Fim and Ker (and also an aside about Pätow)
Added 2020-06-26 01:16:17 +0000 UTCBefore I get started on Fim and Ker, I want to point out that the word Pätow would actually be an adjective in North Akarian, as it doesn't have a nominalizing suffix. It would mean "Earthy"! "Earth" in North Akarian, would actually be Pätowä, with that -ä suffix evolved from an Akarian word, Ae, meaning "Object".
With that out of the way, Fim and Ker are two words Akarian has for, essentially, dirt. However, Fim is specifically fertile soil from which crops are grown. Ker is dry infertile desert sand. Water alone arable land does not make, so even though the Akarians had mastery over water-based magic, they were still beholden to the soil which held those invaluable nutrients.
Tol could be used for soil in general. Only the most lively, fertile soil was called Fim, and the driest, most desolate soil was called Ker.
The word Ker was, however, lost since the extinction of Old Akarian, as it became subsumed within the name of the Great God Kermos, The Predator in the Dunes, He who stalks the Unworthy, He who watches the Dead and the Isolated.
ANYway~ Fim became the standard word for dirt after all, uh, that.
N. Akarian: Fim -> Phim. /fɪmæ/ | Ker -> Cerh /kœ˞ /
E. Akarian: Fim -> Fīm /fiːm/ | Ker -> Kid /kid/
