Department No. IX · Room 9 · Floor 1

Eight tongues worth a longer look.

Latin for the record, Greek for the argument, Icelandic for the sagas, Welsh for the signage, Basque for the mystery, Māori for the welcome, Inuktitut for the snow of grammar, Esperanto for the hope.

VIIITongues heard

IIDead but legible

IMade to order

Why these tongues are kept

The Institute keeps eight tongues the way other departments keep spare keys: because someone will ask. Two are dead and unrepentant. Two are small and stubborn. Two were sleeping and have been politely woken. One is unrelated to anything and declines to explain itself. One was built in a study in 1887 and has been holding meetings ever since.

They are filed together under remarkable, which in Room 9 · Floor 1 means worth the shelf space. Dead tongues are kept for the record. Sleeping and revived tongues are kept for the precedent. Living small tongues are kept for the principle. The constructed tongue is kept because it pays its subscription promptly and never borrows the chairs.

Within this department

The Rare Atlas — all eight sheets, with phrasebook trios.
The Rare Study Room — reverence, one tongue, and the beginners' shelf.
Tongue of the month — changed monthly; see below.

Tongue of the monthSeptember · Room 9 · Floor 1

Latin

Dead · on duty.

Caesar divides Gaul; teachers divide the period into parsing.

Open the sheet in the Rare Atlas

Sheet 01

Latin Dead · on duty

Italic · Latin script · 0 native speakers; Vatican, liturgy, scholarship.

Where heard. The Vatican, the Mass in its older form, courtrooms by quotation, classrooms, and any inscription meant to outlast the building.

Script. The Latin alphabet, originally twenty-three letters without J, U, or W. Pronunciation is by agreement, which is the polite term for a century-long committee dispute.

"Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres." — Caesar opens the war report; every schoolboy since has declined tres.

Hello: Salvē
Thank you: Gratias tibi
Goodbye: Valē

Sheet 04

Welsh Living · signposted

Celtic, Brythonic · Latin script · c. 900k speakers; Wales and the Chubut.

Where heard. Throughout Wales, in school, Senedd, chapel and rugby commentary; in Patagonia, where it emigrated and stayed.

Script. Latin letters with digraphs counted as single letters: ll, dd, ff, rh, ch and friends. The initial consonant mutates according to grammar, which is not a defect.

"Mae'r ddraig yn cysgu ond yn gwylio." — the dragon sleeps but watches; also the motto on certain road signs, loosely interpreted.

Hello: Helo
Thank you: Diolch
Goodbye: Hwyl

Pronunciation hour: Tuesdays, 17.00. Icelandic þ practised with tea. Latin pronunciation disputes referred to the corridor.
Lost property: One ablative absolute, found under Chair 3. Claimants to decline it in full. Study room.
Full atlas: Sheets 01–08 are filed in the Rare Atlas. Open the Rare Atlas.