Kaltxì nìmun, ma eylan. Srane, oel mi tok fìtsenget! 🙂 I’m afraid I’ve been preoccupied with other things lately, but I’ve been sitting on some great suggestions from the LEP for some time now, and I wanted to get those words to you without any more delay. In a few cases I’ve made some changes, but the words and examples below are mostly as submitted to me. Tìkangkem atxantsan, ma smuk!

’on si (vin.) ‘shape; give shape (to something)’

This si-verb can be used either for physical shaping or, metaphorically, for giving shape to something abstract like an idea, relationship, etc.

Oe ’on si tskxeru fte na ikran livam.

‘I shape a rock to look like an ikran.’

Olo’ìri poan zusawkrrur ’on soli.

‘He shaped the tribe’s future.’

kxange (vin., KXA.nge, inf. 1,2) ‘yawn’

As on earth, yawning can be a result of fatigue or boredom.

(Note: The original submission had kxange as a noun, with the verb as kxange si, but I thought that the verbal form was more basic.)

Oe kxìmange taluna ’efu ngeyn.

‘I just yawned because I feel tired.’

Keng krra sänumvi eltur tìtxen ke si, nga sweylu txo ke kxivange mì numtseng.

‘Even when the lesson isn’t interesting, you shouldn’t yawn in school.’

säkxange (n., sä.KXA.nge) ‘a yawn’

walew (vin., wa.LEW, inf. 1,2) ‘get over, accept some fact, reconcile oneself, move on’

This verb expresses the psychological state of accepting or reconciling oneself to some negative fact or occurrence.

Furia oe yawne ke lu Va’rur nulkrr, ke tsängun oe wivalew.

‘I can’t get over the fact that Va’ru no longer loves me.’

Tìska’ari Kelutralä Na’vi wayalew pefya?

‘With the destruction of Hometree, how will the Na’vi ever move on?’

nìnew (adv., nì.NEW) ‘voluntarily, willingly, by desire’

This is clearly the adverbial form of new ‘want.’ It indicates something was done willingly or voluntarily, not through coercion. Nìnew is different from nìtkan, which has the sense of doing something on purpose or deliberately as opposed to accidentally.

Nga tsakem soli nìnew srak?!

‘You did that without being asked to?!’

Tsasänumvit oel poru kayeiar nìnew!

‘I’m happy to teach him that lesson!’

Oel pelun ftxalmey nìnew futa srung si skxawngur anafì’u?

‘Why did I choose, of my own free will, to help such a fool?’

tawtxew (n., TAW.txew) ‘horizon, skyline’

The horizon is the “edge (txew) of the sky” where the sky seems to touch the land or water.

Several adpositions can be used with tawtxew to indicate positions right on the horizon (sìnor ro), in front of the horizon, i.e. in the distance almost at the skyline (eo), behind the horizon, i.e. partially visible, partially sunk below the horizon (uo), etc.

Lu ayram sìn tawtxew.

‘There are mountains on the horizon.’ (I.e. exactly on the skyline).

Naranawmä mawl mi lu uo tawtxew.

‘Half of Polyphemus is still behind the horizon.’ (I.e. overlapping the skyline, partially invisible)

frir (n.) ‘layer’

Tskxepayri lu frir aflì sìn ’ora.

‘There’s a thin layer of ice on the lake.’

Fayfrir letskxe lor lu nìtxan.

‘These stone layers are very beautiful.’

Derivations:

lefrir (adj., le.FRIR) ‘layered’

nìfrir (adv., nì.FRIR) ‘in layers’

leyr (adj.) ‘frozen’

Ke tsun ioang rivun syuvet mì hllte aleyr.

‘Animals can’t find food in the frozen ground.’

To say something freezes, use slu ‘become’ along with leyr:

Mì zìsìkrr atxawew slu ayora leyr.

‘In the very cold season, the lakes freeze.’

leyr si (vin.) ‘freeze (something)’

Leyr si, although a si-verb and therefore intransitive, conveys the transitive sense of “freeze” in English:

Txo awnga fìtsnganur leyr sivi, tsun tsat yivom kintrray.

‘If we freeze this meat, we can eat it next week.’

Hayalovay!