Vendergood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vendergood was a constructed language, the invention of the child prodigy William James Sidis.
Sidis described the language in his second book, entitled Book of Vendergood, which he wrote while still a boy. Apparently, the language was mostly based on Latin, but also drew on German and French as well as other Romance languages. It distinguished between eight different conjugations: indicative, potential, imperative absolute, subjunctive, imperative, infinifte, and Sidis's grammatical creations: strongeable and optative. Articles were grouped by gender inflection that one observer described as "more complex than a Japanese verb."
Vendergood employed a base-12 system of numbers, because, as Sidis explained, "The unit in selling things is 12 of those things [dozens] and 12 is the smallest number that has four factors!"
| Vendergood | English |
|---|---|
| eis | one |
| duet | two |
| tre | three |
| quar | four |
| quin | five |
| sex | six |
| sep | seven |
| oo/oe | eight |
| non | nine |
| ecem | ten |
| elevenos | eleven |
| dec | twelve |
| eidec (eis, dec) | thirteen |
The few surviving examples of Vendergood follow:
| Vendergood | English |
|---|---|
| Amevo (-)ne the neania? | Do you love the young man? |
| The toxoteis obscurit. | The bowman obscures. |
| Quen diseois-nar? | What do you learn? (sing.) |
| (Euni) disceuo. | I am learning Vendergood. |
| Obscureuo ecem agrieolai. | I obscure ten farmers. |
While Vendergood is said to be simpler than Esperanto, a comparable language, it is rather difficult to pronounce, and inflexible in grammatical exceptions (though one must remember that it is an invented and not a spoken language). However, it remains a most impressive achievement for a seven-year-old.
[edit] References
- Wallace, Amy, The Prodigy: A biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. 1986. ISBN 0-525-24404-2
