Myr'idic

A Digital Primer

Overview

Welcome to Myr'idic, a meticulously crafted conlang designed to express nuance, emotion, and action with the efficiency of a scientist and elegance of a mystic. At its core, Myr'idic is a modular morphosyntatic language where communication is built from root vocabulary known as Cirquills.

Word Structure

Cirquills can almost always be compared to nouns in English. The vocabulary of Myr'idic is composed entirely of different patterns of cirquills. When written, a cirquill looks like a circular sigil that is formed by combining string-like patterns of runes around the circumference. These patterns are called the warp. They are inscribed over the circular base of the cirquill called the weft. The warp behave like letters in English, informing the sound of the cirquill. The cirquill, like words, are linked together by their weft to form a weave, which is the Myr'idic equivalent of a sentence.

Myr'idic is written and read as a fractal spiral, in clockwise fashion, smallest to largest. The warp forms the sound of the cirquill, and they in turn form the concept of the weave.

Cirquills are enhanced by tethers. In the written language, a tether is a layer of warp through wefts attached above or below the primary word. Typically, the top (prefixed) tether functions like an adjective, giving descriptive qualities to the word. The bottom (suffixed) tether changes the core meaning of the word in a specific way. For example, the cirquill for 'night,' nyth, could have the tethered prefix for 'cloud,' lar, which transforms the cirquill into lar'nyth, meaning 'misty night.' It is possible for a cirquill to have long weft on either end that can add greater nuance.

Even the word Myr'idic is a tethered word. It combines the tether of myr meaning 'enchanting' and the cirquill of idic, meaning 'language'. However, flipping the tether myr to the cirquill changes the word from 'enchanting' to 'woman.' Since this is the core word, idic becomes the suffixed tether—a transformative word meaning 'the art of communication.' Therefore, Myr'idic could also be translated as 'the art of women's speech.' There is a lot of opportunity for wordplay using the placement of the main cirquill in a complete word.

Another great example of this interplay in action is the word for 'good night's rest,' ga'shael'nyth'serai, which combines the cirquills ga (completion), shael (sleep), nyth (night), and serai (hospitality). In English, this would be literally translated as 'the welcoming feeling of night's completed sleep.'

You'll notice that Myr'idic, as it is written in English, cirquill and their tethers are separated with an apostrophe. This is for the ease of agglutinative interpretation of the complete word. This is especially helpful with larger words.

Temporal Tethers

A temporal tether gives a cirquill the context of performing action within a specific time reference. This acts like the mechanics of verbs and the conjugations thereof in English and many other languages. Myr'idic has 21 temporal tethers, but fortunately, does not require conjugates.

When a cirquill is paired with a temporal tether, they are often not paired with other tethers except in advanced Myr'idic literature and formal oration.

We will use the cirquill shaar which means 'door' or 'portal' with each temporal tether, combined with the possessive ta, meaning 'it (singular)' to show how this works with simple sentences.

Present simple

Ta shar'ar ('It passes through')

Ava

Present perfect

Ta shar'ava ('It has passed through')

Avair

Future perfect

Ta shar'avair ('It will have passed through')

Elvan

Past remote

Ta shar'elvan ('It passed through long ago')

Eten

Past continuous

Ta shar'eten ('It was passing through')

Even

Past perfect continuous

Ta shar'even ('It had been passing through')

Felven

Hypothetical

Ta shar'felven ('It might pass through')

Iren

Future continuous

Ta shar'iren ('It will be passing through')

Thellen

Counterfactual

Ta shar'thellen ('It would have passed through')

Valien

Prospective

Ta shar'valien ('It is probably going to pass through')

Yan

Timeless/universal

Ta shar'yan ('It has always passed through')

Aren

Present continuous

Ta shar'aren ('It is passing through')

Aven

Present perfect continuous

Ta shar'aven ('It has been passing through')

Avenir

Future perfect continuous

Ta shar'avenir ('It will have been passing through')

Past simple

Ta shar'et ('It passed through')

Eva

Past perfect

Ta shar'eva ('It has passed through')

Felve

Ultimatum

Ta shar'felve ('It must pass through')

Future simple

Ta shar'ir ('It will pass through')

Miir

Inceptive

Ta shar'miir ('It begins to pass through')

Tyren

Future immediate

Ta shar'tyren ('It is about to pass through')

Viron

Iterative

Ta shar'viron ('It passes through cyclically')

Basic Infinitive

Shar'is ('to pass through')

Modifiers

Modifiers are singular bits of warp along the weft that can either slightly or greatly change the meaning of a weave in Myr'idic. They are statement markers that denote inflection, emphasis, directives, or modify an idea completely.

