ondèfin /on.dɛˈfin/ — particle, terminal

Marks a thing that exists but has not yet been given its shape. Not absence: the Vessine have a separate word for absence (krei) and consider the confusion of the two a category of rudeness.

A field before planting is ondèfin. A field after harvest is krei. A child is ondèfin until they choose a name, which is done at whatever age the child decides, and which some never do.

Usage

Ta ondèfin, na krei.
It is not-yet, not not-there.

Said to someone who is grieving too early.

Notes

The particle takes no plural, because the language does not accept that not-yet-shaped things can be counted. Early European transcriptions record a plural form; every speaker asked has called this a mistake, politely, and then less politely.

There is one attested use as a verb, in a single 1911 field recording: ondèfinu — roughly, to leave something open on purpose, in the expectation that someone better will arrive.

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The Vessine language has approximately four hundred remaining speakers. This entry is fiction. The four hundred are not.