I'm confused by your use of proto, Arjen. Typically it is used to refer to a language that not much information is known about.

In my upcoming chart, I'm going to break Mercurian down like this :

* Proto - Mercurian: Related languages/dialects of the original continent during pre-history

* Old Mercurian: languages spoken on the original continent prior to the Bone Wars

Middle Mercurian: Resembles modern Mercurian, less influence from now widespread languages of the empire.

New Mercurian: Mercurian spoken in the new world, developed after the establishment of the new world.

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Ealdorman Cerdic Beoden Accynnafon of Östlond
Runner Up of the Glas Claddach Boat Building Competition
Minister of Justice

I think for some reason I have my vocab all mixed up. I typically thought that proto would mean "from" so Proto-Mercurian would be "from Mercurian." Is there a better way to refer to a language that is the evolution of a previous language?

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Joren

of River's End

Yeah, here are some common terms:

Pre-historic: Proto, Ancient, Pre

Came before: Proto, Pre

So it seems you might have three versions:

Old Ertian: Spoken in the Ertian Empire in the old days in the far north. You wouldn't use proto here because as you said yourself, it was well documented by scholars. Ancient doesn't work well either, as that implies that it was thousands of years ago before recorded history. Proto and ancient can kind of be used interchangeably. Pre- would need to be used in conjunction with another word, possibly "Pre-Imperial" for this version of Ertian or "Pre-Unraveling" Ertian for the category below.

Middle Ertian: Ertian spoken in the old world before the present age.

"Insert descriptive word" Ertian: Ertian spoken currently, with significant Mercurian language influence. You could use any number of words to describe this era, as someday it won't be Modern Ertian despite its status at this time.

These are just suggestions, as it is your language to describe.

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Ealdorman Cerdic Beoden Accynnafon of Östlond
Runner Up of the Glas Claddach Boat Building Competition
Minister of Justice

Language Name:
Gaeilgen (Gwel-gen)

Realms Spoken In:
Valtoros, Perth

Ethnicities/Races/Species/Sub-Species Spoken By:
Valyrians, Aethen

Parent Language (Old Elvish, Old Dwarvish, Mercurian, etc.):
Proto-Gaeilgen

Dialects:
After the immigration to the new world, several dialects have emerged in various areas of the Valyrian Kingdoms.

Accents:

Details:
Gaeilgen (Gwel-gen) - an ancient language that was derived by the Valyrians before the establishment of the Empire. In modern times this is still a common dialect in Perth and Valtoros, or the Greater Realm of Valyria, that is used in every day speech, song making, spiritual or religious purposes, etc.

Information on this language made with info provided by King Scrios IV.

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Ealdorman Cerdic Beoden Accynnafon of Östlond
Runner Up of the Glas Claddach Boat Building Competition
Minister of Justice

Excellent points! I'll be sure to update my post when I get back to my computer at home. Thanks for the insight!

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Joren

of River's End

You are most welcome, and I look forward to it

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Ealdorman Cerdic Beoden Accynnafon of Östlond
Runner Up of the Glas Claddach Boat Building Competition
Minister of Justice

Thank you Mark! That is a good summary of the language so far

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Scrios V
King of Perth, Brother of Valyria

Perhaps "Neo-Ertian"?

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Ulrik Gunnarson
Duke of the Gathered Races of Hermertia Homeland (GRHH)
The Chairman of the GRHH Co.

The Scholars in Acholm present to the Empire this theory of the linguistic evolution within the Mercurian Empire and other lands:

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Ealdorman Cerdic Beoden Accynnafon of Östlond
Runner Up of the Glas Claddach Boat Building Competition
Minister of Justice

Excellent graph Mark. thanks so much for doing this.

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Petra Ravnikaar of The Veil