Sagamaal (language)

This is a language primarily used by the Sword Worlder culture, throughout the Sword Worlds polity.

• It is a peripheral or minority language.

Description (Specifications)

The common tongue of the Sword Worlds and surrounds. Its name references the intent that it evoke the language of ancient sagas of northern Terra -- or at least an idealised understanding of those cultures.

• Technically there are two languages called Sagamaal. Old Sagamaal was (supposedly) the original common tongue spoken by many of the original Sword Worlds colonists as a second language.
• Modern Sagamaal has become the lingua franca of the region, and over time it has picked up words from other Terran and even the Vilani tongues.
• Modern Sagamaal now has less than 40% of its vocabulary in common with Old Sagamaal.

Structure

No information yet available.

Morphology

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words.

• morpheme, inflection, paradigm, declension, derivation, compound, etc.

Phonology

Phonology, the study of the sound systems of a language.

• phoneme, allophone, segment, mora, syllable, foot, stress, tone, etc.

Grammar

Grammar is the structure of a language.

• tense, aspect, mood and modality, grammatical number, grammatical gender, case, etc.

Modifiers:

• en- : "A", used as a prefix for the word to which it relates. Enman: "a man".

• -en: "The", used as a suffix for the word to which it relates. Manen: "the man".

• -i: Indicates that a noun is being used as an adjective. Blodi: "bloody".

• kin-: A general negator, used in situations where un-, dis-, anti- or im- would be used in Galanglic. Also used to mean "not" or "no", though it is a separate word instead of a prefix in this case. For example, Kin Roekning: "No Smoking".

• -nir: Makes a noun plural. Mannir: "Men".

• -s: Indicates the possessive. Holgers: "Holger's"

Syntax

Syntax is the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences.

• phrase, clause, grammatical function, grammatical voice, etc.

Meaning

No information yet available.

Lexicology

A lexicon is the word supply of a language.

• word, lexeme, lemma, lexicon, vocabulary, terminology, etc.

See Sagamaal Lexicon

Semantics

Semantics is the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences.

• meaning, sense, entailment, truth condition, compositionality, etc.

Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of how language is used by its speakers.

• presupposition, implicature, deixis

Lexicon

• Alt: "Old"

• Altikrigarnir: "Old Soldiers". An organization for former Sword Worlder and Darrian Aslan soldiers, which acts as an informal liaison between the Sword World Confederation and the Darrians.

• Alv: "River"

• Atte: "Eight"

• Attemunni: "Eightmouths"; primary marine lifeforms of Joyeuse (Spinward Marches 1123).

• Avbryt: "Break up"

• Bedrif: "Enterprise, accomplishment"

• Berg: "Mountain"

• Bistand: "Help"

• Bistar: To help

• Blae: "Blue"

• Bok: "Book"

• Borg: "City"

• By: "City", see also Borg

• Dag: "Day"

• Djur: "Animal"

• En: "One"

• Faa: "Few"

• Falsstjarnnir: "Rim Stars"

• Farkost: "Ship"

• Fem: "Five"

• Fimbulvinter: The period between the end of the War of the First Rebellion in -88 and the reestablishment of interstellar contact among the Sword Worlds in -11. It was named after a three-year winter with no summers from Norse mythology.

• Fjarr: "Far"

• Fjarren Benen: "The Far Leg"; The worlds from Gram through Tyrfing and Sacnoth then on to Narsil.

• Fjernt: "Far away"

• Forbund: "Association"

• Fraende: "Kinsman”

• Frid og Fremgang Partiren: "The Peace and Progress Party"

• Fridrottaevlan (Freed-roht-taiv-lahn): An ancient and traditional festival of sports, open to all Sword Worlders; the Confederation's version of the Old Terran Olympics. The event is held once every four years.

• Furetag: "Company, enterprise"

• Fyra: "Four"

• Gaard: "Farm"

• Genfoedsel (genn-foh-edd-sell): "Rebirth"

• Gramihandelsbanken: "Gram Merchant Bank". By far the largest investment bank in the Sword Worlds.

• Gramstaatsbedrif: A merchant line established by the government of Gram just after the Third Frontier War.

• Gramutlandshaer: Roughly, the "Foreign Army of Gram"

• Greve: Noble rank; roughly, "Count". Plural: grevenir. Indicates a hereditary nobleman associated with a local district.

• Groen: "Green"

• Haestskoen: "The Horseshoe". The string of worlds from Gram through Tizon, then looping around to Gungnir.

• Haen: "Hand" (hayn)

• Herre: Formal master (hay-reh)

• Hertug: "Duke"; plural, hertugnir. The title of hertug was originally granted to the hereditary governor of an entire world. The hertugnir served only as heads of state, and were required to share power with nonhereditary heads of government. However, at some point in Sword Worlds history many of the hertugnir became effective monarchs in their own right; in present-day Sword Worlds society, the title is often equivalent to "king".
  • The Sword Worlders developed two titles for hertugnir of unusual power or prestige: Storhertug or "Grand Duke", and Erkehertug, which is usually translated as "Archduke".

• Hr: "Mister", formal address (hayr)

• Hus: "House" (hyoos)

• Huvud: "Head" (hyoo-vood)

• Ili: An affirmative (eel-ee)

• Jarl: "Earl". (plural: jarlnir). This title originated as a Scandinavian word for powerful independent nobles who were not quite of royal rank. The title was adopted during a period of political upheaval in the Sword Worlds, when a number of petty nobles wished to indicate their independent status.

