Ghost of a flea

Rihannsu is a living language, and so is not static; but it changes much more slowly then English. Four major periods may be discerned in its development. First, of course, was the creation of the language from Old High Vulcan. The grammar and syntax developed at this time are still in use today, as well as nearly all the vocabulary. The main effect of history has been to build and expand on this base rather than to transform it.

Next was the Journey from Vulcan to the Homeworlds, a period of about two hundred years (ships’ time -- much more time elapsed for the non-relativistic universe.) The Journey’s main effect was a smoothing out of the original language, as it was put into practical and exclusive use for the first time. Additions to vocabulary related mainly to astronomical phenomena which the Travelers encountered for the first time, and to the developing religion/philosophy of the Elements and “matter as god.”