The Olympian Language

Olympian is an Indo-European language spoken by the barbarian overlords who rule Mount Olympus. From there, they launch raids that ravage the surrounding countryside. Later ages deified them as gods. The name Zeus derives directly from the Olympian word ʒīw, meaning “god”.

Olympian is a genderless language with a default SOV word order. OSV word order is used to topicalize the object, and historical cases have decayed into clitics. The language is directly descended from the Titanic language Othryian.

In some ways, Olympian is a very archaic language. In other ways, it has been radically simplified.

Phonology

• Stops: p, b, t, d, k, g
• Fricatives: v, ð, ʒ, ɣ, h, ʁ
• Nasals: m, n, ɲ
• Liquid / glides: l, ʎ, w, y
• Short oral vowels: i, a, u (e and o are rare, occurring almost exclusively in diphthongs or as nasals)
• Long vowels: ī, ū, ē, ō
• Nasal vowels: ĩ, ẽ, ã, õ, ũ
• Front-rounded vowel: ü (< iu)
• Diphthongs: ei, ou, au, ai, ia (including nasal variants)

Phonotactics and Stress

The maximum syllable structure is CCVCC, though syllables are typically smaller. Permitted onsets include stop+liquid (pʁ, bʁ, tʁ, vʁ), stop+glide (tw, dy, kw), and palatal sonorant clusters (ʎ, ɲw). Three-consonant onsets have been eliminated entirely. Codas allow for a single consonant, a glide+sibilant cluster (such as wʒ or yʒ), a nasal-vowel+obstruent, or a sonorant+obstruent.

The Ghost of the Sibilants: Historical sibilants underwent debuccalization and eventual deletion. When this occurred word-medially before a consonant, it triggered compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel (e.g., *\*VsT* > *\*V:T*). However, when sibilants dropped word-initially before a stop (e.g., PIE *\*st-*), there was no preceding vowel to lengthen; instead, it resulted in bare fortis stops (t, p, k) that resist voicing assimilation in modern Olympian.

Prosody: Stress is fixed by weight on a four-tier scale: long vowel (4) > diphthong / nasal (3) > closed-short (2) > open-short (1). Ties resolve to the leftmost heavy syllable. Critically, a word-final closed-short syllable is demoted to light status. This stress system explains why every Othryian -u ending reduces and apocopates: the stress is pulled rightward to the heaviest non-final syllable, leaving the grammatical case suffix weak and vulnerable to erosion.

Nouns and Plurality

Nouns occur in a single invariant form. Historically, the Othryian Direct (nominative) -u was prosodically weak and reduced to a schwa, then either dropped completely (e.g., dīwu > ʒīw) or strengthened to -a where cluster constraints forbade the drop (e.g., uni > ũa). The Objective (accusative) endings -un and -um nasalized into a final nasal vowel (e.g., umtun > ũã). The Possessive, Dative, Instrumental, and Vocative endings all reduced or dropped. Olympian speakers eventually reanalyzed these resulting variant surface endings as lexical accidents.

Number is unmarked on most nouns. When necessary, plurality is indicated by numerals, the quantifier muʁya (“many”, from Othryian muriyo), or the enclitic =a in a partitive construction (“of the _”). A fossilized plural -ou survives in a few archaic and ritual forms, such as dīwou (“the gods”), which is used in formal invocations.

Clitics and Case Markers

All five clitics are unstressed and bind phonologically to the preceding word. They participate in the host’s stress domain but do not themselves attract stress. Hiatus across the clitic boundary is resolved by a glide-epenthesis rule: inserting y after front vowels and w after back vowels. The clitic itself maintains a fixed surface form, similar to the Persian ezafe -e/-ye.

• Genitive (=a): Derived from Othryian i (relative). Marks possessor, adnominal modifier, and compound head-marking.
• Differential Object (=nã): Derived from Othryian an (definite marker). Marks specific direct objects, typically definite, human, or otherwise prominent referents, mirroring the Persian -rā and Hindi -ko systems. A bare object is non-specific or indefinite (ʒīw aũ “he sees a god / gods”) versus a marked definite object (ʒīw=nã aũ “he sees the god”). Applies to definite/animate direct objects only.
• Instrumental / Comitative (=miu): Derived from Othryian me (“with”). Indicates instrument, means, or accompaniment.
• Locative / Dative (=ẽ): Derived from Othryian en (“in”). Indicates location, goal, or indirect object.
• Ablative / Source (=aw): Derived from Othryian au (“from”). Indicates source, origin, partitive, or “than”.

