The common
Serphelorian dialect is technically termed
‘Sertharian’ by scholars. It is marked out from other
Santharian tribal dialects
by its gestural component; its sound is much less distinctive than most
dialects, due to the Serphelorians' long history of mixing with other tribes.
The old Sophronian tongue has died out in the centuries since the unification of
Santharia, but words once of that language are often peppered through
Serphelorian speech.
Sertharian Dialect.
Serphelorians
can have quite different accents, depending on what area the speaker comes from.
Their Tharian has the more delicate, cultured sounding
New-Santhalan acccent in those who
live within the Rimmerins Ring and in some larger towns, and is more
heavy-sounding in other areas.
While their accent can vary,
Serphelorians
are easily told apart from the other tribes who mingle in Sanguia by their
emphatic gesturing. Nods, hand-waving, eye-rolling, head-waggling, arm-waving,
table-thumping, stamping, and any number of more specific, and often less polite
gestures are used to emphasise their stories and speech. This marked gestural
element to is thought to be linked to the important part many different acted
performances of past events play in
Serphelorian
festivals.
Tharian in
Serphelorian
areas is also often interspersed with
Sophronian
words, especially in the army. Only a few scholars know that language now, but
words dealing with concepts like weak and strong, and male and female are known
by nearly all
Serphelorians,
and used in place of the Tharian so frequently that it is part of their dialect.
Sertharian is similar to the Centharian dialect in that short sentences are the
norm. The long, illustrative verbiage of the
Avennorians is avoided, and that style of speech is poorly thought of among
Serphelorians.
Qualifications to sentences (for example, 'sort of', or 'in a manner of
speaking') are delivered in separate sentences, often with a joke.
In an odd contrast to their otherwise bawdy, carefree ways,
Serphelorians
tend to be quite careful with titles. One must always call a Kaiarxura or a
vaxytha by her title, unless one seeks to start a fight!

Sophronian Language.
It might surprise readers to know that several phrases in use across
Santharia are actually, in their
original form, from the
Sophronian
language. That wonderful term ‘firth’, which describes one’s significant other,
or in the verb or adjectival form (‘firthing’), describes someone looking for a
short-term significant other, or someone behaving as if they were in rather in
need of a significant other, comes from the Sertharian ‘phaerth’. The title
‘Va’, which is so commonly used by female warriors or unmarried women of
standing, is the Sertharian title for a woman. Even the
Santharian-wide slang ‘xur’, of course
being more or less equivalent to the word ‘fantastic’, comes from the
Serphelorian
custom of tattooing.
These words and more are commonly used in Sertharian speech. A list follows
which may be of assistance to the traveler in lands where this dialect is
spoken.
Vocabulary |
Meaning |
Example |
Feah (fa-EAH), (pl. Faeahz)
|
Man, refers particularly to
Serphelorian men, but can be applied to
all men. |
"That is one handsome faeah." |
Fahn |
Male (pl. fahnz) |
"That is a very fahn thing to say." |
Ja |
Weak, weakling |
"You’re too ja to fight me!" |
Kahimar |
Girl (pl. kahimari) |
"This kahimar will grow into a strong
warrior." |
Kaiarxura |
Respected person (usually a woman) |
"Excuse me Kaiarxura, but may I watch you
train?" |
Katmoh |
The Serphelorian concept that one must
always protect the weak. |
"In the spirit of katmoh, the
Serphelorians of the
Elverground are quite
friendly with the hobbits who
are their neighbours." |
Noeh (Naw-eh) |
Boy |
"Be a good noeh and help your father wash
the clothes." |
Phaerth, phaerthing |
As the Tharian ‘firth’, but can also mean
one's land. When used in regard to a person, it is more commonly use by
women about their men in Sertharian. |
Get off my phaerth!”, “I’ll welcome (or,
‘I’m walking’) my phaerth tonight” (lascivious), “She’s just saying that
’cos she’s phaerthing”. |
Rakciel |
Girl baby: means treasured gift |
"I have named my rakciel Lyzalia." |
Va
(pl. Vai) |
Woman, grown person |
"Vai from Islia will beat vai from the south
at kokdar any day!" |
Vahn |
Female (pl. vahna) |
"Only vahna should be allowed to become
xau-va!" |
Vaxytha |
Wise woman, often in a position of power |
"I joined the
Order of Seyella because
the vaxytha told me I must." |
Xau-va |
Soldier, warrior woman. Mostly a military
term, but can be used for respected non-military warriors. Despite its
gendered nature, this term is used for men as well as women |
Tajain joined the
Order of Seyella and now
he is a xau-va!" |
Xur (slang version) |
Fantastic, awesome, really impressive |
"Wow, I never thought you would be able to
hit that target! That was xur!" |
The
Sophronian
language is surprisingly closely related to
Kuglimz’Seitre. The
word order is thought to be more or less the same, albeit less strict, and there
are some surprising similarities in words across these two language. For
example, the
Sophronian
word for ‘invalid’ – ill or disabled person - was similar to the word the
Kuglimz now use for ‘sheep’. Scholars of language have
speculated that perhaps the lost
Mynian language contained a word which was a precursor to both.
