Acacius of Amida

I recently discovered the existence of a rather wonderful personage named Acacius of Amida. He lived one and a half millenia ago, and yet his actions resonate with me deeply.

Seeing the plight of 7,000 starving and poorly clothed Persian prisoners of war, he- the bishop of Amida- turned to his fellows and spoke-

(Original - Sandic - Gloss)

"Our God, my brethren, needs neither dishes nor cups; for He neither eats nor drinks, nor is in want of anything. Since then, by the liberality of its faithful members the Church possesses many vessels both of gold and silver, it behooves us to sell them, that by the money thus raised, we may be able to redeem the prisoners and also supply them with food."

---

"Yjae frn jwr aww, lëé ta kadan me, ân depabin wî giamjébin baneot ham; iné jwr aww baneot koe wî baneot dam, wî faé ba hamnia baneot ahl. Skra xammeadian jébi otora erin ta ialthkan depabin wî giamjébin oahl icin wî albain, ma gamiai batara ân otiab otawwtalé, ân dék op otawwma ta dîjjckanian ân ototahl uxniasain, wî ân dék op otawwtade damdabin ân otian ora."

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"I speak of our God, o brothers, about the fact that it does not need plates and bowls; behold, our God does not drink or eat, and it lacks for nothing. Because so many plates and bowls of silver and gold have been given to our church by its members, it is gamia that we should sell them and use the money to cause the warriors to be freed, and that we should use the money to acquire food for them."

---

And thus he sold all of the gold and silver of the sacred relics of his church, and using the money fed and clothed 7,000 men who- to him, at least- were strangers.

New words:
giamjé, plate- ultimately from kéamjé, leaf.

Other words:
I ended up redefining alé and adding another meaning for ade for this text.

alé once meant "to buy", but now it means "to sell".

ade means "to take, to accept", and now also means "to buy, to acquire".

I've noticed a few of my words (frn, ba, ade, kaja) seem to be accumulating a lot of new meanings as time goes on. It's kind of fun, because now they're multi-purpose and unique. :)

A fian neotab axmî

This is an older song that I came up with one night some time ago. It's short but worth saving, I guess. I'm posting it here because I got tired of the piece of paper that I'd written it on floating around my bedroom. I can't clean up with all these scraps lying around!

It's a simple song and an even simpler melody. I can't remember if there was a girl that this was actually about- or whether it was spontaneously written.

Lyrics: A fian neotab axmî

atian exbas skra aen ae
atian exbas skra aen ae

pal gol me neotab axmî
pal onj me neotab axmî

wî ejj atian exbas a
rial neotab axmî

pal gol me neotab axmî...

Translation: But she didn't say anything

I asked about her smile
I asked about her smile
Behind me, she said nothing
Beside me, she said nothing

And I asked her again, but

Behind me, she said nothing...

Fossil fun

I went to visit some relatives in Massachusetts for about a week. During that week, we went to a nature preserve, watched my mom get married... and swam in a lake! As we were leaving said lake, I happened to stoop over and snag a funny-looking brown rock.

It wasn't until we got home that I realized what an awesome find it was. It's a fossilized little skull, no longer than my thumb!

Now I've never to my knowledge owned a fossil before- so of course this set some wheels in my brain churning. How to even talk about this thing in Sandic? I had no words similar to it other than perhaps "stone/rock"- "pela".

Some people in #conlang started suggesting things and the following conversation ensued:

[23:03:54] [bornfor> So, I'm trying to create a word for "fossil".
[23:04:11] [bornfor> Apparently "fossil" in English is from a root meaning "to dig", "to unearth"- So something dug up.
[23:05:22] [bornfor> But I want the word meaning specifically "fossilized bones/creatures/plants".
[23:10:54] tnelsond continues to ignore bornfor 
[23:11:08] bornfor waves.
[23:11:20] [tnelsond> How about fossil could be something like "solidify" or "cacooned"
[23:11:35] [Uiri> or pre-oil
[23:12:06] [tnelsond> Uiri: you're assuming sandicians believe that fossils turned into oil.
[23:12:09] [bornfor> I was thinking going "lives in stone"
[23:12:18] [Uiri> yes
[23:12:26] Klisz [~Klisz@c-67-161-147-186.hsd1.co.comcast.net] has joined ##conlang
[23:12:35] [Uiri> bornfor: related to statue?
[23:13:17] [bornfor> I had a word for statue.
[23:13:18] [bornfor> hmm
[23:13:20] [bornfor> zintela
[23:13:27] [bornfor> But that's unrelated.
[23:13:41] [bornfor> That's zint + (p)ela = "cut stone"
[23:14:35] [bornfor> mectela, then, I suppose.
[23:14:39] [Uiri> hmm
[23:14:43] [Uiri> what is mect?
[23:14:50] [tnelsond> How about you just use the same word for "mummy" or "burial"?
[23:14:53] [bornfor> to live, to reside, to make one's home at.
[23:14:58] [Uiri> ah
[23:14:58] [bornfor> I don't have a word for mummy.
[23:15:09] [Uiri> wouldn't that be cave?
[23:15:11] [bornfor> And I'm not sure they'd make the connection between stone remains and mummified remains.
[23:15:17] [bornfor> No, cave is uhhhh
[23:15:40] [bornfor> cave is tekal
[23:15:53] [bornfor> "the thing which was cut/removed"
[23:15:58] [bornfor> Like "hole in the mountain".
[23:16:17] [Uiri> ahh
[23:17:20] [bornfor> Haha
[23:17:32] [bornfor> So the word "archaeologist" would be "mectelém"
[23:17:36] [bornfor> :D
[23:17:40] [bornfor> \o/
[23:17:46] [bornfor> Thank you for your help, Uiri.
[23:20:32] [Uiri> np
[23:20:36] [Uiri> 'tis what I do
[23:21:09] [bornfor> Indeed!
[23:21:18] [bornfor> san mectelan - archaeology
[23:21:24] [bornfor> Oh, I'm in a good mood now.
[23:21:28] [bornfor> This opens up all kinds of things.
[23:21:51] tnelsond buries all those kinds of things.
[23:22:37] [Uiri> lol
[23:22:56] tnelsond puts on a fedora and a bullwhip and starts digging the things back up to sell for lots of money.
[23:23:00] [bornfor> Haha
[23:23:28] [bornfor> fel mectelai - a fossil plant.
[23:23:29] [bornfor> :D
[23:23:45] [bornfor> ankoâ mectelai = fossil animal.
[23:23:51] [bornfor> yact mectelai = fossil bone
[23:23:52] [bornfor> :D

Thus, I have my new word, mectela! Thank you guys in #conlang. You definitely aren't a bunch of kilún mectelain (fossil heads).