Talk:Kofnes (Language)

Notes

Metaphors

some Kofnea tea metaphors, e.g. a provider / comforter / matriarch is known as a teapot and someone spoiled, beloved, or well-cared-for a teacup. Someone wet behind the ears is said to be watery or needs to steep a little longer.

Etymology

Technically, I’m 100% sure that the whole -ne(a) ending is derived from -nar, which meant “people” in the starting language of the colonizers of this world. But it’s also clear that their original plural of -li became irregular at some point or at least merged into some roots.

Stress

Further, stress is penultimate, except where there’s suffixes. Stress must always be on the root. Sometimes with suffixes, it’s penultimate on the root and sometimes syllable-final on the root, which I shall eventually figure out which is which, I’m sure.

Worldbuilding

Kofu started off as singular “war clan” with kofuali the plural, but now, it’s just kofu all the time without bothering to differentiate.

Those who fail at a challenge for recognition may try again until they succeed, though it definitely hurts your reputation if you do that, so most people just try to either get enough skill for the challenge in advance or pick wisely in the kind of challenge they want to do. Reputation absolutely opens and closes doors in their society, and despite it becoming more urbanized and modernized over time (which is not to say they didn’t have technology but they started off with super small settlements when they colonized), the physical skills of fighting, survival, or being protectable (there are actual tested skills to it) remain important to their culture at a fundamental level.

If you don’t succeed in a challenge before 25, that’s what they call the age of forfeiture, when they’ll treat you like an adult instead of a kid but there are some things you still can’t do without being recognized, regardless of whether you’re an adult. You get adult status early if you challenge successfully before 25.

The clans started small but are quite large at this point. They cover a full half a continent and have basically divided into four larger groups: the hilakhot kofu (far north), the paschtha kofu (near north), the vannu kofu (east), and the daanni kofu (south). And of course, the southernmost group on the other side of the mountains are outcast but used to be considered clans. When they went to war, they all became war clans instead of just clans and adopted the War Protocols, which have since been mostly discontinued. The Hilakhot consist of 5-6 clans, the Vannu 2-3, the Paschtha 7, and the Daanni, I’m not quite sure, and the clans consist of large, exogamous bands. You don’t know everybody in your clan, but you might know most people in your band if it’s a smaller one and the band mostly lives together.

As they urbanized and due to the war they came out of, there was a lot more centralization and mixing of all the clans into cities and educational spaces, but there’s an annual clans gathering where everyone sorts themselves out into their proper groups every year, swear fealties, confirm recognitions, and all the clan leaders do a political session with input from their band leaders before they all go back to their lives for the rest of the year.

So overall, yeah, large at this point. You might as well have four nations, but they refuse to reorganize into a nation-like governmental structure and are only starting on having political relationships much beyond their immediate neighbors.

Vocab

Kofnes-Utsae (Adan / Kolos)

huanrhye poku / baso – whereas setze bread is basically unseasoned dough until cooked, huanrhye is dough stuffed with butter, seasoning, and bits of filling, where poku is savory meat and/or vegetables and baso is fruit or sweets. Huanrhye is cooked “dry”, that is without oil, traditionally baked, and is considered a snack rather than a proper meal item.

setse – bread deep-fried in seasoned oil in a pot, also the name of the traditional meal made with setse, where ke’esh (rice) is immediately deep fried after the removal of the bread, then yusoit (meat, sometimes with vegetables) is immediately deep fried after that in the same oil, and all are served together with a sauce. When plattered, the sauce is poured over all three parts of the meal. When plated, each portion and the sauce are in separate bowls. Setse is considered one of the three main traditional meals of the kofu, that is the war clans.