viro = To Join Teḳe = To Kill Pone = To Know Duhau = To Light Táki = To List Xáṭe = To March Giho = To Force, To Make (a thing do something) Báli = To Open Ḳefe = To Place Daku = To Retreat Naḳa = To Rule Feve = To Serve, To Care for, To Treat someone Ganu = To Set, To Mark Raxka = To Sacrifice Lági = To See Gusá = To Send Daepá = To Sing Gosa = To Sneeze, To Huff Hizá = To Speak Ṭofi = To Stab, To Strike Zafá = To Take Hihe = To Travel Šozu = To Quieten, To Bleach (in color) Ḳito = To Weigh
Adjectives And Adverbs: Miá = Whole, Entire, All Iárx = Black Tairx = Blue Liomao = Far Murx = Green Beulae = Old, Ancient Ḳuešae = Real, True Sau = Red Vihi = Shining Aifš = High, Great Baih = Weak Taiš = White Laot = Now
Function Words: Ṭá = In, At Mašeza = but, however Aen = For, Because Of Iob = More Šue = Most Meš = No, Non, Not Eá = Towards Maixe = Here Kut = With
Numeral System Daevite reverence of prime numbers, particularly seven, extended into the numeral system used in their language. While it is the opinion of most researchers in the field that the system described here was not the one used by the majority of the Empire's population, it was likely the system used in documentation and high-class speech, and hence is the only Old Daevite numeral system a record of which still exists.
The Old Daevite numeral system was capable of describing any natural number except 1, and was based on prime factorization. This makes the Daevites the earliest known discoverers of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, preceding Euclid's Elements by at least 1,300 years.
As there is an infinite amount of prime numbers, a subsystem existed within Old Daevite in order to describe the position of a prime within the list of prime numbers. This subsystem was heptimal, although 4 and 6 were represented using their prime factors rather than unique digits, and the last number was always a digit, rather than any heptimal number. The general Old Daevite numerical system used 7 digits to represent the first 7 prime numbers, with the rest being formed using the heptimal subsystem. Prime numbers not within the first 7 are distinguished by being written left-to-right, rather than up-to-down like the rest of Daevite writing.
The Daevites likely did not consider 1 to be a number - while a word for it did exist, there existed no digit with its value. Rather, on the rare occasions where 1 is used in surviving Daevite mathematics, the word is spelled out using the usual orthography rather than being represented numerically.
A list of Daevite digits is provided below.
2 = Mán 3 = Tu 5 = Lok 7 = Haḳ 11 = Kafšan 13 = Kaftu 17 = Xafak
The following are examples of various attested numbers written using the system. Note: due to numbers being expressed through multiplication of prime factors, the order in which the digits are written up-to-down is meaningless. Order matters only where prime numbers are written using the heptimal subsystem.
55 = Lok kafšan kut = Five With Eleven
141 = Tu átu mán kut = Three With Third Two
9032 = Mán mán kut mán kut átu tu kut tu kut xafak kut = Two with two with two with three-with-three-with-three-with seventeen
Sentence Examples:

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