Blath

Hen Linge

Etymology

From an invisible proto-language.
The etymology of this word comes from an invisible proto-language. If you're confident you know the etymology, feel free to add it, but reader beware should the etymology be added by someone other than the creator of the language!

Source

Coined by Andrzej Sapkowski in the book The Last Wish.

Source Spelling

blath (analogized from blathanna)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈblaθ/

Orthographic Form

blath

Noun

blath (class 3 singular, plural blathana)

1. flower

Derived Terms

• neirblath

 

Creation and Usage Notes

This word comes from the name of former kingdom of the elves in The Witcher universe Dol Blathana "The Valley of Flowers" (in Sapkowski's spelling Dol Blathanna). Some have suggested that blathanna, as it's written in Sapkowski's work, is evidence that Hen Linge has cases, and that blathanna is the genitive plural of "flower". They've suggested that Sapkowski, as a Polish speaker, would draw on knowledge of his own native language, which has a number of cases. I disagree with this logic. First, there is no evidence of noun case in any Hen Linge material created by Sapkowski himself—even in places where a noun case would seem quite natural. Second, many instances where there might be a noun case construction have been replaced with prepositional phrases. There is also evidence of variant plural strategies. A far more likely explanation is that this a case of noun-noun juxtaposition, which is used elsewhere, and that -anna is simply another plural strategy. Perhaps a more likely explanation is that Sapkowski used this genitival construction (and one other, for a singular) in place names only, and eschewed (or forgot about) them elsewhere, but I find this solution (the plural solution) to be a kinder interpretation of the extant material. -David J. Peterson 15:49, 8 August 2023 (PDT)