Kipceʔ desert
The Kipceʔ desert is a narrow, dry strip of land along the west coast of Peilaš, squeezed in between the Western Ocean and a high mountain range about 50-100 km from the coast. The mountains run roughly NE to SW, with their highest peaks reaching 5000-6000 m. The western slopes of the mountains are mostly dry too, but somewhat more hospitable than the lowlands, which are fertile only along rivers, otherwise featuring only sparse scrubland vegetation.
The Western language Tmaśareʔ was spoken at the northern edge of the Kipceʔ desert around -1800 YP. Early in the 1st millennium BP, the city-states of the Lukpanic coast established a trading post here in order to exchange goods with the Wellawi (< Tmaśareʔ for "mountain-people"), a culture that had developed in a temperate and comparatively fertile area high up in the mountains beyond the Kipceʔ.
Names
| Language | Name | Pronunciation | Etymology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Western | *kʰibła-dłeʔa | [ˈkʰi.bɮa.dɮe.ʔa] | "dry land" |
| Tmaśareʔ | Kipceʔ | [ˈki.pt͡sɛʔ] | ← PW *kʰibła-dłeʔa |
| Empotle7á | Khetlatle7á | [ˈkʰe.tɬa.tɬe.ʔá] | ← PW *kʰibła-dłeʔa |
| Proto-Lukpanic | Kipisea | [kiˈpi.se.a] | ← Tm. Kipceʔ (borrowed) |
| Fu Pitão | Kifise | [ˈki.ɸi.se] | ← PL Kipisea |
| Doayâu | Kífise | [kʰí.fi.se] | ← Kp.L. Kifise (borrowed) |