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kapi 'monkey' |
kapi 'monkey'. While there's no word reconstructable for PIE that means 'monkey', there is a a connection between Greek
kẽpos ~ kẽbos 'long-tailed monkey' and Sanskrit
kapí- 'monkey'. Perhaps a borrowing from Semitic languages, where we see Hebrew
qōph and Egyptian
qephi.
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lawhan 'lion' |
lawhan 'lion'. From PIE
*liwi- (?), this root is continued by Greek
lís,
léōn, Latin
leō (> name
Leo), Old English
lēo, Old High German
lewo, Russian
lev, and Lithuanian
lẽvas. Perhaps a Semitic borrowing; compare Hebrew
layiš, Assyrian
labbu, Egyptian
labu.
 |
lawkari 'firefly' |
lawkari 'firefly'. Created for
Primal, this word is a compound of
lawka- 'light' (seen in English words such as
il-luc-idate [< Latin
lūc- 'light'] and
light) plus
kari 'fly'. Wenja
kari derives from PIE
*kori- 'biting insect', reconstructable from Greek
kóris 'bedbug', Old Church Slavonic & Russian
korĭ 'moth'. Perhaps built to the root
(s)ker- 'cut', as found in Wenja
karsa 'cut, carve, stab'.
 |
likarta 'lizard' |
 |
frashlikarta 'crocodile' |
likarta 'lizard'. Connected with Latin
lakerta 'lizard', which may have originally meant 'the jumper'. We see this root in Greek
likertízō 'jump'.
frashlikarta 'crocodile', the 'king lizard'. For a discussion of
fraja 'rule, stretch out' and
fraji 'king' /
frashni 'queen', see this
post.
 |
mali '(honey) badger' |
mali 'badger'. The dreaded
mali, who doesn't give a
sikar. From PIE
*meli-, this word is continued by Latin
mēlēs, dialectal Slovenian
məlc. Unclear if related to
melit- 'honey' (Greek
méli, Hittite
malitt-, Latin
mel, Old Irish
mil).
 |
mamaf 'mammoth' |
mamaf 'mammoth'. Created for
Primal, this word was originally
mamata in Wenja but was shortened for reasons of gameplay. A relatively new word,
mamaf (as well as English
mammoth) has its roots in Russian
mammot', which was probably taken from Ostyak, a Finno-Ugric language of Northern Russia.
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nasan 'rhino' |
 |
nasanka 'tapir' |
nasan 'rhino'. Created for
Primal, this word literally means 'possessing a (large) nose' (compare
dantan 'sabertooth < possessing (large) teeth'), and is derived from Wenja
nas 'nose' (< PIE
*nās, *nas-), which is connected to English
nose, Latin
nāsus (> English
nasal), Latin
nāris 'nostril', Old Church Slavonic
nosŭ, Avestan
nāh-, etc.
nasanka 'tapir' is a diminuitive of
nasan, literally meaning 'little rhino'. The
-ka- suffix is reconstructable for PIE.
 |
pardaku 'jaguar' |
pardaku 'jaguar'. To my knowledge, no word is reconstructable for PIE, and so the Wenja form has been modelled on Sanskrit
pṛdaku.
 |
pardal 'leopard' |
pardal 'leopard'. Likely not a word in PIE (it's rather something like
*sinǵʰo-), this word is a loanword from an unknown language. Seen in Greek
párdalis, Sogdian
pwrδnk, and is connected to Sanskrit
pṛdaku in some way.
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payska 'fish' |
payska 'fish'. From PIE
*peisk-, this word is continued by Latin
piscis (as seen in the astrological sign
Pisces), Old Irish
iasc, and English
fish.
*peisk- chosen over the more common root
*dʰǵʰuhᵪ- 'fish' (Greek
ikhthũs, Lithuanian
žuvis, Armenian
jukn) for reasons of pronounceability. Pictured is the
duspayska 'bad fish'; also seen in the waters of Oros are the
manhu 'carp; cod', from PIE
*mṇhᵪ- (>
minnow).
 |
shawi 'bird' |
shawi 'bird'. From PIE
*h₂aw- 'bird', continued by Latin
avis 'bird' (> English
avi-ary), Welsh
hwyad 'duck', Umbrian
avi- 'bird', Albanian
vida 'dove', Greek
aietós 'eagle', Armenian
haw 'bird, chicken', Avestan
vīš 'bird', Sanskrit
ví- 'bird'. Connected to Wenja
shawya 'egg', literally 'the thing from the bird', from PIE
*h₂owyo- (> Latin
ovus, German
Ei, English
egg).
 |
ula 'owl' |
ula 'owl'. From PIE
*ulu-, as seen in Latin
ulucus 'owl' and Sanskrit
úlūka- 'owl'. Probably imitative in origin.
 |
wal 'wolf' |
wal 'wolf'. From PIE
*wḷkwos, this word shows irregular change -- we'd expect
walkwa, which is actually the Wenja word for 'wolf pack'. Descendents of this word are found all across Indo-European, for instance in Sanskrit
vṛka-, Greek
lúkos (seen in English
lyc-anthropy), Latin
lupus (English
lupine), and English
wolf.