Friday, 9 December 2016

9th Lexember Word

oseków [o̞ʑe̞̽ˈgo̞͡ʊ], intransitive verb: “to strike (for lightning); to fall, to shoot (for a shooting star)“

Originally posted by gracefuldreamer

Big GIF, but it’s worth it!

So the last two words were, as I wrote three days ago, a preparation to explain how to talk about lightning strikes themselves. As I wrote back then, the word remuríp refers to the flash of light caused by a lightning strike, rather than the lightning strike itself. To talk about the lightning strike itself, one must use this oddly specific verb, which is basically used only to describe the motion of lightning strikes and shooting stars.

Of course, this verb is a transparent incorporation of ós: “sky” with the verb eków: “to cross“, resulting in a verb meaning literally “to cross the sky”, which is indeed what lightning strikes and shooting stars tend to do, in their own ways (oseków is not used to describe the motion of the sun, moon or stars, however. Nor is it used to describe the motion of clouds, birds or anything else found in the sky. Lightning strikes and shooting stars may have been singled out due to their short and unpredictable natures).

Now, we have the verb “to strike”. But how does one refer to a lightning strike, then? Well, it’s actually very simple: they mention the same god whose voice provides for thunder, as in the following example:

Ortáse ciékun watoseków ankese ka!: “The lightning has hit my house!“ (literally “The god/spirit has crossed the sky down to my house! (and I actually saw it)”)

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