Arcaicam Esperantom


Arcaicam Esperantom, is an auxiliary sociolect for translating literature into Esperanto created to act as a fictional 'Old Esperanto', in the vein of languages such as Middle English or the use of Latin citations in modern texts.
It was created by Manuel Halvelik as part of a range of stylistic variants including Gavaro and Popido, forming "Serio ".
Halvelik also compiled a scientific vocabulary closer to Greco-Latin roots and proposed its application to fields such as taxonomy and linguistics. He gave this register to Esperanto the name Uniespo.
The idea of an "old Esperanto" was proposed by the Hungarian poet Kalman Kalocsay who in 1931 included a translation of the Funeral Sermon and Prayer, the first Hungarian text, with hypothetic forms as if Esperanto were a Romance language deriving from Vulgar Latin.

La Sociolekta Triopo

La Sociolekta Triopo does not create new Esperantidos, but its sole purpose - including "Arcaicam Esperantom" - is to reflect styles in literature translated into Esperanto, like the Berlin Middle-German dialect spoken by characters in Carl Zuckmayers "Captain of Köpenick", or ancient styles in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.
"La Sociolekta Triopo" thus constitutes not three new "constructed languages", but "constructed auxiliary sociolects for Esperanto", understandable by every reader of Esperanto but still providing the stylistical differences between dialects, slang, and ancient forms contrasting with "Fundamento", standard Esperanto, e.g. in works of Mark Twain or Lord of the Rings.

Differences from Esperanto

Spelling

  • c becomes tz
  • ĉ becomes ch
  • f becomes ph
  • g before e, i becomes gu
  • ĝ becomes gh
  • ĥ becomes qh
  • j becomes y
  • ĵ becomes zh
  • k becomes qu or c
  • ŝ becomes sh
  • ŭ becomes ù
  • v becomes w

    Pronouns

  • mi becomes mihi
  • ci becomes tu
  • li becomes lùi
  • ŝi becomes eshi
  • ĝi becomes eghi
  • si becomes sihi
  • ni becomes nos
  • vi becomes wos
  • ili becomes ilùi
  • There is an old pronoun egui which is a personal, sex-neutral pronoun. Its intended use is for referring to deities, angels, animals etc.

    Verbs

  • The infinitive ends in -ir, rather than in the -i of modern Esperanto. Ex.: fari becomes pharir.
  • The verb endings change according to the subject. So it is not necessary to write the subject pronoun, where there is no ambiguity.
Ex: The modern Esperanto verb esti, present tense:
  • mi/ci/li/ŝi/ĝi/si/ni/vi/ili estas
The Arcaicam Esperantom verb estir, present tense:
  • estams
  • estas
  • estat
  • estaims
  • estais
  • estait
The other verb tenses behave the same way, as does the conditional mood:
  • The future-tense conjugation estos becomes estoms, etc.
  • The past-tense conjugation estis becomes estims, etc.
  • The conditional-mood conjugation estus becomes estums, etc.
The imperative mood behaves differently from that pattern:
  • The imperative form estu stays estu for singular subjects, but becomes estuy for plural subjects.

    Grammatical cases

Nouns, adjectives, adverbs

  • -o becomes om
  • -oj becomes oy
  • -on stays -on
  • -ojn becomes -oyn
  • al x-o, kun x-o becomes x-od
  • al x-oj, kun x-oj becomes x-oyd
  • de x-o becomes x-es
  • de x-oj becomes x-eys
  • -e becomes -œ
  • -aŭ becomes -ez
  • -a becomes -am
  • -aj becomes -ay
  • A noun is always written with a capital letter. Ex: Glawom = glavo.
  • The verb infinitive can function as a noun, having the meaning that is carried in modern Esperanto by the root with the suffix -ado. The infinitive functioning as a noun takes, as does any other noun, both a capital letter and a case ending. Ex: Legirom = legado.

    Correlatives

  • ki- becomes cuy-
  • ti- becomes ity-
  • i- becomes hey-
  • neni- becomes nemy-
  • ĉi- becomes chey-
  • ali- becomes altri-
  • -o becomes -om
  • -a becomes -am
  • -am becomes -ahem
  • -e becomes -œ
  • -om becomes -ohem
  • the particle ĉi becomes is-

    Articles

  • The definite article la does not exist in Arcaicam Esperantom. If necessary, a specific person or object can be indicated by means of ityu.
  • The indefinite article, which modern Esperanto does not have, does exist in Arcaicam Esperantom. The indefinite article is unn.

    Examples

The Lord's Prayer

Romeus ed Yulieta

Phrases

  • Salutoyn cheyuyd! Cuyel phartais wos? – Hello everyone, how are you?
  • Lùi ex Biawistocom wenat. – He comes from Białystok.
  • Cuyel nomizzas? – What is your name?
  • Nomizzams Petrus – My name is Peter.
  • Ityon comprenams bonœ. – I understand that well.
  • Unn Manom altrian Manon lawat. – One hand washes the other.
  • Tempom phughat. – Ovid
  • Amom cheyon wencat. – Virgil
  • Ityel pasat mondes Glorom. – Thomas à Kempis
  • Ritmom estat in Tempom cuyom estat Simetrom in Spatzom. – Cicero
  • Wenims, widims, wenquims. – Julius Caesar
  • Homom Homoyd Lupom estat. – Plautus