Wenedyk

Short description: Naturalistic constructed language

Wenedyk
Created by	Jan van Steenbergen
Date	2002
Setting and usage	A thought experiment in the alternate history, Ill Bethisad, if Latin had replaced Polish's ancestor.
Purpose	constructed language Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Dalmatian Wenedyk
Sources	constructed languages  a posteriori languages (Romance language based on Polish)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None
IETF	art-x-wenedyk

Wenedyk is a naturalistic constructed language, created by the Dutch translator Jan van Steenbergen (who also co-created the international auxiliary language Interslavic). It is used in the fictional Republic of the Two Crowns (based on the Republic of Two Nations), in the alternate timeline of Ill Bethisad. Officially, Wenedyk is a descendant of Vulgar Latin with a strong Slavic admixture, based on the premise that the Roman Empire incorporated the ancestors of the Poles in their territory. Less officially, it tries to show what Polish would have looked like if it had been a Romance instead of a Slavic language. On the Internet, it is well-recognized as an example of the altlang genre, much like Brithenig and Breathanach.

The idea for the language was inspired by such languages as Brithenig and Breathanach, languages that bear a similar relationship to the Celtic languages as Wenedyk does to Polish. The language itself is based entirely on (Vulgar) Latin and Polish: all phonological, morphological, and syntactic changes that made Polish develop from Common Slavic are applied to Vulgar Latin. As a result, vocabulary and morphology are predominantly Romance in nature, whereas phonology, orthography and syntax are essentially the same as in Polish. Wenedyk uses the modern standard Polish orthography, including (for instance) ⟨w⟩ for /v/ and ⟨ł⟩ for /w/.

Wenedyk plays a role in the alternate history of Ill Bethisad, where it is one of the official languages of the Republic of the Two Crowns. In 2005 Wenedyk underwent a major revision due to a better understanding of Latin and Slavic sound and grammar changes. In the process, the author was assisted by the Polish linguist Grzegorz Jagodziński.

The dictionary on the WWW page linked below contains over 4000 entries.

The language has acquired some media attention in Poland, including a few online news articles and an article in the monthly Wiedza i Życie ("Knowledge and Life").

Spelling and pronunciation

Wenedyk uses the Polish alphabet, which consists of the following 32 letters :

A Ą B C Ć D E Ę F G H I J K L Ł M N Ń O Ó P R S Ś T U W Y Z Ź Ż

Also, there are seven digraphs, representing five phonemes (ch being identical with h, and rz with ż):

Ch Cz Dz Dź Dż Rz Sz

Pronunciation is exactly as in Polish. Stress almost always falls on the penultimate syllable. A preposition and a pronoun are generally treated as one word, and therefore, when the pronoun has only one syllable, the preposition is stressed.

(In theory, the construction of Wenedyk enables relatively easy construction of other "Slavo-Romance" languages. The Romance "mirror" for Czech, for example, is called "Šležan"; [1] another for Slovak, although somewhat looser than the other two as it uses a partially Hungarian orthography, is called "Slevan". [2])

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

Wenedyk does not have articles. This is a feature that distinguishes Wenedyk from all natural Romance languages. The reason for this is that Vulgar Latin showed only a rudimentary tendency toward the formation of articles, whereas they are absent in Polish and most other Slavic languages.

Nouns, pronouns and adjectives can have three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), two numbers (singular, plural), and three cases:

• the direct case: used for both the subject and the direct object of a sentence. In the sentence: Miej poterz leże libier "My father reads a book", Miej poterz "my father" and libier "a book" are both in the direct case.
• the genitive case: used to indicate possession, for example: siedź potrze "my father's chair", rzejna Anglie "the queen of England".
• the dative case: used to indicate the indirect object of a sentence, for example: Da mi ił libier "Give me that book", Da mi łu "Give it to me".

Wenedyk also has a vocative case. In most cases it has the same form as the direct case, but there are exceptions: O potrze! "Oh father!"

Nouns can be subdivided into four declensions. They are similar to the declension system in Latin:

• the first declension are all words on -a, the vast majority of which are feminine;
• the second declension are mostly masculine and neuter words ending with a consonant. It is a mixture of the second and fourth declension in Latin;
• the third declension are mostly feminine words ending with a soft consonant;
• the fourth declension are words on -ej, it matches the Latin fifth declension.

Adjectives always agree in gender, number and case with the noun they modify. They can be placed both before and after it.

