Description:

The term 'hital' means 'age'. As a term is means the age of a person or thing and as a verb it means to age or get older. It can also mean to be a certain age, or be extended to refer to a long period of time.

Derivations:

Derived as the modifier of age 'hitalys', 'hital' forms a word meaning 'old' that is taken to be euphemistic and respectful. Compare to 'etirek', attached, which has a negative or disrespectful connotation. Further derived as 'hitalystuin', it is the respectful word for an old person. With the mediocritsing modfier 'siti', 'siti hitalystuin' is a way of saying 'middle aged', or referring to an older person who is still vigourous.

The derived form 'Hitalka', or 'aged one', has the specific meaning of a NWO Senator, and some similar state offices. It is therefore not used for other people, which is why the much more verbose 'hitalystuin' is used instead. The expression 'na Costo naz Hitalka' means the Senate.

Noun:

As a noun, hital refers to age in general or to a person or thing's age. To refer to a person's age this way, the verb 'tret', 'count', can be used like so:

Ja sy te tret yr akin-naw-suz hulaz na hital.

The(ERG) sir count some(ABS.PA) four ten five year the(NOM) age.

'He or she is forty-five'

Using the tret idiom, the 'na hital' is only required for clarification or rhetorical flow and can be omitted.

Hital also has the sense of 'era' or 'epoch', which may be a calque of similar use of the word 'age' in English, since that usage does not appear in Old Common, and doesn't seem to be first attested until the middle period. This use is actually a bit more expansive than English. For example, the Common translation of Common Era, as in the CE or AD year, is na Xafe Hital, na XH, literally the Common Age.

Verb:

As a verb, 'hital' is an intransitive pali verb meaning to age or get older. It takes an absolutive subject which is the thing aging. One of the common expressions to state a person or thing's age is also formed using 'hital' as a verb, by stating the age as an oblique object using the null preposition. Example:

A sy se hital nyr akin-naw-suz yn.
The(ABS) sir stand(NP.IM) age some(NOM.PA) four ten five one

'He or she is forty-five.'

This is hard to translate, because the person's gender is not referred to, so he or she could be appropriate, and the respect term 'sy' is thrown in in order to speak about the person respectfully. The dummy term yn is used instead of stating a unit of time, so years would be assumed. If units are not needed, the age can also be used as a modifier of frequency on 'hital', so the expression could be:

A sy se akin-naw-suz hital.