Arcaicam Esperantom

Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Template:Esperanto sidebar (Template:Langx; Template:Langx, ), is a constructed auxiliary sociolect for translating literature into Esperanto created to act as a fictional 'Old Esperanto', in the vein of languages such as Middle English or the use of Latin citations in modern texts.

It was created by linguist Template:Ill as part of a range of stylistic variants including Gavaro (slang) and Popido (patois), forming .

Halvelik also compiled a scientific vocabulary closer to Greco-Latin roots and proposed its application to fields such as taxonomy and linguistics. He gave this register of Esperanto the name (, , 'Universal Esperanto').

The idea of an "old Esperanto" was proposed by the Hungarian poet Kálmán Kalocsay who in 1931 included a translation of the Funeral Sermon and Prayer, the first Hungarian text (12th century), with hypothetic forms as if Esperanto were a Romance language deriving from Vulgar Latin.

(the sociolect triple) does not create new Esperantidos (e.g. Esperanto II), but its sole purpose—including Arcaicam Esperantom—is to reflect styles in literature translated into Esperanto, like the Berlin Middle-German dialect spoken by characters in Carl Zuckmayer's Captain of Köpenick (Popido), or ancient styles in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (Arcaicam Esperantom).

thus constitutes not three new constructed languages, but constructed auxiliary sociolects for Esperanto, understandable by every reader of Esperanto but still providing the stylistic differences between dialects (Popido), slang (Gavaro), and ancient forms contrasting with , standard Esperanto, e.g. in works of Mark Twain (slang and southern dialect) or The Lord of the Rings (Arcaicam Esperantom for the elves, Popido for the Hobbits).

Differences from Esperanto

File:Manuel Halvelik 1975.JPG

Manuel Halvelik in 1975.

Spelling

Esperanto/Arcaicam esperantom spellings

Esperanto	Arcaicam Esperantom

The three following rules are also added:

• becomes (before ) or (before other letters)
• becomes (before ) or (before other letters)
• becomes (but see below regarding adverbs)

diphthongs

• becomes (but see below regarding adverbs)
• becomes

consonant clusters

• becomes
• becomes
• becomes

Typography

Halvelik recommends blackletter and uncial types.

Pronouns

Pronouns are changed as:

Pronouns—Arcaicam Esperantom compared to Esperanto

English	Esperanto	Arcaicam Esperantom
I
thou/you (singular)
he
she
it
we
you (plural)
they
Reflexive pronoun (pronoun)+self*

*herself/himself/itself/themselves

• There is an old pronoun which is a personal, sex-neutral pronoun (utrum). Its intended use is for referring to deities, angels, animals etc.

Verbs

• The infinitive ends in , rather than in the of modern Esperanto. Ex.: becomes .
• The verb endings change according to the subject. So it is not necessary to write the subject pronoun, where there is no ambiguity.

Ex: The modern Esperanto verb (to be), present tense:

The Arcaicam Esperantom verb (to be), present tense:

The other verb tenses behave the same way, as does the conditional mood:

• The future-tense conjugation becomes , etc.
• The past-tense conjugation becomes , etc.
• The conditional-mood conjugation becomes , etc.

The imperative mood behaves differently from that pattern:

• The imperative form stays for singular subjects, but becomes for plural subjects.

Nominals

Language	Nominative		Accusative		Dative		Genitive
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
Arcaicam Esperantom	~om	~oy	~on	~oyn	~od	~oyd	~es	~eys
Esperanto	~o	~oj	~on	~ojn	al x~o	al x~oj	de ~o	de ~oj

• becomes (sg. noun, nominative)
• becomes (pl. noun, nominative)
• stays (sg. noun, accusative). Where Esperanto has a direction accusative, the dative is used. E.g.: Template:Langx becomes wenordiguit [sic] .
• becomes (pl. noun, accusative)
• x becomes x (sg. noun, dative – ex.: becomes )
• x becomes x (pl. noun, dative – ex.: becomes )
• x becomes x (sg. noun, genitive – ex.: becomes )
• x becomes x (pl. noun, genitive – ex.: becomes )
• becomes (adverb) (This is a new phoneme, not present in modern Esperanto. It is pronounced like the German .)
• becomes (-adverb such as , etc.)
• becomes (sg. adjective, nominative)
• becomes (pl. adjective, nominative)
• A noun is always written with a capital letter. Ex: = .
• The verb infinitive can function as a noun, having the meaning that is carried in modern Esperanto by the root with the suffix . The infinitive functioning as a noun takes, as does any other noun, both a capital letter and a case ending. Ex: = .
• The declension of personal pronouns below, however, differs significantly from declensions of nouns or adjectives. These personal pronouns have their own adjectival forms.

English	Cases				Adjectival form
	Nominative	Genitive	Accusative	Dative
I
you (sg.)
he
she
it
we
you (pl.)
they
(possessive pron.) + -self

Correlatives

• becomes
• becomes
• becomes
• becomes
• becomes
• becomes

(Note: , which in modern Esperanto is not a correlative despite its use in that fashion by some, becomes in Arcaicam Esperantom as a full-fledged correlative.)

• becomes
• becomes
• becomes
• becomes
• becomes
• ( stays )
• ( stays )
• the particle becomes is- ( = )

Articles

• The definite article does not exist in Arcaicam Esperantom. If necessary, a specific person or object can be indicated by means of (in modern Esperanto ).
• The indefinite article, which modern Esperanto does not have, does exist in Arcaicam Esperantom. The indefinite article is (which is the same word for the number 1).

Examples

The Lord's Prayer

Template:Poem quote

Version with cognates in standard Esperanto: Template:Poem quote

Romeo and Juliet

Arcaicam Esperantom		Esperanto:		Shakespeare: R&J II, 2 (Lines rearranged to correspond)
Template:Poem quote		Template:Poem quote		Template:Poem quote

Phrases

• –'Hello everyone, how are you?'
• . – 'He comes from Białystok.'
• ? – 'What is your name?'
• . – 'My name is Peter.'
• . – 'I understand that well.'
• . – 'One hand washes the other (hand).'
• . – '' (Vergil)
• . – '' (Thomas à Kempis)
• . – '' (Julius Caesar)
• . – '' (Plautus)

See also

• Proto-Esperanto
• Esperantido

References

• Arkaika Esperanto : Arcaicam Esperantom. Brugge: Sonorilo, 1969. 122 pages.
• Arkaika Esperanto : Arcaicam Esperantom. 2010 edition. 258 pages. Downloadable as a 9MB PDF file.

External links

• Arcaicam Esperantom at the Conlang Atlas of Language Structures.