The Celeste Tongue

Known elements of the language of the Celeste.

Words

Lor means “great” and sha “home tree.” Lule means “moon” — lul is also accepted, and the shorter form is the one used when a suffix follows. Syt is “blade,” syv “forest,” mah “purpose” or “reason,” and yal “journey.” Mayal — the h of mah dropped in the joining — is a journey with a purpose: a quest. Cala is “song” and steh “person”; a caliah is a singer, and a calsteh’ene is a bard. The hav (or have) is a bird that lives in the home trees; the feathers of the Celeste cloaks come from it.

Suffixes

The suffix -'ane marks the singular, -'une the plural, and -'ene means immortal or endless. Thus a single Celeste is a Celeste’ane and several are Celeste’une; the giant home trees are the sha’ene, “the immortal trees”; and the Lor’Sha’Une is “the great home trees.”

The suffix -iah turns an adjective into a person. Shei is an adjective for one who is a master at something, so a sheiah is a sage, teacher, master, or captain among the Celeste’une; a genitive rule removes the doubled i, hence sheiah rather than sheiiah. A vaiah is a youth or apprentice, and a taiah a trained adult.

The eree

An eree is a triad — a team or group. Celeste’une usually go about in threes, and an eree typically consists of a sheiah, a taiah, and a vaiah.