Pronouns

Unlike nouns, adjectives and other pronouns, personal pronouns do not use the direct case, but preserve the distinction between the nominative and accusative instead. They are displayed in the following chart:

Pronouns

	singular					plural
	first person	second person	third person			first person	second person	third person
			masculine	feminine	neuter			masculine	feminine	neuter
Nom. Acc. Gen. Dat.	jo mie miej mi	ty cie ciej ci	ił łu łu li	ła łą lej lej	łu łu łu li	nu nosz nosz nów	wu wosz wosz wów	li łosz łór lew	le łasz łar lew	le le łór lew
English	I me mine to me	thou, you thee, you thine, yours to thee, to you	he him his to him	she her hers to her	it it its to it	we us ours to us	you you yours to you	they them theirs to them

Verbs

Verbs are inflected for person, number, mood and tense. The forms in the present tense are:

1 sg. – jemu "I love"

2 sg. – jemasz "you love"

3 sg. – jema "he/she loves"

1 pl. – jemamy "we love"

2 pl. – jemacie "you love"

3 pl. – jemą "they love"

Because Latin and Proto-Slavonic had virtually identical person/number inflections, Wenedyk and Polish do also.

Wenedyk verbs have the following moods and tenses:

infinitive – jemar "to love"

present tense – jemu "I love, I am loving"

imperfect – jemawa "I loved"

perfect – jemie " I have loved"

future tense (imperfective) – joru jemar "I will love, I will be loving"

future tense (perfective) – jemaru "I will have loved"

conditional mood – jemarsi "I would love, I would have loved"

imperative mood – jem "love!"

present active participle – jemęć "loving"

perfect passive participle – jematy "beloved"

Word list

Wenedyk vocabulary as published on the internet consists of over 4000 words. Because of how it was developed from Vulgar Latin, Wenedyk words are closest to Italian, but with phonologic differences from Italian which may be compared to those distinguishing Portuguese from Spanish. The following charts of 30 shows what Wenedyk looks like in comparison to a number of other Romance languages; note that unlike Brithenig, where one-quarter of the words resembled Welsh words, only four Wenedyk words (not counting szkoła, borrowed into Polish from Latin) resemble Polish words, due to the Slavic languages' greater distance from the Romance languages compared to the Celtic languages:

Wenedyk compared to Latin, Italian, Polish, and Romanian

Term	Latin	Italian	Wenedyk	Polish	Romanian
arm	brachium	braccio	brocz	ramię	braţ
black	nĭger, nĭgrum	nero	niegry	czarny	negru
city, town	cīvĭtās, cīvĭtātem	città	czytać	miasto	oraş, [cetate]
death	mŏrs, mŏrtem	morte	mroć	śmierć	moarte
dog	canis	cane	kań	pies	câine
ear	auris, aurĭcŭla	orecchio	urzykła	ucho	ureche
egg	ovum	uovo	ów	jajko	ou
eye	ŏcŭlus	occhio	okieł	oko	ochi
father	pater, patrem	padre	poterz	ojciec	tată
fire	ignis, fŏcus	fuoco	fok	ogień	foc
fish	pĭscis	pesce	pieszcz	ryba	peşte
foot	pĕs, pĕdem	piede	piedź	stopa	picior, [piez]
friend	amīcus	amico	omik	przyjaciel	prieten, amic
green	vĭrĭdis	verde	wierdzi	zielony	verde
horse	ĕquus, cabăllus	cavallo	kawał	koń	cal
I	ĕgo	io	jo	ja	eu
island	īnsŭla	isola	izła	wyspa	insulă
language, tongue	lĭngua	lingua	lęgwa	język	limbă
life	vīta	vita	wita	życie	viaţă, [vită]
milk	lac, lactis	latte	łoc	mleko	lapte
name	nōmen	nome	numię	imię	nume
night	nŏx, nŏctis	notte	noc	noc	noapte
old	vĕtus, vetulus	vecchio	wiekły	stary	vechi
school	schŏla	scuola	szkoła	szkoła	şcoală
sky	caelum	cielo	czał	niebo	cer
star	stēlla	stella	ścioła	gwiazda	stea
tooth	dĕns, dĕntem	dente	dzięć	ząb	dinte
voice	vōx, vōcem	voce	wucz	głos	voce, [boace], glas
water	aqua	acqua	jekwa	woda	apă
wind	vĕntus	vento	więt	wiatr	vânt

