Wenedyk


Wenedyk is a naturalistic constructed language, created by the Dutch translator Jan van Steenbergen. It is used in the fictional Republic of the Two Crowns, in the alternate timeline of Ill Bethisad. Officially, Wenedyk is a descendant of Vulgar Latin with a strong Slavic admixture, based on the premise that the Roman Empire incorporated the ancestors of the Poles in their territory. Less officially, it tries to show what Polish would have looked like if it had been a Romance instead of a Slavic language. On the Internet, it is well-recognized as an example of the altlang genre, much like Brithenig and Breathanach.
The idea for the language was inspired by such languages as Brithenig and Breathanach, languages that bear a similar relationship to the Celtic languages as Wenedyk does to Polish. The language itself is based entirely on Latin and Polish: all phonological, morphological, and syntactic changes that made Polish develop from Common Slavic are applied to Vulgar Latin. As a result, vocabulary and morphology are predominantly Romance in nature, whereas phonology, orthography and syntax are essentially the same as in Polish. Wenedyk uses the modern standard Polish orthography, including for and for.
Wenedyk plays a role in the alternate history of Ill Bethisad, where it is one of the official languages of the . In 2005 Wenedyk underwent a major revision due to a better understanding of Latin and Slavic sound and grammar changes. In the process, the author was assisted by the Polish linguist Grzegorz Jagodziński.
The dictionary on the WWW page linked below contains over 4000 entries.
The language has acquired some media attention in Poland, including a few online news articles and an article in the monthly Wiedza i Życie.

Spelling and pronunciation

Wenedyk uses the Polish alphabet, which consists of the following 32 letters :
Also, there are seven digraphs, representing five phonemes :
Pronunciation is exactly as in Polish. Stress almost always falls on the penultimate syllable. A preposition and a pronoun are generally treated as one word, and therefore, when the pronoun has only one syllable, the preposition is stressed.

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

Wenedyk does not have articles. This is a feature that distinguishes Wenedyk from all natural Romance languages. The reason for this is that Vulgar Latin showed only a rudimentary tendency toward the formation of articles, whereas they are absent in Polish and most other Slavic languages.
Nouns, pronouns and adjectives can have three genders, two numbers, and three cases:
Wenedyk also has a vocative case. In most cases it has the same form as the direct case, but there are exceptions: O potrze! "Oh father!"
Nouns can be subdivided into four declensions. They are similar to the declension system in Latin:
Adjectives always agree in gender, number and case with the noun they modify. They can be placed both before and after it.

Pronouns

Unlike nouns, adjectives and other pronouns, personal pronouns do not use the direct case, but preserve the distinction between the nominative and accusative instead. They are displayed in the following chart:

Verbs

s are inflected for person, number, mood and tense. The forms in the present tense are:
Because Latin and Proto-Slavonic had virtually identical person/number inflections, Wenedyk and Polish do also.
Wenedyk verbs have the following moods and tenses:

Word list

Wenedyk vocabulary as published on the internet consists of over 4000 words. Because of how it was developed from Vulgar Latin, Wenedyk words are closest to Italian, but with phonologic differences from Italian which may be compared to those distinguishing Portuguese from Spanish. The following charts of 30 shows what Wenedyk looks like in comparison to a number of other Romance languages; note that unlike Brithenig, where one-quarter of the words resembled Welsh words, only four Wenedyk words resemble Polish words, due to the Slavic languages' greater distance from the Romance languages compared to the Celtic languages:
TermLatinItalianWenedykPolishRomanian
armbrachiumbracciobroczramiębraţ
blacknĭger, nĭgrumneroniegryczarnynegru
city, towncīvĭtās, cīvĭtātemcittàczytaćmiastooraş, cetate
deathmŏrs, mŏrtemmortemroćśmierćmoarte
dogcaniscanekańpiescâine
earauris, aurĭcŭlaorecchiourzykłauchoureche
eggovumuovoówjajkoou
eyeŏcŭlusocchiookiełokoochi
fatherpater, patrempadrepoterzojciectată
fireignis, fŏcusfuocofokogieńfoc
fishpĭscispescepieszczrybapeşte
footpĕs, pĕdempiedepiedźstopapicior
friendamīcusamicoomikprzyjacielamic
greenvĭrĭdisverdewierdzizielonyverde
horseĕquus, cabălluscavallokawałkońcal
Iĕgoiojojaeu
islandīnsŭlaisolaizławyspainsulă
language,
tongue		lĭngualingualęgwajęzyklimbă
lifevītavitawitażycieviaţă
milklac, lactislattełocmlekolapte
namenōmennomenumięimięnume
nightnŏx, nŏctisnottenocnocnoapte
oldvĕtus, vetulusvecchiowiekłystaryvechi
schoolschŏlascuolaszkołaszkołaşcoală
skycaelumcieloczałniebocer
starstēllastellaściołagwiazdastea
toothdĕns, dĕntemdentedzięćząbdinte
voicevōx, vōcemvocewuczgłosvoce
wateraquaacquajekwawodaapă
windvĕntusventowiętwiatrvânt

