Mootish, also known as Haffennaff among its speakers, is the language spoken by the Halflings of Mootland. It is very obscure outside of the Moot, and is the only language most Halfings speak other than the more common Reikspiel.[1a]
This language is a conglomeration of a since-lost ancient Halfling tongue and every other language they have encountered. It contains bits of Grumbarth, the Ogre tongue, Classical, and some Imperial Reikspiel, and indeed some Reikspiel words come from Haffennaff, such as the word "Halfling" itself which is a Reikspiel mangling of "Haffen." Since the language is related to Reikspiel, most Mootlanders can switch back and forth easily, and drag words and conventions back and forth.[2a]
Linguistic Characteristics[]
- Dropped consonants - Where two or more consonants are together in a word, the extra ones tend to disappear in Mootish. So Halfling is "haffen," farmer is "fammer," hungry is "hunny," Ogre is "ogie."
- Vowel lengthening - Short words that end in vowels often have extra vowels added, or used as links to the next word. "How do you do" becomes "Hoodoodee," and "No thanks" becomes simply "Noot."
- Metaphor reversals - Halflings enjoy lots of metaphors and metonymy and then reverse them in slang. Since one says "as cunning as a fox," a fox can be known as a "cunner" in Mootish. Judges are "sobers," merchants are "honests," soldiers are "straits." Dwarfs are "drunkies," Elves are "lonelies," and Humans are "dafties."
- Hand gestures - Emphasis and a sense of scale can be added not with words but with adding hand gestures which to outsiders seem unrelated, confusing and obscene. For example, someone addressing a crowd in Mootish might not say "Greetings to you all" but simply shout "Hoodoo" and let the arm gesture express "to everyone."