Linguistic Archaeology: giving sounds to symbols in a cave

 

Apparently these are some of the most common symbols across caves around the world... but how do you give them Spoken sounds?

Ideally you go to the most common values in the dev. Chains associated with words and phrases and match them to the symbols.

Assuming the cross-hatch means to weave, we can apply the 'Ae' phonetic sound which we get from 'to weave'. Likewise if that is 'tree' we can apply 'Ar' to it. 

To weave -tree (bark used by come people in cloth-making) might be:

• Ae-Ar
• Ar-Ae

Finding these on a cave wall could be medicine made from chewing the bark used in cloth making, or it could be plant fibers used to weave baskets and cloth, it could be fishing net.

It becomes a symbol-phonetic matching game. And based on a few of those symbols I'm probably going to have to look up snake, zig-zag, and testicles.

The Terran Dictionary

Terran       English
1. Ac
2. Ad           Cold;
3. Aw
4. Ab
5. Ah
6. Al             Curse; to Fly; Slave; Milk; to Hunger; Village; Lightning; Blue (colour); Plough; Fleece; Wolf;
7. As            Saturn; Sand; Forest; Ghost; Japanese Flowers; 72 Spirits of the Brazen vessels;
8. At             Hold Portal; to Tattoo; Plateau; Taboo; to Vomit; to Cut; to Fight; Star;
9. Am           Mask; Mother; Champion; Honey;
10. Ae             to Observe; to Harvest; Oar; Place of Fear; to Carve; Ancestor; to Shapeshift; Middle Earth; The World Tree; Goat; to Weave; To Laugh;
11. Ao             Swamp; Loud; Gold; Horse; The Eye; Fire;
12. An             Japanese Honourifics; Volcano; Charm Person; Canoe; to Sing; Treasure; Mountain; Dwarf; The Moon is a Bow; The Pillars of Heaven; Swim; Dungeon; Ring; to Journey; to Circumcise; The Moon; Sun;
13. Ak             to Dig; Crow; to Fuck; Axe; Dog; Chicken;
14. Au              Egg; God;
15. Ai               Arabic Numerals; Knife; Purple (colour); Japanese Rivers; Vertical Water; Coast; to Fish; Island; Detect Magic; Grandmother; Magic; to Bathe; to Give Birth; to Shelter; Darkness; Giant; Spear; Goddess; Ice; River; Witch; to Ride; Reed; Twins;
16. Ar              to Talk; Waterfall; Eagle; Walls; to Burn; Road; Copper; Green (colour); Tree; Wheel; Dragon; Mars; Curly-Haired;
17. Ag             Cave;
18. Le             Ale; Elf;
19. La             Sail; Light;
20. Ri
21. Rh
22. Re
23. Ra             Red (colour);
24. Ma            Dead
25. Si              Secret
26. Sr              Monster
27. So
28. Su
29. Sa
30. Ha
31. To            Comet
32. Ta             Eight (number)
33. Ti
34. Tl
35. Te
36. Eh
37. Er
38. Eo
39. Et
40. En
41. Ea
42. Ei
43. Nr
44. Nh
45. Ne
46. Ng           Korean Rivers;
47. Ni              Indigo;
48. Na            Nine (number); Vietnamese Rivers;
49. Ir
50. Io
51. Ia            Japanese Mountains;
52. It            Jupiter;
53. Ua
54. Ol
55. Oe
56. Oa
57. Oc
58. Oi
59. Ka         Animals (Any type);

Unspecified
1. [A/R]           Colour (non-specific);
2. [A/S]           Salt;
3. N[O/S]        Zero (number);
4. A[L/I]          Eel;
5. [K/E/B]       Berserk;