Examples:

• uʁeiʒ=a eiʁd (king=GEN heart) “the king’s heart”
• ũa=miu ʒweiʁ vĩ (sword=INS wild.beast strike-3SG) “with a sword he strikes the wild beast”
• ðeʒã=aw piawʁ oua (earth=ABL fire rises=swift) “from the earth fire rises swiftly”

Pronouns

Form	1st Sg.	2nd Sg.	1st Pl.	Proximal (PROX)	Distal (DIST)
Direct (DIR)	iʒou	tū	wiy	i	u
Objective (OBJ)	mei	twei	nou	ĩ	ũ
Possessive (POSS)	miɲ	iw	uya	(Uses =a clitic)	(Uses =a clitic)

The proximal i (from Othryian i, from Ouranian še) is a demonstrative, relativizer, and the source of the genitive clitic =a. The distal u (from Othryian u, from Ouranian so) is grammaticalizing toward a definite article in formal narrative contexts: u uʁeiʒ “the king (we were speaking of)”.

Olympian requires overt subject pronouns in most contexts. This is the direct structural consequence of verbal syncretism. Because a single present ending -i covers the 2sg, 3sg, and 2pl forms, recovering person from context alone became unreliable. Therefore, pronouns placed directly in front of the verb carry the necessary grammatical weight.

Verbs

Othryian iθi (3sg, and 2pl) and -ī (2sg) both yielded Olympian -i after undergoing palatalization, deaffrication, and apocope. The response, mirroring the evolution of French and Middle English, was to promote subject pronouns to an obligatory status.

Modern Olympian Conjugation: viʁi- “carry”

Person	Present	Past
1st Sg.	viʁou	viʁã
2nd Sg.	viʁi	viʁ
3rd Sg.	viʁi	viʁt
1st Pl.	viʁum	viʁã=wiy (Periphrastic)
2nd Pl.	viʁi	viʁã=tū-wiy (Periphrastic)
3rd Pl.	viʁũ	viʁũt

Because the present 2sg, 3sg, and 2pl are identical (viʁi), they must be disambiguated by the subject pronoun: tū viʁi “you (sg) carry”, u viʁi “he/she carries”, tū-wiy viʁi “you (pl) carry” (using the innovative plural-marking clitic -wiy). The “finite marker” -i has effectively been reanalyzed as a general present-tense inflection. Similarly, -t (from the old 3sg past -it) has generalized as a past-tense marker carried by most persons.

The Periphrastic Plural Past: The historical 1st and 2nd person plural past forms were lost during the apocope shift. To fill this gap, modern speakers developed a periphrastic construction fusing the active participle with the plural enclitic. Thus, “we carried” is rendered as viʁã=wiy (literally “carrying-we”) and “you all carried” as viʁã=tū-wiy.

Historical Etymology

Person	Othryian Ancestor	PIE Ancestor
1st Sg.	virou / virun	*-ō / *-om
2nd Sg.	virī / viri	*-esi / *-es
3rd Sg.	viriθi / virit	*-eti / *-et
1st Pl.	virumu	*-omos
2nd Pl.	viriθi	*-ete
3rd Pl.	virunti / virunt	*-onti / *-ont

Imperative: The 2sg is the bare stem: viʁ! “carry!”, vĩ! “strike!” (< vin-), ʒnou! “know!”. The 3sg imperative survives strictly in archaic ritual commands: viʁü! “let him carry!” (< Othryian viriθu, with iu monophthongizing to ü).

Participles: The active participle is -ã (< Othryian -unt), producing forms like viʁã “carrying, one who carries”. The passive participle is a zero-morph -ø (< Othryian -tu), producing forms like viʁ “carried, borne”, which is homophonous with the 2sg past.

