Ombesh
Ombesh is the language of the Omban people and others closely affiliated with them. It was the core language of the Omban Empire and also its various successor states. It is probably spoken as a first language today by 20 million people, and as a second language by another couple million. It is the primary language of all of the Omban successor states, and is also spoken in Ashnabis, Luetka, and Umnaka to a significant degree.
History
Old Omban was the original language spoken over 1,000 years ago by a group of militaristic agricultural societies living in the area that now ranges from southern Khutu through western Hasmala, roughly centered on the city of Omba. By 215 BE, the Dedication of Urpeska shows the first historical evidence of linguistic changes that would be recognizable in later Ombesh. As the Omban monarchy extended its reach into Taizi, Daligash, Basai, and Choradan, a new political order emerged that spread the Ombesh language with it.
The Imperial era established a widespread language area, then, ranging from western Choradan through northern Basai. The conquest of Nulu in 161 introduced Ombesh there, though the local Thu Parsh language remains commonly spoken there. Malfan, which had been relatively sparsely inhabited before the Empire, eventually came to be home to a range of disaffected Ombans, and so Ombesh came to be spoken there even before the Empire conquered Malfan in the third century. The conquest of the Umnakan city of Jinto, and sporadic occupations of the high northern Luetkan coast, brought some Ombesh speakers into areas not under formal Imperial control, and then the Osnabi campaigns of the early fourth century brought Ombesh west of the Filija Mountains, where it would eventually become Aummesh.
After the fall of the Empire in 338, some fragmentation of Ombesh has occurred, but less than might be expected, because the ability to speak with Ancestors keeps radical change somewhat in check. Nevertheless, it is clear that there are regional and class-based differences in Ombesh speech, as there always have been.
Dialects
Omban dialects today can basically be divided into three broad regions: western (Choradan, Malfan, western Daligash); central (eastern Daligash, Taizi, Khutu, Omba, Hasmala); and northern (Basai and Nulu). In Ashnabis, Aummesh is spoken by the local population but a variety of Ombesh heavily influenced by the Choradani dialect is widespread. In parts of Luetka, a creole of Ombesh and Luetkan is spoken by many people. In northern Umnaka, especially the city of Jinto, an increasingly divergent Ombesh dialect from any of these has begun to emerge over the past century or two.
Phonology
Ombesh has twenty-one phonemic consonants, five phonemic vowels, and one diphthong. It is often described by learners as guttural, probably because of its wide range of fricatives.
Consonants
| b | /b/ | as in ball |
|---|---|---|
| m | /m/ | as in map |
| n | /n/ | as in now |
| p | /p/ | as in pill |
| t | /t/ | as in ton |
| d | /d/ | as in down |
| k | /k/ | as in kill |
| g | /g/ | as in guy |
| ch | /tʃ/ | as in church |
| j | /dʒ/ | as in jog |
| f | /f/ | as in fit |
| v | /v/ | as in vat |
| s | /s/ | as in sad |
| z | /z/ | as in zip |
| sh | /ʃ/ | as in shoe |
| zh | /ʒ/ | as in measure |
| kh | /x/ | voiceless velar fricative; as in Scottish pronunciation of loch |
| gh | /ɣ/ | voiced velar fricative; like a voiced ‘kh’ |
| h | /h/ | as in house |
| r | /r/ | as in rod |
| l | /l/ | as in lip |
Vowels
| a | /a/ | as in fall |
|---|---|---|
| e | /e/ | as in hey |
| i | /i/ | as in kiwi |
| o | /o/ | as in bone |
| u | /u/ | as in food |
| ai | /aj/ | as in buy |
The basic syllable structure of Ombesh is (C) V (C) (C), which is to say that there is a vowel, which may have zero or one consonants in front of it, and zero, one or two consonants at the end of it. Consonant clusters do not occur at the beginning of words or syllables. Where there is a consonant cluster in the middle of a word, the syllable breaks between the two sounds. There is a restricted subset of consonants permitted word-finally.
For more on learning how to pronounce Ombesh, watch this tutorial.