• Kenningsboken (kehn-eengz-boh-kehn): This book of spiritual wisdom is much like a guide to traditional living and became quite popular throughout the Sword Worlds.

• Kill: Negative (keel)

• Kjede og Galge: "Chains and gallows". Many Sword Worlds restrict capital punishment and instead substitute menial servitude as a legal penalty.

• Kort: "Short" (kohrt)

• Kulturhistoriskt Forbund: "Foundation for [the Preservation of] Cultural History."

• Kvaell: "Evening" (kah-VAYLL)

• Land: Dry land (lahnd)

• Lille: "Little" (leel-leh)

• Ljus: "Light" (lyoos)

• Luffar: A member of a poorly regarded ethnic group found in segregated neighbourhoods on many Sword Worlds. Plural: Luffarnir. Originally forcibly removed from Biter during Spredning (the first of the "Biter Atrocities") to a life of servitude in Hofud's empire, these enslaved Biters weren't returned to their homeworld when Hofud was later defeated. They eventually spread across Sword Worlder space.

• Luft: "Air" (looft)

• Mana: "Many" (mah-nah)

• Mark: "Field" (mahrk)

• Mat: "Food" (maht)

• Metal: "Metal" (may-TAHL)

• Naera: "Near" (nay-rah)

• Namn: "Name" (nah-men)

• Nat: "Night" (naht)

• Ned: "Down" (nayd)

• Ni: "Yes", little-emphasis (nee)

• Niu: "Nine" (NEE-yoo)

• Norr: "North" (nohr)

• Nul: "Zero" (nool)

• Ny: "New" (nai)

• Oega: "Eye" (AH-gah)

• Oel: "Beer"

• Ost: "East" (Ohst)

• Planet: "Planet" (plah-NAYT)

• Plante: "Plant" (PLAHN-teh)

• Reikistjarna: Stellar body (raik-EES-yarn-ah)

• Reikistjarnahalle: "The Hall of Planets"; the reception hall of the former palace of the Emperors of Tizon. Now open to the public, the hall is famous for its beautiful three-dimensional renditions of the planets under the control of the Tizon Empire when it was commissioned.

• Roed: "Red" (rahd)

• Roedwehr. "Red Clothes". A brightly crimson-hued jumpsuit adorned with extravagant ribbons and fringe-flairs, traditionally worn on Aesirist holidays. It is a point of masculine pride to wear roedwehr into battle.

• Rumhamm: "Starport" (room-hahmn)

• Saltsaar: The "Salt Sowing" (sahlt-SAH-ahr)

• Seks: "Six" (sehks)

• Sju: "Seven" (syoo)

• Skow: "Forest", "woods" (skohv)

• Sol: "Sun"

• Spredning: "Scattering"

• Spring: "Jump" (spreeng)

• Staat: "State" (stah-aht)

• Stjarn: "Star" (ste-yahm)

• Stor: "Big" (stohr)

• Suthri: "Information"

• Svaerdgambul: Plastic dice imprinted with symbols and letters from the Sagamaal alphabet; used for gambling.

• Svaerdbo: Sword Worlder (svayrd-bo)

• Svaerdbonir: Sword Worlder Populace (svayrd-bo-neer)

• Svaerdverdeniren: The Sword Worlds (svayrd-vehr-dehn-eer-en)

• Svart: "Black" (svahrt)

• Syd: "South" (syeed)

• Thing: Governmental legislative body (tihng)

• Tiu: "Ten" (tee-oo)

• Trae: "Wood", "lumber" (tray)

• Traed: “Tree” (trayd)

• Tre: "Three" (treh)

• Tve: "Two" (the-veh)

• Un: "Lone" (oon)

• Unvulfen (Oon-vool-fenn): An ancient Aesirist practice that translates to "lone wolf". It is common for a dishonoured Sword Worlder male to leave on an interplanetary -- potentially interstellar -- quest for personal enlightenment and glory.

• Upp: "Up" (OOP)

• Vaen: "Friend", "ally" (VAY-ehn)

• Vaext: "Plant" (VAY-ekst)

• Valkyrjar: A rumored anti-Imperial terrorist organization, operating throughout the Sword Worlds Subsector and especially within the Border Worlds. The name apparently refers to the Valkyries of ancient Norse myth.

• Vatten: "Water" (VAH-tehn)

• Vest: "West" (vehst)

• Vit: "White" (veet)

• Vulf: "Wolf" (voolf)

History & Background (Historical Linguistics)

With a few exceptions -- on Enos, particularly, and some subcultures on other planets -- Sword Worlder names borrow the old Scandinavian tradition of using patronymics or matronymics. This name is formed by taking either the father’s or the mother’s name and appending either -sen or -son, in the case of a son, or -daller or -dottir, in the case of a daughter. The family name comes after this. Thus, Ingrid Rolfsdottir Ravn is Ingrid, daughter of Rolf, of the family Ravn. The choice of which parent the name is taken from depends on various social factors.

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This language is primarily in use in the following areas:

• Sword Worlds

References & Contributors (Sources)

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This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Paul Drye, Hans Rancke-Madsen, Robert Prior. Sword Worlds (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 96-97.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science