Introduction

Nordsippisk is the formal name of a constructed Germanic-flavored language built around predictable morphology, transparent spelling, and easy construction and deconstruction of phrases.

The name is transparently analyzable:

• nord — north / northern
• sipp — family / kin group
• -isk — belonging to, originating from, or categorically associated with

The rough sense is of the northern kin/family.

Nordsippisk borrows freely from Proto-Germanic and its descendants when a historical root fits the desired sound and meaning. It does not attempt to be a historically plausible descendant language. Historical material is raw material, not a constraint.

The central goal is that a speaker should be able to:

1. see an unfamiliar derived word and mechanically decompose it;
2. take a known root and mechanically build useful new forms;
3. pronounce written forms predictably;
4. express ordinary thoughts without memorizing large sets of irregular forms.

A literal English gloss may sound strange. That is acceptable. Nordsippisk is not intended to be English grammar with Germanic-looking vocabulary.

Purpose of this book

The Reference is the clean statement of current canon. This Dev Book preserves the messier work around it: rationale, experiments, provisional forms, rejected candidates, usage discoveries, and questions that should be settled by actual use rather than premature specification.

A form appearing here is not automatically canon. Current proposals are labeled explicitly, and new material defaults to provisional until it is deliberately bound.