Lore:Dragon Language

The ancient Dragon Language is the language used by dragons. Text in the Dragon Language is found on walls in ancient dungeons and on burial grounds.  The runes used for writing the language are described in the Dragon Alphabet article.

With sufficient understanding, certain words can be incanted to produce magical effects such as conjuring fire, frost, or wind, slowing time, or pushing an enemy away. This ability is known as the Thu'um and is an inborn talent of Dragons and Dragonborns. 

Dragonlings, which are found around the   area, are unrelated to Dragons.  These oversized lizards have their own language known as Dragonish,   though the relation, if any, of their language to the Dragon Language spoken by actual Dragons is unknown.

Grammar
The language is structurally similar to English, with three exceptions: it has no equivalent to English's apostrophes, it tends to place prepositional phrases earlier in sentences, and verb tense is often ignored.  To make a word plural, the last letter of the singular word is repeated and followed by an "e". For example, the plural form of "kel" (an Elder Scroll) is "kelle".

The singular possessive ("my", "your", "his", or "her") is formed by adding the letter "i" to the end of the word, except when the word ends in "ii", in which case an "l" is appended. The plural possessive ("our" or "their") is formed by adding the letter "u". To indicate a perfect verb form (as in "has silenced"), the letters "aan" are added to the end of the word.

The language makes heavy use of compound words, and unlike most real languages has the head (i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning) appearing first in most cases. For example, "Zeymahzin" (Companion) consists of the words "Zeimah" (Brother) and "Zin" (Honor) and should be understood as "Honor-Brother" instead of the literal order of "Brother-Honor".
 

Translation Key
 Words in parentheses   will reference connotations or synonyms. 

 
A


B


D


E


F


G


H


I


J


K


L


M


N


O


P


Q


R


S


T


U


V


W


Y


Z


Phrases
Some phrases have a different meaning in the Dragon Language. The phrases below are examples of these phrases.

Alok-dilon 
:Necromancy (literally: arise-dead)
'''Bormahu han zu'u 
:(literally: Father _ I)
Dey on folook fey ko ven ahrk ron 
:"Implausible spirits haunt a grove in the wind and rain"
Dii Zeymah 
:"My Brother"
Dov nifaas wiixseroth 
:"Dragons fear not a trap of vines"
Drem Yol Lok 
:"Greetings" (literally: peace fire sky)
Kaaz Kaal Sul''' 
:Pride of Alkosh (literally: Khajiit-Champion-Day)
Krif voth ahkrin 
:"Fight Bravely" (literally: fight with courage)
'''Lok, Thu'um 
:"Sky above, Voice within" (literally: Sky, Voice)
Nid jiid, nid kun 
:"No moon, no moonlight"
Nihnzey miir wah krongrah 
:"Betrayal is the path to great victory"
Nihnzey miir wah viik 
:"Betrayal is the path to defeat"
Nonvul mey 
:"Honorable Fool" (literally: Noble Fool)
Nunon mey bo strun voqostiid naal sov 
:"Only a fool flies in a storm and is surprised by the shock."
Orin brit ro 
:"(a) fully beautiful balance", dragon phrase for irony (literally: even beautiful balance)
Pruzah wundunne! 
:(literally:Good Travels)
Rah wahlaan 
:"gods (of) creation" / "creator gods" (literally: gods built/created)
Rul jol, lok 
:"When unsteady, rise"
Suleyki hin! 
:(literally: Power Your(s))
Vomindok fez
:"An Unexpected Outcome" (literally: Unknown _) 
Wah vokrii krentiid 
:(literally:To Restore Break-Time)
Wuldsetiid los tahrodiis 
:"the whirlwind/vortex of time is treacherous/turbulent"
Ziil gro dovah ulse! 
:Your soul is bound to me for eternity!
Zol mul 
:Stronger (literally: Most strong)
Zoor drun qalos 
:"Myth made manifest" (Literally: Legend Bring Touch)
Zu'u koraav 
:"I see"

Names
Dragon names are typically formed of three monosyllabic words that, as a whole, may be rendered as a Shout. Each dragon name is unique, and so dragons are able to use these Shouts to address each other across vast distances.

While dragon names are easily separated into their word components, translating them as a whole is another matter. Dragon names can be translated into phrases, such as the name Odahviing (literally: Snow-Hunter-Wing), which was converted into a coherent phrase; "Winged Snow-Hunter". If other names were translated in the same way, it can be extrapolated that Boziikkodstrun  would be "Bold Storm-Wielder" or that Sahloknir would be "Phantom Sky-Hunter". 

There is also the case where a mortal can be granted a Dovahzin'' (Dragon Name), by a dragon who believes they have earned it and it is considered a great honor. Two examples of these are Ahkahtuz (Hunter-Pride-Blade) and Toshrakhat.  Dragon Priests also usually have names in the dragon language, although often only two syllables long instead of three.

Dragon names that can be translated include:


Dragon names that are as yet untranslated include:
: 
: 
: 
:  
Note that these names are not necessarily real Dragon language names. In the same way that Nahfahlaar had imperialized his name as Nafaalilargus when he worked for the Empire, it is likely that dragons who act in the employ of humans (such as Papré for the battlemage Samar Starlover, or Skakmat for the mystic Nulfaga) prefer not to use dragon names during their employment. Debudjen is mentioned only in a work considered historical fiction, and Numinex in legends considered distorted and inconsistent.

Locations
The following are locations whose names are translated.
: : Old Hroldan 
: : Hill-of-Dragons 
: : North-King-Slave  (Direct Translation)
: : Hillgrund's Steading 
: : Rorik's Steading 
: : Granite Hill 

Notes
Dovahzul is a common community-made term for the Dragon Language.

References