Vevari - Colors
Larasha is the Vevari word for Color. The Regalti, being a species that has subtle changes their skin color based on their emotional state, they place special emphasis on colors and emotions. In the beginning, the Fevarik created words for colors by using a root word for a color and alternating the same two affixes (Esh and Tse). Through the centuries these words have been shortened or changed around to make speaking easier and make the word forms distinct from each other, creating the current assortment of colors and emotion words that Vevari has today. These colors will be important later as the Regalti always use colors and abstract meanings derived from them when speaking.
| Color | Base Form | Color | Emotion | Emotion | Emotion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red ██ | Tra | Eshra (Red) | Eshtri (Warm) | Trade (Happy) | Tritse (Angry) |
| Orange ██ | Bi | Ibba (Orange) | Ibbri (Curious) | Adse (Anticipation) | Ise (Impatient) |
| Yellow ██ | Fra | Effra (Yellow) | Shefri (Accepting) | Fase (Neutral) | Vite (Tolerant) |
| Green ██ | Ha | Asha (Green) | Shi (Serenity) | Hashi (Calm) | Hitse (Apprehension) |
| Cyan ██ | Sa | Issa (Cyan) | Eshla (Feather) | Latse (Surprise) | Slinne (Fear) |
| Blue ██ | Lo | Edda (Blue) | Eshid (Cool) | Lode (Desire) | Lude (Sadness) |
| Near-Violet ██ | Ko | Akko (Near-Violet) | Ishko (Love) | Kleid (Compassion) | Kinne (Sympathy) |
| Far-Violet ██ | Ro | Okka (Far-Violet) | Eshki (Ectasy) | Kode (Passion) | Grude (Excitement) |
| Black ██ | Leka | Leka (Black) | Lekashi (Evil) | Sheki (Dead Inside) | Loketsi (Crazy, Unstable) |
| White ██ | Sara | Sara (white) | Sira (Pure) | Sarashi (Living Inside) | Areshi (Stable state of mind) |
| Colorless | Nora | Nora (Colorless) | Orbba (Emotionless) | Nashi (Blank) | Nireshi (No state of mind) |
In addition to these base colors, there are numerous, numerous others that have been created over the millennia, usually by combining color words together into a compound word, but these have been modified repeatedly until it becomes difficult to see what the original compound word was. There are far too many colors to give in a proper chart, so only the most used ones are shown below. These colors can also be used to modify other words.
| Vevari Color | English |
|---|---|
| Mara | Gray ██ |
| Arari | Gold ██ |
| Rali | Silver ██ |
| Koral | Bronze ██ |
| Vevari Color | English |
|---|---|
| Galek | Crimson ██ |
| Torek | Scarlet ██ |
| Satra | Pink ██ |
| Klashi | Magenta ██ |
| Vevari Color | English |
|---|---|
| Haffra | Chartreuse ██ |
| Iddas | Aqua ██ |
| Krasid | Indigo ██ |
| Ishkra | Teal ██ |
Modifying Words with Colors
Colors can be used to modify almost any word in the vevari language to change the meaning. The base forms of the eleven major colors (plus Gray) can act as additional grammatical aspects/moods to change a verb. Gray (Mara) especially is used to create questions. As another example, near-violet (Ko) can be used to indicate a desire or want.
Placing a base form color between Nouns indicates a relationship of some kind (from, towards, with, against, possessiveness, subordination, etc.). Base forms can also be used as an affix on pronouns to indicate a sort of initiating state. Colors can be both adjectives and adverbs, and they can be used as affixes on adjectives and adverbs, even on themselves.
It is possible to have a sentence where the color red is mentioned five or more times using all of its forms, such as "I-red red red-am crimson-red you." or "An-tra estri tra-si galek-tra de!". The closest possible translation to this would be "I am happy to warmly state that I am positively furious at you!"
This can quickly become overwhelming, and most of these words don't actually have a direct translation to other languages but must be inferred from the base meaning of the word and colors. More confusingly, the meaning of the various combinations of colors and words changes every few generations based on how the language evolves and how speakers find shortcuts to get ideas across. These words also have no place in formal speech and are only seen in Casual speech, despite several attempts to get rid of it over the centuries.
| Vevari | English | Example Vevari (modified) | English (modified) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modifying a Verb | an teva - An Teva. | I speak. | an ko-teva - An ko-Teva. | I want to speak. |
| Color as a Verb | an iska - An Iska. | I love. | an ko-iska - An ko-Ishka. | I want to love. |
| Noun (Possession) | eSla - Eshla | a Feather | rqn ko eSla - Raini ko Eshla | Raini's feather |
| Adjective | val - val. | a day. | iSkodi val - ishkodi val. | a lovely day. |
| Adverb + Adjective | val - val. | a day. | ko-iSkodi val - ko-ishkodi val. | a lovingly lovely day. |
| Adverb | an teva - An Teva. | I speak. | an iSkodi teva - An ishkodi Teva. | I lovingly speak. |
| Adverb + Verb | an teva - An Teva. | I speak. | an iSkodi ko-teva - An ishkodi ko-Teva. | I lovingly want to speak. |
| Pronoun (Personal) | an - An | I | anko - anko | Lovingly I |
| Pronoun (Other) | soti - Soti | Neither | kosoti - Kosoti | Lovingly neither |
| Adposition | yo - Yo | With | yoko - Yoko | Lovingly with |
| Pronoun + Adjective + Adverb + Verb |
an teva - An Teva. | I speak. | anko iSkodi ko koteva - Anko Ishkodi Ko Ko-Teva |
Lovingly I lovingly want to lovingly speak. |
Part 2 of my personal reading challenge. Lol this must be a fun species to talk with. I'm kind of reminded of some of the Ayleid translations from Oblivion chiefly the tablets in I think Sideways Cave where you find tablets chronicling what happened and the sentences kind of read weird because of the Ayleid language heavily using compound words. How can green be both calm and apprehensive.....? is it like how some green teas can calm but others like matcha essentially have more caffeine than even coffee or energy drinks? Very fun read.