Glossary
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| abas | ancestor |
| aidastu | haunt |
| aisaf | clay |
| aisamon | mystic's clay tablet |
| alelu | acolyte |
| altala | Khutuan women's dress |
| bambos | game of chance |
| barane | mythic, primeval |
| bazozh | dirt |
| beldo | to unfold |
| beldunai | Unfolding, emergence, evolution |
| boz | father |
| bubun | corpse, zombie |
| bubunneta | bubun holding area |
| buru | Khutuan child's tunic |
| bustul | clay tablet on chain |
| chesh | filament, thread |
| chusi | to sever, slice, separate |
| chusufurdi | bubun's severed spirit |
| dashi | Ashnabis garment |
| dend | word for month |
| dera | to wait, to pause, to delay |
| derdis | waiting ritual after death |
| deskin | men's ornamented belt |
| dosi | child |
| ebu | alabaster |
| eherdos | fealty relationship |
| ekor | cliff |
| esh | talk, speech |
| esho | voice, Voice of the Dead |
| eshu | speaker |
| ezasta | Khutuan winter cloak |
| fefri | Khutuan ornamental tokens |
| fimfekh | to bud, to sprout |
| fimfekhor | burgeoning, haunting |
| fina | to wait impatiently, to fidget |
| foforg | tide |
| folfi | witch |
| fomba | corvee labourer / servant |
| fos | root, tap, spigot |
| gafti | journey |
| galti | commoner; citizen |
| gazha | midwife |
| ghavang | long musical horn |
| ghembu | lemur |
| ghir | revenant name |
| givas | hearth |
| gurachu | shawl |
| hafadon | six-line poetic form |
| haluli | to purify |
| harani | twisted |
| haren | bridge |
| hemeshor | rebirth ritual |
| hengi | elder of a lineage |
| heta | tall |
| hul | old |
| hulti | shamans |
| ibu | body, corpse, flesh |
| ifti | a lineage |
| iftibal | lineage hall |
| iftijasi | pendant |
| ikhano | bearded vulture |
| ilizh | Khutuan house shoe / slipper |
| iror | to proclaim |
| irtos | maxim, proclamation |
| jasi | stone |
| jilol | revenant cape |
| jimuze | musical instrument |
| jugoras | bubun's service |
| jultumesh | mystics' language |
| juskai | Ravre wool tunic |
| kailosper | Khutuan men's vest |
| kelta | guild hall for envoys |
| khazkamma | silksword |
| khobesku | women's leather pants |
| khuzal | mythical vulture |
| kindi | castle |
| lelu | to flow, to pass time |
| leluta | course, pattern, flowing |
| lemu | spirit, soul |
| mabai | forbid, prohibit |
| mebel | Khutuan women's headscarf |
| mir | mother |
| mochoshiji | bubun perfume |
| mufan | social class |
| muzul | destiny |
| nambikhosi | envoy leader |
| nambimoshe | envoy moot |
| nazam | Khutuan men's pants |
| ogol | ceramic vessel |
| okhi | craft lineage |
| omo | true, real |
| osper | claw |
| osti | temple |
| ovre | Kind, type, variety |
| ozar | hole |
| pacha | Khutuan men's headscarf |
| pena | to give |
| pengi | gift |
| pero | little, lesser |
| romokh | midsummer |
| rupa | to love |
| rupu | lover |
| sagas | render |
| sagasolt | rendering ritual |
| sagaspi | renderer; bubun creator |
| sajari | noble, elite |
| sakh | enjoy |
| sardi | clever |
| shora | to be born |
| shoror | revenant |
| sunu | large, greater |
| telaf | to keep; to retain |
| telpi | guardian; keeper |
| tembu | skin, hide |
| tenuf | rural, rustic, country folk |
| tisli | braided fringe |
| udul | nickname |
| ula | a saint |
| ulajeta | saint's cloister |
| ulaji | saintly, holy |
| urdoche | engraving |
| vifolu | spider |
| volabas | apical ancestor |
| volo | to honour, to value |
| volol | esteemed |
| vumuri | decorative shell |
| zano | righteous |
| zaspe | disease |
| zazaf | bat-like sentient species |
