Wenja Language: dwaya

Smarkaka!  Cha alya “dajris warshta” shajay. Sa kraybaman: dwaya dwayas-kwa.

Hello!  Here is the second “Word of the Day” for today.  This post is on dwaya “fear” (verb) and dwayas “fear” (noun).

The word “fear” is a common one in the game. In one of the final missions of the game, Tinsay urges Takkar to steal the Krati’s mask to instill fear in the heart of Batari. U Kratis prashkwa wayda.  U sush-dugishtar dwayas-ha plaha!  “Find Krati’s mask. Fill the sun-daughter with fear!”  (Note some of the concepts we’ve discussed before — u to indicate a command, -ha as a preposition meaning ‘with’)

If you’re like me, you’ll be playing Primal on Survivor mode this week.  (I’m not sure if I’ll be doing Permadeath — I’m not confident in my skills) When you’re out in the world this week playing, the added game mechanics and the reduced power of your beasts will no doubt ta dwayas-ha plaha “fill you with fear.”

Where does this root come from? From PIE *dwey- ‘be afraid’, continued by Ancient Greek deido ‘am afraid’, Armenian erkn ‘fear’, as well as Greek deinós ‘terrible’ (> English dino-saur ‘terrible lizard’) and Latin dirus ‘dire’ (< ‘terrifying’).  Note that the deinós word also has a relative in Wenja dwayna ‘terrible, dire’ seen most commonly in the dwayn-wal ‘dire wolf’