Introduction. Streich and the Hélu
Internal history
Streich is the language of the Hélu, one of the main civilizations flourished in the Archipelago of Elaire.
It is now widely agreed that the Hélu originated in the fertile valley of the river Tysin (now known as Tin River) in Elaire Island. At their apogee, the Hélu occupied a vast area comprising the Eastern corner of Elaire Island - a region they called Hailír, whence the modern name Elaire - and most of the Eastern islands of the Archipelago.
The Hélu never achieved political, military or economical unity. The land was controlled by a myriad of hury, or state-cities, each claiming sovereign power over the neighbouring territory, and often at war among each other. Generally, the hury were ruled by a king, often flanked by a council of noblemen representing the major local families. In a few cases, the council was in control, and the king was just an elected primus inter pares, with many duties and little privileges.
Military and economical power was in the hands of the noblemen. Each kúm, or family (literally house), had its own resources (for example, tillable and wooded land, flocks and herds, mines, ships, and so on) and its own men (be they peasants, craftsmen, servants or warriors), tied to a bond of personal allegiance to their narm (master or mistress). The narmy had large authonomy in the use of their richness, and could even enter alliances and draw wars on their own.
Commerce was practiced, but to a very limited extent. The primary form of exchange was gifts, used to form a wide net of friendships and alliances. And the primary source for goods that couldn't be produced inside the kúm or obtained though gifts was pillage.
In spite of this fragmentation, the Hélu did share a common culture, and even managed to develop a sense of national unity when facing external menaces. To this effect, the two key factors were the common treasure of mythological tales and the language used to transmit them.
Streich i ul (noble Streich), the language of the Hélu literary tradition, is a highly artificial creation of the blýkwisy (poets-singers; singular is blýkus). Originally, the poets-singers were wayfarers, offering their services in exchange for food and hospitality: they needed a language that could be understood by a wide audience in spite of the many dialectal barriers, and still retain a noble and archaic flavour.
Since one of the most famous poets-singers' schools was in Zargyel, in the Northern highlands of Hailír, the Hélu grammarians used to believe that streich i ul was indeed a variant of the Zargyel dialect. The modern view, which is now widely accepted among Streich scholars, is that streich i ul was based upon a regularised and simplified mixture of the central dialects spoken along the Tysin and in the Southern coasts of Hailír, with a few archaic features from the Northern dialects thrown in, such as the -e declension, the alternating noun stems in -kus/kwis and the locative suffix -sé.
External history
Streich is my first constructed language. I don't even recall when exactly I started it, although I guess that my first serious attempts at it date back to 1984. They were preceded by many fruitless experiments, but these aren't even worth mentioning.
Streich originated as part of a game, and working at Streich was a game on its own. I was about 11 or 12, and I used to believe that creating a language of one's own was a foolish and hopeless project. At that time, I didn't know about J.R.R. Tolkien, and The Lord of the Rings was to me just the title of an animation movie I didn't even watch.
Year 1984 was a turning point under many respects: it was then when I got to know, and fell in love with, Latin and Greek; and it was then when I finally read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The former provided me with a better, and wider, linguistic foundation to my attempts. Before, I had been exposed to English (at school) and bits of Arabic (through an old grammar with many missing pages belonging to my mother). Latin and Greek brought me the understanding of case, tense and aspect. But Tolkien's work was the most influential factor. I still recall the moment of excitement and enlightenment when I said to myself: Then it can be done! Following that, it didn't take long before I became addicted to glossopoiesis...
In its beginning, Streich showed great influence from its sources: especially German (the general flavour), Arabic (the original case system of nominative, accusative and genitive), and Greek (the verb aspects, the prepositions-preverbs). Over time, the language went through many revisions, some of them repeatedly done and undone, in a struggle to find its own character. Then, came the Hélu and their world, inspired to pre-classical Greece and, to a lesser extent, to the Anglo-Saxons, to complete the picture.
I now feel that Streich is rather mature and very stable. I will surely do further development, but my efforts will be especially aimed at the lexicon.
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