Throughout the translations in this volume, frequent reference is made to the location variously referred to as "the Hills of Jade," "the Jaden Hills," "the Black Hills," "the Emerald Hills," and so on. As is told in The Songs of Spears, it was upon the seven principle peaks of this range of hills or low mountains that the Treian exiles under Lanenomen first established their new homeland, one which according to Amborian legend was theirs by divine right. These seven cities consequently fell under the sway of Orkon, the lieutenant of Vishnarr, when the latter conquered the Treian exiles through treachery and force. The Treians, who by this point had intermarried with the Sothbori among them and begun to call themselves "the Ambori," or "Children of the Water," were forced thence into ancient caverns beneath the hills. Probably, some of these caverns were naturally occurring, while others were attributed to the ancient work of the Stone Kings. In any case, the Ambori were made to enlarge these caverns, mining deep for precious metals and gems, but especially for the Hoorpalb with which Orkon is said to have forged many items of great power. Then Sencan took up the hammer of his father and, forging the Hoororupeim, led his people to freedom.
So the songs tell us. What is certain at any rate is that the Black Hills remain a memory of terror and loathing to the Ambori--but also a place of great mystery and interest, as can be seen in some of the better passages of the Lay of the Sons of Nanalon and the more recent Lay of the Wanderer. The ancient origin of this memory may be seen in an examination of some of the more common names of the Black Hills, for which there are many. Canto VII of the Lay of the Sons of Nanalon contains four such names, and as can be seen from the analysis of their origins, they hearken back to the time before the speech of the Treian exiles had wholly merged with that of the (probably Dalian) Sothbori, and thus cast a revelatory light on both the probable age of the poem and the history of the Amborian language.
The first name which we encounter is of distinctly Treian origin, and is identified as such by the author of the Lay:
Kefneraia, Treians called them
When they first on verdant hilltops
Gazed, and knew that Raos Polestar
Well-fulfilled sweet heaven's promise:
Haven safe for Treian people.
The Old Amborian name Kefneraia may be observed to be a compound of Treian kaafa "mountain" and anarai "pleasant" (or sometimes "lovely": see Thoranrai "dawn beauty"), although both words can be shown to have undergone typical mutation. Probably the original compound was *Keifaanaraihaa, "mountains of pleasantness" (thus the plural ending -ahaa becomes the feminine plural ending in Amborian). It is notable that the contemporary Amborian word kef "hill" probably derives from a Treian antecedent.
The second name we encounter is problematically attributed to the language of the Sothbori:
Supor-palba, ancients named them.
Seven hills which greenly shimmered
When the rosy light of Dawn's car
Cresting o'er the Peaks of Kothor
Ruby light with jade-stone mingled.
Supor-palba, Jaden Mountains,
Forest people called those seven,
Held them holy, blessed of heaven.
For that cause the ancient Stone-kings
Worshiped there, and well revered them.
Leaving aside for a moment the imprecision of "Jaden Mountains" as a translation of suporpalba (the blatant interpolation of a translator in the name of metrical preservation), it may be seen that there are some problems inherent with attributing this word, or at least all of it, to a Dalian origin. The second half of the compound, palba, is easy enough. It is a contraction of wanpalb, itself probably derivative of Old Dalian *vanpalva, the common Amborian word for "mountain" (see also Ralmelpalba, SFK) But the first half of the compound, supor, is less easily attributed to a Dalian origin. Its first syllable contains Amborian supla "green," however supla itself derives ultimately from Treian suupaa (itself probably from su "to grow"). The -or particle is likely from the Old Dalian *-ir "hardness" (it cannot, as some have suggested, be an echo of Old Treian *akaruu, since there are no attested examples of an OT a > Am o mutation, and in any case the unstressed initial a- is lost during the transition from Treian to Old Amborian). If this is the case, it is evidence of this compound arising at a time when the Treian and Dalian tongues had already begun to merge, since the speakers would have been sufficiently comfortable to create a compound for a major place name using roots from both languages. This is either an evidence for a later composition of the Lay, or perhaps more likely for the theory (preserved in legendary form in the Songs of Spears) that a process of cultural assimilation between the Treianraal and Sothbori had already begun well before the time of Sencan. The latter seems most likely given that, as has been elsewhere noted, the date of composition of the Lay cannot be much more than a generation after the events it relates (most likely having been composed in the reign of Fanhal II), and the fact that names such as these must have been in the lexicon for a long time prior, at least long enough for the author to be unable to recognize the mixed provenance of suporpalba.
All of this suggests a better translation of "Green Stone Mountains," which has many advantages to suggest to to an aspiring editor: it is more correct (supor need not refer to jade only, but also to beryl, emerald, and other green stones; indeed, all of the aforementioned types of stone are common glosses), meets the requirements of the meter, and does not require the invention of a haphazard adjectival form.
Whereas these two names depict the ancient home of the Treian exiles as it was still remembered in the language, the next two names elaborate on the status of the Black Hills as a source of dread and loathing, a sentiment with which the audience of the Lay would no doubt be familiar:
Long ago the green had withered
In the shade of Orkon's malice.
Long ago the Water's Children
Deep below the eagles' eyries
Orkon made to dig and labor.
Then, all names of love forgotten,
Water's Children new names called them:
Geroskefa, Hills of Darkness,
Ran-Orgnalsh, the Mines of Torment.
Now in torment looked the Princes.
Geroskefa, recognizable to us as the more contemporary Geiroskefa, is a compound of two Treian roots: geirhus "dark" and of course kaafa "mountain." Given that kaafa > kef, the most correct way to render this name in contemporary Amborian is probably "the hills of darkness," but it is worth remembering that the name itself is probably Treian in origin and may be reconstructed as *Girhuskaafahaa. The second of these names is of clear Dalian derivation, from *nalz "dark" (this root produces the Amborian root in such words as Nalshbori and Orgnalsh) and *aaran "hill" or "mine" (see also Aaran). "Mines of Torment," while doubtless an evocative translation, is thus not quite correct, and seems to have been influenced by the clear association with other Amborian words derived from the same root.
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