Chlouvānem/Calendar and time: Difference between revisions

Time expressions in the [[Chlouvānem]] language need understanding of the timekeeping system of the Chlouvānem populations. The '''Chlouvānem calendar''' (''chlǣvānumi pārṇahaleṃlāṇa'') is a lunisolar calendar and is one of two timekeeping systems used officially on [[Verse:Calémere|Calémere]], the other one being the standard Western calendar used by the majority of nations. Despite being used officially only in four countries (''the [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|Inquisition]]'', ''Brono'', ''Fathan'', and ''Qualdomailor''), it is the timekeeping system for about 20% of the planet's population, the vast majority in the Inquisition. Furthermore, in many countries of the former Kaiṣamā with a sizable Chlouvānem population (like Soenjŏ-tave or Kŭyŭgwažtow), and to a lesser extent in the rest of Eastern Bloc, it is common to find both calendar systems used at the same time, even though only the Western calendar is official.<br/>The count of years of the Chlouvānem calendar begins with the (mythical) foundation of Lælavāši (Lälawaashi in [[Lällshag]]), a city often cited in Lällshag (the people the Chlouvānem borrowed the calendar from) legends and possibly located near modern Erukamarta. The current year is 3874 (6424₁₀). While even the existence of the legendary city of Lælavāši is dubious, year 0, calculated about a thousand years ago by literary scholars, is conveniently close to the accepted beginning of Calémerian Holocene and thus the Lällshag-Chlouvānem calendar can be said to count the years since the birth of civilization.

The month names reflect climatic conditions of those particular months in the Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, the “heartlands” of the Chlouvānem civilization. Not all of the Inquisition, due to different climates and latitudes, has the same conditions — and the months are grouped in four “seasons”, corresponding to the temperate areas of the Northern hemisphere (about 90% of the population of the Inquisition is north of the Equator, and most areas in the Southern hemisphere do not have distinct seasons anyway). This is despite the Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain itself having mostly two seasons (and some parts of the “heartlands” even have no seasons, most notably the area around Līlasuṃghāṇa, which has a local “equatorial” microclimate despite being nearly 15º north of the Equator).

The four seasons the calendar is based on are autumn (''kanami''), winter (''tandaikin''), spring (''tandayena'') and summer (''enaukam''), in the order they appear in the year — these ones are defined by equinoxes and solstices and not by  climate alone (even if the origins of their names, all Toyubeshian, are related to climate). Climatic seasons are totally not uniform across the Inquisition: even in the Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, the two seasons (''būṃṣoe'' or dry season and ''dašoe'' or rainy/monsoon season) have vastly different start/end dates and lengths in it. Some areas even define more than four seasons: in and around the metropolitan area of Cami (the most populated on the planet), five seasons are traditionally distinguished, with rain patterns being the defining factor (that area having a markedly wet humid subtropical climate).

| '''Māltapārṇāvi''' || 30 || of the days of storage || <small>1st day:</small> ''(northern) autumn equinox''; ranire nājaṣrān <small>(Chlouvānem New Year)</small>

| '''Kanamiprātas''' || 29 || autumn wind ||  

| '''Pāṇḍalañši''' || 30 || white braid || <small>4th day:</small> hīmbajaṃšā

| '''Kanamimaila''' || 29 || autumn water || <small>15th day:</small> ''(northern) winter solstice''; camilalyājaṃšā

| '''Murkāsena''' || 31 || black month || <small>10th day:</small> Day of the Inquisition

| '''Būṃṣprātas''' || 30 || dry wind || <small>17th day:</small> Day of the Legions for Purity

| '''Lalyāñaiṭa''' || 30 || night star || <small>10th day:</small> maivajaṃšā

| '''Mailaheirah''' || 30 || “year”<ref>The word ''heirah'' used to mean both “year” (its only modern meaning) and “spring”.</ref> of water ||

| '''Ñaryāyāmyah''' || 29 || mountain fog ||  

| '''Bhaivyāvammi''' || 30 || of the oboes<ref>After the ''Bhaivyāvāṣaryai'', lit. “night(s) of oboes”, the most important religious festival of the Yunyalīlta.</ref> || <small>13th day:</small> ''(northern) summer solstice''<br/><small>15th to 18th day:</small> bhaivyāvāṣaryai

| '''Īlāmyasena''' || 29 || hot month ||  

| '''Hælvyāsena''' || 31 || fruit month || <small>4th day:</small> kaili jaṃšā<br/><small>28th day:</small> Birthday of the Great Inquisitor <small>(as of 3874 (6424₁₀)</small>

As a comparison with the Western calendar used in most of the planet, the first day of Māltapārṇāvi is the one of the first four days (depending on leap years) of the twenty-first Western month; the first day of the Western year is the 21st±2 day of Murkāsena.

A lunar month (''hulyāsena'') is a fixed 34-day division parallel to the fourteen solar months described above. Every lunar month is divided in ''lānicunih'' (pl. ''lānicuneyi''), which is the "fixed" 32-hour (28₁₂) bureaucratic lunar day (as opposed to ''ilēmpārṇam'', the astronomical lunar day of variable length, which varies between 30 ½ and 33 Calemerian hours), which is equivalent to the solar day, and ''lānicuneyai'' are grouped in two periods called ''lānimpeɂila'' (pl. ''lānimpeɂilai''), each one of 17 days, half of the lunar month. The ''lānimpeɂilai'' are the closest equivalent of a "week" in the Chlouvānem calendar; they are astronomically based on lunar phases, and are called respectively ''chlærlīltāvi'' (from new to full moon) and ''līleñchlæryāvi''.