Syntax

SOV word order is required in neutral discourse: wiy ʒweiʁ=nã vĩum (1PL beast=DOM strike-1PL) “we strike the beast”. OSV is employed to topicalize the object.

The noun phrase is strictly head-final. Modifiers precede the head: adjective + noun (muʁ wīʁ “dead hero”), numeral + noun (tʁi ʒweiʁ “three beasts”), and genitive + head via clitic (uʁeiʒ=a eiʁd “king’s heart”). A demonstrative + noun uses the distal u in a weak-article role: u uʁeiʒ “the (aforementioned) king”.

• miɲ pueiʁ=a ũa tū=nã vĩ (1SG.POSS father=GEN sword 2SG=DOM strike-3SG) “my father’s sword strikes you”

Relative clauses are head-final, using i as the relativizer. The relative clause precedes its head noun: [i vĩ] wīʁ “the hero who strikes”, translating literally to “[who strikes] hero”. This structure mirrors the Persian pattern ([ke mizanad] pahlavān).

Yes/no questions are formed by sentence-final rising intonation with no overt marker. Content questions use interrogative pronouns (kwa “who?”; kwi “what?”) in situ, fronted only for emphasis.

The negative particle ɲi (< Othryian ne < PIE *ne, palatalized before the front vowel) precedes the finite verb: u ɲi vĩ “he does not strike”. Clause-initial ɲi delivered with emphatic stress expresses absolute denial: ɲi! kwa ʒnou “No! Who knows?”.

Sample Text

nu=a ɲiw=a ueiʁ,
“Star of the night, of the cloud-sky,”

uʁeiʒ=a uyha ia.
“the king’s oath stands firm.”

ʎiw unmuʁ ia, ʒīw ia.
“glory is immortal, god endures.”

Olympian Lexicon (Alphabetized by Category)

Note on Semantic Shifts: As the Olympians established their rule, older terminology shifted to reflect administrative and theological concepts. For example, ʁiw (raw flesh) became a derogatory term for mortal subjects; uʁyun (war-chief) shifted to mean a sovereign judge; and ʒeimã (custom) formalized into the concept of divine law. Conversely, words like u (life-force) adopted connotations aligned with entropic decay.

Sacred and Ritual

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
alive/living	bīwu	bīw
blood	iaur	iauʁ
breath/spirit	unimu	uɲim
burning/fuel	iyðu	iyða
custom / divine law	ðeimun	ʒeimã
earthling/mortal	dʒimoun	ʒimoũ
fame/glory	liwu	ʎiw
fire / administrative hearth	peawur	piawʁ
god	dīwu	ʒīw
god/divine	ðei	ʒei
holy/strong	uwdu	uw
immortal	unmurtu	unmuʁ
imperishable	undviθun	ũdviũ
king	ureiʒ	uʁeiʒ
life-force / entropic decay	uyu	u
mind/fury	minu	min
oath	uyθu	uyha
pours/libates	ʒiwθi	ʒiw
race/kin	ʒinu	ʒin
smoke/incense	ðiwu	ʒiw
song/chant	inu	in
speech/fame	veamea	viam
word/voice	wifu	wü

Sky and Time

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
dawn	uwou	uwou
moon/month	meiun	meiã
night	nut	nu
sky god	dyeiw	ʒyeiw
solar	iūlu	iyūw
star	uteir	ueiʁ
sun	ouwul	ouw
wind	weiuntu	weiũ
winter	ʒiyoun	ʒioũ
year/season	yeiur	yeiʁ

Nature and Animals

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
barley	ulvit	uwvat
beach	veaʒu	viaʒa
cloud/sky	nivu	ɲiw
cow	bouw	bouw
dog	wou	wou
earth	ðiʒoun	ʒiʒoũ
grain	ʒurunun	ʒuʁunã
horse	iwu	iwa
mouse	mū	mū
sheep	uwi	uw
snow	nīp	ɲī
tree/wood	duru	duʁ
water (f.)	ufea	uyia
water (n.)	wudur	wuʁ
wolf	wulpu	wuw
woman/wife	binea	binia

Kinship

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
brother	vreaθeir	vʁiāʁ
daughter	ðuguθeir	ðuwueiʁ
daughter-in-law	nū	nua
father	puθeir	pueiʁ
mother	meaθeir	miāʁ
sister	wiour	wiouʁ
son	ūnu	ūn
widow	iwiðiwu	iwiʒiw