Dar ['dar' like "dart"]

Inverse meaning

Ta shar'yan-dar ('It never passes through.')

Vus ['vOOs']

A drawing from within, summoning (a power)

Shon'is-vus ma lae-diir ('Repair my sight, I bring forth')

Pos ['poss' like "possible"]

Polite request or invitation

Pos-ta shar'is ('Please, you, pass through.')

Dareq [Combination of 'dar' and 'eq']

Inverse with emphasis

Ta shar'ir-dareq ('It will definitely not pass through!')

Yue ['yeugh' (back of throat)]

Diminished importance or weakness

Ta shar'ar-yue ('It barely passes through.')

Em ['em' as in "emancipate"]

Pluralization

Ca-shar'em ('The doors.')

Qua ['kwa' like the middle of "squabble"]

Basic interrogative

Ta shar'iren-qua ('It will be passing through, yes?')

Tuz ['tOOse' like "two" and the end of "whose"]

A reinforcement of demand

Tuz-ta shar'felve ('Do now, you must pass through')

Eq ['ec' as in "ectoplasm"]

Emphasis/intensification

Ta shar'aren-eq ('It is definitely passing through!')

Teq ['tek' (like "Tequatl")]

Contradition or correction

Ta shar'ar-teq ('Actually, it passes through.')

Lae ['lay']

Ownership

Ta lae-shar ('Its door.')

Conjunctions

Conjunctions, like modifiers, are bits of warp along the weave independent of cirquills, used to build complex meaning within the language. In the next examples, we will use the cirquills ith meaning 'control/master' and ipan meaning 'divide.'

Kus ['kOOs']

And

Ta-ith'ar kus ipan'ar ('It controls and divides.')

Wos ['woss']

But

Ta-ipan'ar wos ith'is-dar ('It divides but doesn't control.)

Da (used only with dar) ['da' like from 'dart']

Nor/neither

Ta-ith'ar-dar da ipan'ar ('It neither controls, nor divides.')

Nos ['noss']

Unless

Ta-ith'ar nos ipan'ar ('It controls unless it divides.')

Pos ['poss']

When

Ta-ith'ar pos ipan'ar ('It controls when it divides.')

Va ['vah' like "varnish"]

Ca-ith va ipan. ('The mastery of division.')

Hil ['hEEl']

Until

Ta-ith'ar hil ipan'ar ('It controls until it divides.')

Zil ['zeal']

Whether

Ta-ith'ar zil ipan'ar ('It controls whether it divides.')

Fae ['fay']

As long as / provided that

Ta-ith'ar fae ipan'ar ('It controls as long as it divides.')

A ['ah' like from "art"]

Ipan a ith. ('Division is control.')

Is ['is' like from "Izzy"]

To (also denotes basic infinitive of root)

Ipan ith'is ('Divide to control.')

Xos ['choss']

By / via

Ta-ipan'ar xos ith'ar ('It divides by controlling.')

Us ['OOs']

With

Ta-ith'ar us ipan ('It controls with division.')

Dus ['dOOs']

Not

Ta-ith'ar dus ipan'ar ('It controls, not divides.')

Kros ['cross']

Ta-ith'ar kros ipan'ar ('It controls if it divides.')

Os ['oss']

Ta-ith'ar os ipan'ar ('It controls or divides.')

Pros ['pross']

Where

Ta-ith'ar pros ipan'ar ('It controls where it divides.')

Prin ['prEEn']

Therefore / thus / next,then

Ta-ipan'ar pryn ith'ar ('It divides, therefore controls.')

Hin ['hEEn']

Within / in

Ta-ipan'ar hin ta-ith ('It divides within its control.')

Ril ['reel']

While / during

Ta-ith'ar ril ipan'ar ('It controls while it divides.')

Tae ['tay']

So that / in order to

Ta-ipan'ar tae ith'ar ('It divides so that it controls.')

Ca ['ca' like from "car"]

The / specific instance of

Ca-ipan ith'ar. ('The division controls.')

Xae ['chay']

From

Ta-ith'ar xae ipan ('It controls from division.')

