ConLang Corner: Fan in Episode 12

[skylarkrogers]

There's a scene in Episode 12 that's partly in Fan. I rendered it in English for the main narrative, but here's the version with the Fan, and a breakdown of the language stuff:

            Illa felt Gabriel's presence as the man came near. That familiar hand reaching for his throat, promising violence. Illa leaned his head back, making himself vulnerable. Inviting.

            And felt the sickening touch of a steel blade, held as threat against his jugular.

            "Yi tin kuku burr," Gabriel said.

            Shit. "Full stop," Illa said. Their "this scene needs to end right now" safeword. Illa raised his hands, like a human would to show surrender. "Don't know what you're speaking, Sir, but I asked for no knife-play."

           "Not a game, Rhett," Gabriel said, voice taut with barely-controlled rage.

            What would Rhett be thinking? "Don't know what Malachi's done today, Sir, but it wasn't my doing. I haven't talked to anyone."

            "We'll see about that." And then, "Kuku vitinil gamuh, raso yi vimil ferrchun huamal kukun shaf, raso isar tyekel kukun dudur." Which would likely kill a fae, this close to vital arteries, to the head and heart. Changed the risk calculation. Damn it all.

            "Bon tinilg yi," Illa said.

            The knife fell away from Illa's throat.

 

"Yi tin kuku burr."

Lit. "I know your cry."

Fig. "I know what you are."

Yi: I/me

Tin: know

K*k*: you (addressing an animal)

Kiki (animal that is cute or a pet or that you're trying to draw near you or that is doing well)

Kaka (animal that is intimidating, dangerous or misbehaving)

Kuku (animal that has hidden itself somewhere it isn't supposed to be)

Burr: [an animal's] cry/call

 

"Kuku vitinil gamuh, raso yi vimil ferrchun huamal kukun shaf, raso isar tyekel kukun dudur."

"If you don't respond, I'm going to break your skin with this knife, and let the iron poison your blood."

Vitinil: to tell/teach

Vi-: to plan/desire to

Tin: know

-[m]*l: (turns a *-verb transitive); to cause

. . . gamuh, raso . . .: if not . . . then . . .

. . . ga, aso . . .: if . . . then . . .

-[m]uh: not (negator for a-verbs)

Vimil: to want to, to intend to

Ferrchun: iron/steel knife

Ferr: iron ("ferr" and "isar" are both words for iron-based substances; their use as affixes varies; both are loan words from human languages)

Tchun: knife

Huamal: to breach [something], to open a hole in the wall of something, to cut, etc.

Hua: breach, for a hole to open in the wall of something, e.g. a dam, a ward, skin

Kukun: your (addressing a sneaky animal)

-n: (possessive marker); 's

Shaf: skin

Tyekel: to blacken, to make something turn black

Tyek: to turn black as if by fire

Dudur: blood (inside of or seeping out of a living body; there's a different word for blood in a corpse or for blood that's been completely separated from a body)

 

"Bon tinilg yi."

Lit. "You told me."

Fig. "I understood you."

Bon: you (addressing a person)

Tinilg: told/taught (lit. caused to know)

-g: (past tense marker)