Wenedyk compared to other Romance languages

Term	Portuguese	Spanish	Catalan	Occitan	French	Rhaeto-Romance	Wenedyk	Brithenig
arm	braço	brazo	braç	braç	bras	bratsch	brocz	breich
black	negro	negro	negre	negre	noir	nair	niegry	nîr
city, town	cidade	ciudad	ciutat	ciutat	cité	citad	czytać	ciwdad
death	morte	muerte	mort	mòrt	mort	mort	mroć	morth
dog	cão	perro	gos	gos, can	chien	chaun	kań	can
ear	orelha	oreja	orella	aurelha	oreille	ureglia	urzykła	origl
egg	ovo	huevo	ou	uòu	œuf	ov	ów	ew
eye	olho	ojo	ull	uèlh	œil	egl	okieł	ogl
father	pai	padre	pare	paire	père	bab	poterz	padr
fire	fogo	fuego	foc	fuòc	feu	fieu	fok	ffog
fish	peixe	pez	peix	peis	poisson	pesch	pieszcz	pisc
foot	pé	pie	peu	pè	pied	pe	piedź	pedd
friend	amigo	amigo	amic	amic	ami	ami	omik	efig
green	verde	verde	verd	verd	vert	verd	wierdzi	gwirdd
horse	cavalo	caballo	cavall	caval	cheval	chaval	kawał	cafall
I	eu	yo	jo	ieu	je	jau	jo	eo
island	ilha	isla	illa	illa	île	insla	izła	ysl
language, tongue	língua	lengua	llengua	lenga	langue	linguatg, lieunga	lęgwa	llinghedig, llingw
life	vida	vida	vida	vida	vie	vita	wita	gwid
milk	leite	leche	llet	lach	lait	latg	łoc	llaeth
name	nome	nombre	nom	nom	nom	num	numię	nôn
night	noite	noche	nit	nuèch	nuit	notg	noc	noeth
old	velho	viejo	vièlh	vieux	vegl	wiekły	gwegl
school	escola	escuela	escola	escòla	école	scola	szkoła	yscol
sky	céu	cielo	cel	cèl	ciel	tschiel	czał	cel
star	estrela	estrella	estrella	estela	étoile	staila	ścioła	ystuil
tooth	dente	diente	dent	dent	dent	dent	dzięć	dent
voice	voz	voz	veu	votz	voix	vusch	wucz	gwg
water	água	agua	aigua	aiga	eau	aua	jekwa	ag
wind	vento	viento	vent	vent	vent	vent	więt	gwent

Example

The Lord's Prayer:

Potrze nostry, kwały jesz en czałór, sąciewkaty si twej numię.
Owień twej rzeń.
Foca si twa włątać, komód en czału szyk i sur cierze.
Da nów odzej nostry pań kocidzany.
I dziemieć nów nostrze dziewta, komód i nu dziemiećmy świew dziewtorzew.
I nie endycz nosz en ciętaceń, uta liwra nosz dzie mału.
Nąk twie są rzeń i pociestać i głurza, o siąprz. Amen.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article I

Tuci ludzie noską sie liwrzy i jekwali z rześpiece świej dzińtacie i swór drzecór. Li są dotaci ku rocenie i koszczęce i dziewię ocar piara wyniałtru en jenie frotrzeńtacie.

Similar languages

In the Ill Bethisad universe, there are two other languages which are related to Wenedyk: Slevan, which is spoken in that universe's counterpart of Slovakia; and Šležan, or Silesian, spoken in Silesia. Šležan mirrors Czech [3] [4] in much the same way Wenedyk does Polish, whereas Slevan, despite being located in Slovakia, is more similar to Hungarian and Croatian in its orthography. (The Romance "mirror" of Slovak is a dialect of Slevan spoken in Moravia called Moravľaňec.) (As if in compensation, Croatian in Ill Bethisad is forced to be noticeably different from Serbian by being made to resemble the now-virtually-missing Czech and Slovak. [5] )

Additionally, in the famous The Adventures of Tintin series, the fictional language Syldavian may be thought of as the Germanic counterpart of Wenedyk, showing what Polish might have looked like if it were a Germanic and not a Slavic language. The nearly extinct Wymysorys language provides another real-life example of this. Ill Bethisad also has such a "Slavo-Germanic" language: Bohemian, spoken in that universe's Czech Republic, developed by amateur Czech linguist Jan Havliš.

References

• Tilman Berger, Vom Erfinden Slavischer Sprachen, in: M. Okuka & U. Schweier, eds., Germano-Slavistische Beiträge. Festschrift für P. Rehder zum 65. Geburtstag, München 2004, pp. 19–28. Cites Wenedyk as an example of Slavic-based extrapolated conlangs.
• Michał Foerster, Wariacje literackie: o językach, in: Esencja, no. 07/2008 (LXXIX), August–September 2008.
• Dorota Gut, : Now@ Mow@ ("New Language"), in: Wiedza i Życie, February 2004. This article is mostly, but not exclusively, about Wenedyk.
• Jakub Kowalski, Wymyślone języki, on: Relaz.pl, 2 March 2007.
• Stefan Michael Newerkla, "Auf den Spuren des ř in den slawischen Sprachen und rund um den Globus", in: Johannes Reinhart & Tilmann Reuther, eds., Ethnoslavica: Festschrift für Herrn Univ. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Neweklowsky zum 65. Geburtstag; Beiträge des internationalen Symposiums des Instituts für Slawistik der Universität Klagenfurt in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut für Slawistik der Universität Wien, Klagenfurt, 7.-8. April 2006, München-Wien: Otto Sagner, 2006, p. 212.
• Paul J.J. Payack, A Million Words and Counting: How Global English Is Rewriting the World, 2008, p. 193.
• Ziemowit Szczerek, Świat, gdzie Polska nie jest Polską, on: Interia.pl, 26 September 2008.
• Romance glossary. A list of common words in all Romance languages, including Wenedyk and Brithenig.

External links

• Wenedyk (in English)