Sis ['sis' as in "sister"]

Through

Ta-ipan'ar sis ith ('It divides through control.')

Possessives

Possessives describe ownership or association with a weave. In Myr'idic, possessive markers are warp sitting on the weft independent from cirquills. They are used to indicate who or what something belongs to. These possessives function similarly to possessive pronouns in English (e.g., my, your, their), but they are embedded directly into the structure of the language.

We will use the cirquill shael meaning 'sleep' in the examples:

Ma - Addressing or referring to onesself.
Mem - Plural with a group encompassing onesself.
Ya - Singular 'you' to directly address an individual.
Yem - Plural 'you' as in 'you all' to address a group.
Ja - Singular 'they' for a specific individual.
Jem - Plural 'they' for a group of individuals.
Ta - Singular 'it' for an inanimate object or abstraction.
Tem - Plural 'it' or 'they' for a group of inanimate objects or abstraction.

Note: Myr'idic does not make a distinction between masculine or feminine in possessive pronouns, but one might use myr and ryn for descriptive reinforcement. For example, jem'myr ('those women') or ja'ryn ('that man').

Vocabulary

Phrases in the Books (WARNING: Spoilers)

Shon’is-vus ma'lae diir’nyth.
Power within, reinforce my night sight.

Lyk'is-vus ca-lepu'kael.

Power within, illuminate the precise path.

Voss’is-vus ca-drav'forin'em. Tem avor’felve eq!

Power within, nullify the heaviness of the containers! They must rise!

Syr'is-vus ca-lit'kael mem va ca-kris'thal.

Power within, navigate us to the precise location of the crystal dagger.

Zem'zar

Strong hand

Lira'is-vus ca-prisil'ica'nyth'em.

Power within, reveal the hidden magical runes.

Nyf'is-vus ja'torna'saan.

Power within, obscure the inside of his/her cloak.

Kris’sen’qarat

Crystalline Knowledge Repository ('Crystal Archives')

Helith'is-vus ca-prisili'felos-eq!

Power within, detonate the magical trap!

Ta-hin halvir’yana.

It [resides] within a pocket dimension.

Helith’arin’zorath

Explosive sunbeam

Pos-ma waz’felve-vus zen'fyn va ca-halvir’yana.

Power within, I must open a boundary fissure of the pocket dimension.

Pos-yem karin'is kris'thal hin ca-ica'shar'nat. Prin, ca-shar waz’ir.

You all, please, position a crystal dagger into the center of the glyphic door lock. Then, the door will open.

Prisili’kar. In-a. Ca-shar waz'tyren.

Magical transference. Acceptable (literally: "yes is"). The door is about to open.

Ca-gar'zanek. Pos-yem zorath'is sis ca-shar.

The operation has finished. You all, please, proceed forward through the door.

Evi'serai is Kris'sen'qarat.

Welcome to the Crystal Archives.

Pos-yem'bas ryven'felve is ca-cov'enn.

Please, you two must move with haste to the Myr'ides chamber (literally: "transcendent gathering").

Xynor’irin ['chai-NOOR EAR-EEn' (underline tongue roll)]

(Literally: "Hope of change") An expression of lamentation in stagnation or status quo, and a desire to move toward the inevitability of change that occurs over long cycles of time.

Ya sen’is Myr’idic qua? Ma sen'is scoi'idic wos'ma ryth'is-dar us ith.

You know Myr'idic? I know a little language, but I do not speak it with mastery.

Hoc-a. Pos-ma kar’ir ya onavi’idic’sen.

Unacceptable (literally: "no is"). If you please, I will transfer your foreign language knowledge [to me].

Ma thos’yan-ya shae’onac eq!

I will always hate you, fraudulent mother!

Shon'is-vus ja-ouw'zen. Ouw'is-dar, ouw'is-dar.

Power within, repair his/her wound. Cause no pain, cause no pain.

The witches' names also stem from Myr'idic roots:

Kulshedra (Kul'sheda'ra), 'cherished first dragon'
Velthera (Vell'ther'ra), 'beloved of reverent chaos'
Nicuris (Nyf'kyu'ryth), 'the sound of a disembodied whisper'
Morvanys (Morr'vanys), 'sorrowful plinth'
Zoryth (Zhor'ryth), 'the sound of danger'
Olyndra (Olyn'dara), 'approaching rain'