"May the fir nuha uyn, the rin nuha tor"
Not many people have heard that saying, but if you walk up to any of the older
Neopians and greet them with this traditional saying it will surely bring a
smile to their face. This saying means, of course, "May the sun always shine,
the rain always pour."
For generations the origin of the ancient Neopian language has been forgotten
amongst rubble and revolution. As humans crossed the seas to gain the pleasant
companionship of the Neopians, our English has found it's way into most Neopian's
heritage. But now it is coming back to life, and is being pondered over by many
scientists.
English and Neopian have coexisted for many ages, and no one is quite sure
how, or why. If the Neopians did not know about us, nor we them, until just
recently, how could they have incorporated our words and grammar into their
own speech? We also know that the coexistence of the two languages have gone
back as far as the ancient Greeks, on which our English is based. Take, for
example, the scientific name for our wolf, the canis lupus. Most historians
do not know where the scientific names come from, only that they where Latin
and Greek. But now the truth has emerged. Canis lupus originated from the Neopian's
word for the Lupe, which much resembles our wolf. Other similarities, such as
the Elephante and our own elephant. Many of you are thinking, well, the name
for the 'Lupe' was actually copied from us. But, if that were true, how would
the Greeks have thought up the word 'lupus' so long ago?
Notice, too, the resemblance between Mynci and monkey, the Korbat and our bat,
the Kau and our cow, the Uni and our unicorn, the Moehog and our hog, the Kougra
and our cougar, the Koi and our Koi, the Pteri and our pterodactyl. Many human
Neopians have realised the resemblance of names, but have never really thought
about them. The other thing they may notice is the resemblance between the two
compared creatures. Tell me a Mynci does not look like a monkey, or a Kau a
cow? Tell me the Pteri doesn't even look like a relative of the ancient pterodactyl?
I think not.
This about the Pteri and the pterodactyl has raised another interesting point.
The Neopians must have been alive such a very long time ago that they were able
to see pterodactyls and other dinosaurs. Is it perhaps true that the Chombys
and Pteris and Grarrls may be adapted forms of our ancient dinosaurs?
Another proof that we learned from the Neopians and not vice versa is what
else is in their names. Our English word, growl, is named after the Grarrl,
since that is the sound it makes. And buzz, we came up with that because
it is the noise a Buzz makes. Scientists also believe that the English phrase
'They're like flotsam and jetsam', which refers to two completely different
items, came from the differences of the Neopian's Flotsam and Jetsam.
The belief is that someone long, long ago from Italy or Greece (perhaps one
of the Vikings) may have traveled to Neopia and found out about their language
and speech. Thanks to this, we now have the English speech we all know and love.
But we haven't just discovered the history of their speech; thanks to some
old relics and the help of a few even older Neopians we now begin to see the
ancient speech emerge.
It is as basic and simple as ours, and some of the words our the same, which
we are believed to have copied from them. All of our words such as if, and,
or, the are all the same except for it. It is simply tu. Pronouns
such as he or she are as follows:
he - hi
she - li
you - yu
me - mi
I - ni
And all the others are the same. Adjectives, such as run and jump,
are usually switched around by replacing the first letter with the last letter.
This is only done, however, when the second letter is a vowel. So run
and jump would be nu and pum in Neopian. Here is a short
list of words:
sit - ti
walk - kal
kick - kic
punch - hunc
lean - nea
talk - kal
bathe - eath
wash - has
poke - eok
Lie and tie are both the same in Neopian, because they would
simply be ei, and that is not a working word in the Neopian language.
Here are some simple phrases in Neopian to get you places. New comers to Neopia
may want to use these to get around, and even some old Neopians may want to
try out their tongue at the new language. Just remember, Neopian is spoken with
an accent. It is sort of a squeaky click, that would make kal (walk)
sound like kyale and kic (kick) sound like kyik.
"Ahun kic nen yu can kal"
"Never kick when you can talk"
"Where ma ni?"
"Where am I?"
"Who are yu?"
"Who are you?"
"Ni want tai"
"I want that"
"How muc?"
"How much?"
"Wic way to Maraqua Islando?"
"Which way to Maraqua?"
"Are tel ani Lupes anor?"
"Are there any Lupes around?"
Another point of interest is that certain words, or opposites, are simply reversed.
As we have learned, nuha means always, so therefore never
would be ahun. This also applies for the Neopian colours. The colours,
or colros, that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, like red
and green, are reversed. Red is ren in Neopian, and that would
mean that green is ner in Neopian.
Some Neopian words may be picked apart to reveal their true roots. Just like
English, certain words are made up of other words... and this can sometimes
make more sense. For example, Zafara is made up of two words; zar,
meaning dragon, and fra meaning rabbit. Now doesn't that make sense?
If you look at a Zafara, it really does have floppy ears and large feet, but
a spiked tail and ridged back.
This is all the information we have at the moment, and we hope you enjoyed
it. Thank you for taking some time to delve into the history of Neopian language.
We hope you will use this information to try to bring back the old speech, and
that it is a new part of your heritage. |