Leave me a prompt here – http://www.lynthornealder.com/2018/11/30/lexember-is-coming/ 

We’re going to start with Safe!

This comes from something that is referred to, when linguists talk about it at all, as the Before Words. It’s a common ancestor to several languages, including those that fall under “Bear” – Bear, Cat, and Fox – those that fall under “The Leege” – Deklegion and Haloran, Thuthion and Roasti – and two other sets.

Interestingly, while Elk falls under this, it does so only very remotely and there is a great deal of argument therein.

But back to safe.

ðeckk

ðeckk is from the Before Words, meaning “to look over, observe.”

This became thechk in Oldest Bear*, which means “guard.”

This word split: theach became “protect”, while theek became “observe, study.”

(in both cases, the central vowels are pronounced as two separate vowel sounds)

Old Bear uses toa before a verb to implore or command a non-specific target, such as if one was asking the world to rain.

It uses ro before a verb to suggest it is happening to oneself or one’s group, where one’s “group” is a close-knit – a marriage or siblings or a small team.”

(there is also a personal pronoun for only-I, but it is generally considered rather antisocial to use it, and it is only used in magery/wizardry in situations where one wishes to remove oneself from the group around one and cut off all connections.)

Thus keep me/we safe

toa ro theach

except that we need agreement.

Again, this is asking the world.  So (world) guard me, is toa ro theachow.  

*Old Bear is considered the root language of Bear, Cat, and Fox languages, which it is.  What it is not, linguistically, is any closer to modern Bear than it is to modern Cat or Fox, nor was it begun by the Bear people any more than any other of the two.  Oldest Bear is an older form of that language