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Neopia's Fill in the Blank News Source | 28th day of Running, Yr 26
The Neopian Times Week 11 > Articles > How to Speak Neopian: Secrets of the Ancient Language

How to Speak Neopian: Secrets of the Ancient Language

by DMKwolf

"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.


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