Jameld is a constructed language, with an organic heart and an imaginary history. It is smooth and chocolatey on the outside, with a lovely fluffy centre, and it won't fill you up. Oh, and it looks like this:
Te missa eri jist eskrïri int Jameld, und na binuthave sith vour yuras.
More Jameld can be found throughout this site. See the ZM archive for further samples.
Jameld was first devised in 1982, by then-student James Campbell (whose Jameldic pseudonym is Älvard te Kraamlep). It began as an idea, became an experiment and then a project, and eventually grew into a full and vibrant culture, albeit an imaginary one.
No, not at all. You can't translate the Book of Revelations into a language that's a joke. Jameld is a serious language, with a full grammar, idiom and vocabulary.
Well, yes, a bit. But only inasmuch that Esperanto is also a constructed language, based on languages that already existed. Jameld is also based on existing languages, although not rigidly so; classification is not easy, but it can best be described as a West Germanic language. Influences in its development were German, English and Dutch, plus French, but its closest and most important relative is Frisian, a language spoken in the northern areas of Holland and Germany.
Much of Jameld's grammar, structure and, well, "look" was defined early on in the project, before a cohesive design and scheme of linguistic development were finalized for the language. However, most of the actual vocabulary came later (of course); it is here that the forementioned languages were a particular influence. Modern Jameld vocabulary owes more than a little to Old Frisian (thank you, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary), although it all goes through the Jameldic blender before it actually becomes Jameld words. As a result, Jameld looks like a distant and mutated relation of various Germanic tongues.
One day, there will appear here full details of the language, but for now, check out the new dictionary.