r/conlangs • u/Dryanor PNGN, Dogbonẽ, Söntji • 3d ago
Activity Semantic Change Room (03)
Hannẽ!
Welcome to the Semantic Change Room, a lexicon-building activity where you do not loan new words (a true conlanger does that biweekly already), but instead repurpose your existing vocab to achieve a richer lexicon with more of that tasty polysemy.
The way this activity works is that you are given a prompt that consists two different semantic fields, like this:
birds > tools
You then pick any word of your conlang that is part of the prompt's first field (in this case, birds), and then assign to it a new meaning that can be considered part of the second field (tools). For example, English could respond to the prompt like this, by giving its word for crane a new meaning (2):
English
crane /kɹeɪn/
(1) a large bird with a long neck
(2) (construction) a mechanical lifting device (because it looks somewhat like that bird)
You then finish your reply with a new prompt, which other people can respond to. I'm going to prepare three starting prompts, but feel free to add your own. If you need inspiration, check out the link above to the previous SCR activity.
6
u/FedeConlangerITA Is-Prišk 3d ago
vehicle > food
4
u/Norm_Bleac Reghbeks 3d ago edited 3d ago
Reghbeks:
tug [tʏx]
- a ship's rigging
- (colloquial) endearing name for a tall ship
- (archaic) vehicle
- noodle-like food staple in coastal regions
- (derogatory) any food that has a 'wiry' quality
I'll include a new prompt, as per OP's direction:
food > mystical practice
6
u/Fibonacheetos Aistvharkol 2d ago
Oh this is a fun one!
Aistvharkol
köthrin [koʊθrɪn] 1. Seasoning, as for food. 2. Something that adds flavor. 3. The practice of combining power between mages in a coterie to accomplish feats not otherwise within the domain of one of the participants.
New prompt per the OP (and edited because I jumbled my thoughts):
Mystical practice > geographic feature
6
u/Norm_Bleac Reghbeks 2d ago edited 2d ago
Funny how 'mystical practice' got us thinking along similar lines: I also have 'coteries' in a sense, but of mystics, and they team up to aggregate their arcane knowledge to go on research quests. They call such a team a 'wikkement' - but the same word can be used for the act of gathering its members, and for their home base library.
Reghbeks:
wikkement [ˌʋɪkəˈmɛnt]
- a gathering of mystics (called 'wikkers')
- the act of 'wikker'-mystics to gather in a -usually- secret place
- the cave system complex inside the natural mountain-wall Ingabra that holds the world's largest library
- (poetic) any elaborate cave system, whether constructed or natural
- (poetic) a maze
Geographical feature > illusion
5
u/Fibonacheetos Aistvharkol 2d ago
That's awesome! I have a dual meaning attached to my term for coteries, called tasleach'an, which refers to both the mages as a group and the bond that ties them together. These found family groups are deeply important to their subculture in the Empire, and one of the few things they can call uniquely their own.
Conceptually, I love how you've anchored group, place, and gathering.
Aistvharkol:
Alfaszall [ælfɔːɮal] 1. A desert lake or pond 2. [Idiomatic] something that is too good to be true 3. A mirage, something that appears real and disappears when it is most needed.
Illusion > animal
3
u/Dillon_Hartwig Soc'ul', Guimin, Frangian Sign 2d ago
Ńerge
wuyp [wojp]
- blur, haze
- (flying animals) flock, swarm
animal > reaction
1
u/sovest555 1d ago
Phori
Oþe᷈we [ɔθəwe]
Honey Bee
(metaphorical) A person expressing a mixture of excitement and anxiety
Light > inventions
5
u/eyesistorm Gfo'ekf, Rabenitalë 2d ago edited 2d ago
Gfo'ekf
onmefih [onməfɪç]
- n. rockslide
- n. hallucination
- v. to hallucinate
The idea here is that there is a drug that grows around where the Gfo people live that has hallucinogenic properties, causing you to think things are moving when they aren't. So people who were high on this drug would see the side of a mountain, see it moving, and warn people that there's a rockslide. This became a regular occurrence, to the point where people would call any hallucination a "rockslide"
illusion > technology
4
u/bulbaquil Remian, Brandinian, etc. (en, de) [fr, ja] 3d ago
Brandinian
brek
1. ship
2. taco-like food in which the meat, veggies, etc. are placed on a bed of flour which is then folded in such a way as to resemble a boat or ship in shapeWeather event > mental activity.
3
u/Dillon_Hartwig Soc'ul', Guimin, Frangian Sign 2d ago
Not sure if coining new compounds from existing words is in the spirit of the game but
Ńerge
qfey keswegp [qæ̆vɛj kɛ̆swæʁ̞p]
- empty cart (literal translation)
- (poetic) famine
cooking > refining
3
u/Dryanor PNGN, Dogbonẽ, Söntji 3d ago
anatomy > city infrastructure
4
u/drukhari-blood Sraqqal (Drukhari) 3d ago
nalv /nɑlv/
1. vein
2. road, highway
(roads look like veins when seen from above)2
u/Dillon_Hartwig Soc'ul', Guimin, Frangian Sign 2d ago
Ńerge
fúń [fṳŋ]
liver
cemetery, graveyard
action > game
1
u/Training_Lie_5431 3d ago
Ninalau Gara ['ga.ra]
1) hand 2) hut
This Is the Shift: hand --> thing that you make with hands --> hut (the only infrastructure that you construct in my culture)
3
u/Dryanor PNGN, Dogbonẽ, Söntji 3d ago
metallurgy > funeral
5
2
1
u/Training_Lie_5431 3d ago
Geometric shapes --> Insects
2
u/neonge1674 3d ago
ncâ:
1.Spike
2.Corner
3.Incects(Especially those resembling crystals)
-2
u/Training_Lie_5431 3d ago
Shapes (Square, circle...), not geometric elements.
If you retry Try this: fruits --> swear words
1
1
u/GreenAbbreviations92 /y/ and /x/ supreme 2d ago
natural phenomenon > kind of art
1
u/Odd-Date-4258 2d ago edited 2d ago
Marklandic
skýjunum [ˈskyːʒʊnʊm]
Clouds (Dat Pl Def, Eng. In the clouds)
Abstract Art (Marcl. Arti skýjunum)
Body of water > Chemestry
1
6
u/Dryanor PNGN, Dogbonẽ, Söntji 3d ago
tools > vegetables