Each lunar day has its own name, much like our days of the week. Out of all names, seven are of Chlouvānem origin, two are taken proper names of unknown origin but attested in the ''[[Chlouvānem/Literature#The_Lile.E1.B9.83sasarum|Lileṃsasarum]]'', while all other ones are Lällshag<ref>The four ''-leilē'' days are half-calques, ''leilē'' being the Chlouvānem word for "candle", not of Lällshag origin. ''mån'', ''joune'', ''llashi'', and ''ałane'', also seen in the days immediately preceding them, are the numbers from 1 to 4 in Lällshag.</ref>.

The (solar) day (''pārṇam'') is the base measure of time, which is divided in 28₁₂ (32₁₀) hours (''garaṇa'') — note that there is a separate term for “day” as the part of the 28-hour day with daylight, namely ''chlærdhūs''. One Calemerian day lasts about 35 hours on Earth.<br/>

The first hour of ''yartām'' - the morning - is the first one of the whole day (a stark contrast to the Western calendar, where the day begins at midnight and - traditionally - at dusk); every last hour of each garaṃlāṇa has a specific name, respectively ''lalla hånna'' (high[est] sun — colloquially just ''lalla''), ''nīhenā'' (sunset), ''kutīkṣaire hånna'' (lowest sun — colloquially just ''kutīkṣayā''), and ''ājva'' (dawn). For ''lalla'' and ''kutīkṣayā'' there are also the older terms - still used in some areas - ''chlærdaniāmita'' (halfpoint of the day) and ''lalyādaniāmita'' (halfpoint of the night) respectively.

| '''8 of the morning'''<br/>''Highest sun'' || yartāmi tītyende<br/>''lalla hånna'' || '''8 of the evening'''<br/>''Lowest sun'' || prājānei tītyende<br/>''kutīkṣaire hånna''

| '''8 of the afternoon'''<br/>''Sunset'' || saṃlallumi tītyende<br/>''nīhenā'' || '''8 of the night'''<br/>''Dawn''<br/><small>last of the day</small> || lalei tītyende<br/>''ājva''

Time zones, in all areas with the Chlouvānem timekeeping system, depend on the Eastern/Chlouvānem standard for longitudinal measure, which uses as its prime meridian the one of Līlasuṃghāṇa, capital of the Inquisition. It should be noted that, as the Western system uses the meridian of Mánébodin, capital of Ceria, as its prime one<ref>The difference between the two prime meridians is 143º35′11.6586″.</ref>, in the case of two cities on the same meridian but using the two different standards, the one using the Eastern system is (in Chlouvānem time) 16₁₂ railai (18₁₀) and 8 namišenī behind - about 10 minutes and 56 seconds in time of Earth (this difference is not precisely solar but established by law between Eastern and Western countries - a single time zone ideally spans 11º15’).<br/>In international contexts, the Chlouvānem time zones are depicted as being +53′40″ (+45′34″₁₂) on the preceding Cerian time zone (for example the country of New Égélonía is in time zone CER+15 (geographically spanning more) while the Chlouvānem diocese of Bivarteloga just south of it is noted as being in time zone CER+14:53′40″₁₀. In official contexts in the Inquisition (as well as in Brono, Fathan, and iKalurilut), Bivarteloga diocese is in time zone LIL+2, while New Égélonía is noted as being in time zone LIL+2:16′08″₁₂.

* solar and lunar months — ''māltapārṇāvye'', ''tāryāṣṭrye''

* hours — ''bhraṃšāyi 3-e'' (at 3 in the afternoon)

| between; from ... until || '''šurājęs nyūramyęs bīs''' between Šurājah and Nyūramiah

:: ''ex.:'' pāmvi tildhā tītinihælmāmyāvælkalahīli : mailaheiri vældinde

:: ''ex.:'' 3871, Ɛ mailaheirah

The head of formal letters uses the first format (though written with numbers) and, obligatorily, the name of the day, e.g. ''3871-i mailaheiri Ɛ-de : līšabganā''.

Common abbreviations (using the same example date as above) include e.g. 3871-4-Ɛ, 3871h4aƐp (with ''h'' standing for ''heirah'' (year), ''a'' for ''asena'' (month), and ''p'' for ''parṇām'' (day)), lšb: 3871-4-Ɛ (the most common in short format dates, i.e. like the first but including the day), or even Ch2: 3871-4-Ɛ (as ''līšabganā'' is the second day of ''chlærlīltāvi'').

Times are expressed in a format such as ''Bh 4.30'', representing, in this example, four and a half hour (''garaṇa'') in the afternoon (note that the format is always duodecimal; 4.30 is four hours and thirty-six₁₀ minutes). Unlike direct naming of hours, telling the time uses, in some forms, the cardinal numeral.<br/>Note that in many official uses the 28₁₂-hour format is used, so that L 3.13 is written as 23.13 (base 12, i.e. base 10 27:15) instead.

* ''S 2.1Ɛ'' — ''daniendye saṃlallumi māmivælden vi'' (it's twenty-three₁₀ <small>(two and one dozen plus eleven)</small> in the second of the afternoon)

* ''S 2.35'' — ''daniendye saṃlallumi lahīla māmišulka (no) vi'' (it's the first [third of hour] and seventeen₁₀ <small>(one dozen plus five)</small> in the second of the afternoon)

* ''S 2.48'' — ''daniendye saṃlallumi hælinaika tītya (no) vi'' (it's the second [third of hour] and eight in the second of the afternoon)

When hours are inside a punctual time expression, the head of the phrase (the hour in ''.00'' and ''.30''; the number of minutes or ''pamvendvāṭ'' otherwise) is put in the locative case, e.g. ''Bh 4.07-e yahīte lā ē'' "at 4.07 of the afternoon, (s)he was reading” is read as ''nęltendye bhraṃšāyi chīke yahīte lā ē'' “at seven [railai] in the fourth [hour] of the afternoon, (s)he was reading”.