Body and Self

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
bone	uti	ua
ear	ouw	ouw
eye	up	u
foot	poud	pou
heart	eird	eiʁd
knee	ʒunu	ʒun
man	uneir	uneiʁ
nail/claw	unup	un
name	inumun	inumã
tongue	dunʒwea	dũʒwea
tooth	udunt	uã

Verbs

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
becomes/grows	vūθi	vū
binds	vinðiθi	vĩʒi
carries	viriθi	viʁi
comes	bimiθi	bimi
conveys	wiʒiθi	wiʒi
dares/is bold	ðiriθi	ʒiʁi
drives	uʒiθi	uʒi
eats	itti	i
feeds/guards	peati	piā
follows	īθi	ī
gazes/beholds	diriθi	ʒiʁi
gives	douθi	dou
hears	liwiθi	ʎiwi
increases	uwdʒiθi	uwʒi
is	iti	ia
knows	ʒnouθi	ʒnou
pierces/impales	bilti	biw
places	ðeiθi	ʒei
praises	birti	biʁ
sees	wītti	wī
sits (in judgment)	idiθi	iʒi
sows	eiθi	ei
stands	teaθi	ia
strides	tīʒiθi	īʒi
strikes/slays	vinti	vĩ
thinks	minti	mĩ
thunders	tinuθi	inu
watches	pīθi	pī

Adjectives

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
black/dark	urnu	uʁna
bright/light	liwku	ʎiw
bright/white	viriʒu	viʁiʒa
dead	murtu	muʁ
deep/dark	ðiwbu	ʒiw
fitted/proper	iru	iʁ
free	iliwðiru	iʎiwʒiʁ
full	pulinu	puʎin
great/mighty	migea	miyia
high	virʒu	viʁʒa
light (weight)	ilinvru	iʎĩvʁa
long	dulɣu	duwɣa
middle	miðyu	miʒya
new	niwu	ɲiw
old	inu	in
pure/cleansed	piwunu	piwun
raw/bloody	oumu	oum
red	iruðu	iʁu
sharp/keen	uru	uʁa
swift	oū	oua
true/sworn	weiru	weiʁ
unconquered	eaviθu	iaw
warm/heat	vuru	vuʁ

Numbers

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
eight	utouw	utouw
five	pinpi	pĩp
four	pitwuri	pitwuʁ
hundred	umtun	ũã
nine	iniwun	iɲiwã
seven	iptun	iptã
six	wi	wi
ten	diumt	ʒiãt
three	triyi	tʁi

Things and Culture

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
axle	u	u
door	ðwiʁ	ðwiʁ
egg	uwyun	uwyã
house	dumu	dum
mead	miðu	mü
path/way	piθumu	püm
plow	urutrun	uʁutʁã
salt	eal	iaw
silver/shining	urʒuntun	uʁʒũã
spring (season)	wiur	wiaʁ
stone	umou	umou
wheel	piplu	pipla
yoke	yugun	yuã

Sword and Sorcery / Expanded Lexicon

Meaning	Othryian	Olympian
birth/clan	ʒiniθi	ʒiɲia
cattle/wealth	piu	pi
craftsman/smith	tiku	ika
darkness/gloom	iribu	iʁiw
fortress	uru	uʁa
gold	uwun	uwã
hero/man	wīru	wīʁ
horn	urunun	uʁunã
incantation	wipti	wipa
javelin/spit	biru	biʁ
metal/bronze	uyu	u
orphan/bereaved	urvu	uʁva
people/tribe	tiuθea	ü
raw flesh / mortal subjects	riwu	ʁiw
serpent	uvi	uw
shield	pilun	pilã
ship/boat	niu	ɲü
snake	unvi	ũva
spear	ʒeiu	ʒeia
standing-stone	tealu	iaw
stranger/enemy	ɣuti	ɣua
sword	uni	ũa
war-chief / sovereign judge	uryunu	uʁyun
war-host	uri	uʁ
war-levy	leawu	liaw
wild beast	ʒweir	ʒweiʁ