TermPortugueseSpanishCatalanOccitanFrenchRhaeto-RomanceWenedykBrithenig
armbraçobrazobraçbraçbrasbratschbroczbreich
blacknegronegronegrenegrenoirnairniegrynîr
city, towncidadeciudadciutatciutatcitécitadczytaćciwdad
deathmortemuertemortmòrtmortmortmroćmorth
dogcãoperrogosgos, canchienchaunkańcan
earorelhaorejaorellaaurelhaoreilleuregliaurzykłaorigl
eggovohuevoouuòuœufovówew
eyeolhoojoulluèlhœileglokiełogl
fatherpaipadreparepairepèrebabpoterzpadr
firefogofuegofocfuòcfeufieufokffog
fishpeixepezpeixpeispoissonpeschpieszczpisc
footpépiepeupèpiedpepiedźpedd
friendamigoamigoamicamicamiamiomikefig
greenverdeverdeverdverdvertverdwierdzigwirdd
horsecavalocaballocavallcavalchevalchavalkawałcafall
Ieuyojoieujejaujoeo
islandilhaislaillaillaîleinslaizłaysl
language, tonguelíngualenguallengualengalanguelinguatg,
lieunga		lęgwallinghedig,
llingw
lifevidavidavidavidavievitawitagwid
milkleitelechelletlachlaitlatgłocllaeth
namenomenombrenomnomnomnumnumięnôn
nightnoitenochenitnuèchnuitnotgnocnoeth
oldvelhoviejovièlhvieuxveglwiekłygwegl
schoolescolaescuelaescolaescòlaécolescolaszkołayscol
skycéucielocelcèlcieltschielczałcel
starestrelaestrellaestrellaestelaétoilestailaściołaystuil
toothdentedientedentdentdentdentdzięćdent
voicevozvozveuvotzvoixvuschwuczgwg
wateráguaaguaaiguaaigaeauauajekwaag
windventovientoventventventventwiętgwent

Example


Potrze nostry, kwały jesz en czałór, sąciewkaty si twej numię.

Owień twej rzeń.

Foca si twa włątać, komód en czału szyk i sur cierze.

Da nów odzej nostry pań kocidzany.

I dziemieć nów nostrze dziewta, komód i nu dziemiećmy świew dziewtorzew.

I nie endycz nosz en ciętaceń, uta liwra nosz dzie mału.

Nąk twie są rzeń i pociestać i głurza, o siąprz. Amen.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article I

Tuci ludzie noską sie liwrzy i jekwali z rześpiece świej dzińtacie i swór drzecór. Li są dotaci ku rocenie i koszczęce i dziewię ocar piara wyniałtru en jenie frotrzeńtacie.

Similar languages

In the Ill Bethisad universe, there are two other languages which are related to Wenedyk: Slevan, which is spoken in that universe's counterpart of Slovakia; and Šležan, or Silesian, spoken in Silesia. Šležan mirrors Czech in much the same way Wenedyk does Polish, whereas Slevan, despite being located in Slovakia, is more similar to Hungarian and Croatian in its orthography.
Additionally, in the famous The Adventures of Tintin series, the fictional language Syldavian may be thought of as the Germanic counterpart of Wenedyk, showing what Polish might have looked like if it were a Germanic and not a Slavic language. The nearly extinct Wymysorys language provides another real-life example of this. Ill Bethisad also has such a "Slavo-Germanic" language: Bohemian, spoken in that universe's Czech Republic, developed by amateur Czech linguist Jan Havliš.