Differentiating papers written in the old
Serphelorian
tongue from works in its northern cousin is quite easy for these researchers,
however. Hyphens are used to form compound words instead of apostrophes and,
tellingly, words tied to concepts of battle, morality, and religion are quite
different across the two languages.
Below can be found a list of some of the words which have been preserved by
scholars. Many are deductions from currently used words; others have a firmer
foundation, having been found in historical documents which were written in both
the
Sophronian
language, and the Glandorian tongue of the
Serphelorians’ allies, the Avennorians. Others
still are words recently fallen out of use, or recorded by different
elven tribes as the
Sophronians
made their long journey down the continent of
Sarvonia millennia ago.

Ar |
Past-suffix
(sort of like –ed)
|
Afael |
Others, in
the sense of an outside group. |
Avari’afael
|
Short for
Aviaria-jou-afael: tribe of the Aviaria. Thought to be the precursors to
the Aerpheronians, although given their use of the word ‘Aviaria’, they
may have been elves. |
Beinxau |
Sister |
Bvil
|
Arm |
Chrond |
Agreement |
Chrondra |
Symbol of
agreement |
Ceryas |
Roaming,
searching |
Eb |
Covering
|
Faeah (fa-EAH) |
Man |
Fahn |
Male |
H |
No such
letter in Sophronian, except as part of the combination ‘ph’) |
Ja
|
Weak,
weakling |
Jaeb |
Weakling
covering |
Jaesap |
Belonging,
indicating ownership |
Jeinar(z) |
Daughter(s) |
-jou |
Means ‘of’,
and is positioned after a noun. Indicates belonging, like ..’s in
Tharian. |
Je |
Used to
denote having potential. New army recruits are called xau-je (although
privately some officers call many of them xau-ja!) |
Jakat |
Means
something like ‘protector’, but in a more active, aggressive sense |
Jakat-jou-zaek |
Lands of the
Jakat |
Jakatya |
Weak
threat-killing thing – set of actions to protect the weak, or more
loosely, war dance |
Kat
|
To kill a
threat, to protect in a very active, agressive sense |
|
|
Kaiar |
Proven |
Kai |
Strong |
Kahimar |
Girl |
Khazi (sg.
kha) |
Fingers
|
Moeah |
Wounded, invalid, sick, incapable |
Noar |
Port or port town. |
Noeh (norh-eh) |
Boy |
PHelor |
City,
particularly capital or major cities |
Phael |
They |
Phaek |
Them |
Rakciel |
Girl baby
(means treasured gift) |
Rond |
Tame (verb) |
Rond-afael |
Others who
tame: Eyelians |
Ser |
Around, from
Serphelorian – Serphelor means from the city; ‘ian’ was added later by
Thiaran speakers, like most tribes’ names. |
Sophronia-bvili-kat |
Protected by
the arms of Sophronia |
Tarranoar |
Tarra’s port
town |
Va |
Woman, grown
person |
Vahn |
Female |
Xur
|
Means any
light silvery blue. Is also slang for awesome (applied to person,
particularly women; e.g.: By
Armeros, Quesvath was one xur lady!) |
Xau |
Warrior |
Ya |
Action, set
of actions, dance (but to convey a dance, this syllable must be paired
with the name of the type of dance, like women’s, men’s, couples’,
energetic, etc.) |
Zaek (pl. zaeka)
|
Land |
Zaek-ceryas |
Roaming-lands |
Zaek-jaesap |
Our lands,
common lands |
Zaek-Sophronia-jou |
Sophronian lands
 |
|