Lore:Elven Alphabets

are a family of related writing systems employed by several   languages, such as  ,  ,  , or  . The above chart lists all characters with known transliterations. The translations are taken from a combination of in-game data files (Falmer, Skyrim Dwemer), fan translations based on provided Latin alphabet equivalent (Ayleid, Wormgod Dwemer, Altmer), and a piece of Redguard-era concept art (Morrowind Dwemer) . 

More characters exist in the   books Divine Metaphysics and The Egg of Time, but these have yet to be translated.  (There is strong reason to believe that these books contain just random characters, and do not actually have any meaningful text.)

Known examples
thumb|left|An Ayleid inscription which reads "Av latta magicka, av molag anyammis", which translates to: "From light, magic; from fire, life".
There are few examples of elven inscriptions for which there are confirmed translations at this time.  The example on the left is an   inscription from a ruin in Oblivion. It reads: 
AV LATTA MAGICKA, AV MOLAG ANYAMIS 
or "Av latta magicka, av molag anyammis", which translates to: "From light, magic; from fire, life".  This is a reversal (perhaps unintentional) of the phrase translated in the book: Ayleid Reference Text: "From fire, life; from light, magic."  The double 'm' in "anyammis" has been truncated to a single 'm', and the 's' is too obscured to see on this inscription, but otherwise, it is clearly the same text.  
thumb|right|A Dwemer pipe which reads "Wormgod" in Dwemer runes.
Another confirmed example of elven text is to the right.  This inscription appears on all of the pipes inside Dwemer ruins in Morrowind.  It reads simply  WORMGOD or "Wormgod", which was the nickname of Gary Noonan, one of the developers at Bethesda.  Interesting to note is that unlike the Daedric language, this one features (minimal) punctuation.  The dot underneath the last letter is probably not part of the letter, but rather an indicator of the end of the word.  (Since it is repeated over and over again on the pipes.)  
thumb|right|250px|A Dwemer door which reads "In loving memory, Gary Noonan, Sr." in Dwemer runes.   
A third known example is a tribute by Gary Noonan to his father placed on a door in Morrowind, shown right.  The text reads: 
IN LOVING MEMORY, GARY NOONAN SR 
Which translates to: "In loving memory, Gary Noonan, Sr."
 
thumb|250px|left|A Dwemer banner from Redguard:Redguard|Redguard.
The banner on the left can be found in Redguard.  If you look closely, you'll see text written in blue color over the image.  It's hard to read in places, but you can make out the following characters:

And lower down, you'll see:
:S T U S T U
The significance of these remains unknown at this time.  Since each group of characters is in consecutive alphabetical order, it seems likely that it's simply an alphabet.
 
thumb|250px|left|Aleyid writing in the Oblivion:Chapel of Dibella|Chapel of Dibella.
Another example can be found in the official Knights of the Nine Official Plug-in. At the beginning of the quest Pilgrimage the player finds an Ayleid text written on the floor of the Anvil chapel. This text reads AS OIOBALA UMARILE EHLNADA RACUVAR
which translates to As oiobala Umarile, Ehlnada racuvar. According to the prophet this means: By the eternal power of Umaril, the mortal gods shall be cast down.

This text can also be found on the side of the Knights of the Nine box.

 
thumb|400px|left|A stone which translates both Dwemeris and the Lore:Falmer Alphabet|Falmer language.
In Skyrim, a stone which supposedly translates both Dwemeris as well as the Falmer language can be found in Calcelmo's Tower. This is the longest Dwemeris transcription yet found, although no translation is provided. It does share some words with other languages, such as "Mer", suggesting a commonality of some sort. The Dwemeris inscription transliterates into:


 
thumb|200px|right|An Elven inscription found in Honor's Rest.
An inscription is found on several altars in Honor's Rest. If mirrored it is clear that it reads: DIVINE STARS, or "DIVINE STARS". The same inscription can also be found on the Gray Menhir in Upper Craglorn.

 
thumb|300px|left|A Khajiiti shrine.
In ESO several Elven letters are carved into Khajiiti shrines found in Sathram Plantation and Do'Krin Monastery. It reads MKAC OLBD NMIE CICY BBDV TGIU VEAO, which when transcribed becomes "MKAC OLBD NMIE CICY BBDV TGIU VEAO". This has no apparent meaning.

 
thumb|300px|left|Dwemeri inscription in Seht's Balcony
Dwemeri inscriptions are found in the Seht's Balcony stage of the Maelstrom Arena. The first inscription, which is written in a semicircle and then mirrored, reads 
 . It becomes "XM PGT OHC MSJ UFW YWQ AV XPT" when transliterated. The second inscription, which is written to the sides of the first, reads  . This in turn becomes "VA DGP MX VA DQW XF" upon transliteration.

 
thumb|300px|left|Altmer script on a wall
An Altmer inscription can be seen on a wall of Tarnamir's manor during the quest Old Wounds in ESO. It reads "ELUVEIN", which is a name of a species of owl that abandons its eggs after laying them, and is also used by the Altmer to describe cold-hearted people.

 
thumb|300px|right|Artaeum on ESO's World Map
Altmer text can be seen around Artaeum on ESO's world map. Appropriately, the text says "THE HIDDEN ISLE ARTAEUM", repeated twice. 
 

Books
Analysis of the books is inconclusive at this time. According to Douglas Goodall, one of the game's developers, they are just random characters.  Additionally, certain passages are repeated verbatim, but in a different order, from one book to the next, or even on both pages of the same book.  This smacks of copy/pasting by the artist who created the graphics for the pages. Also, substituting the known letters for their English counterparts does not reveal even a hint of readable text. If it's a cypher, it's not a simple one, because several different characters can be seen as single-letter words, whereas in a typical English-language cypher, you would only see two - 'A' and 'I'.  A more complex cypher is still a possibility, but without knowing the key, or even the meanings of half of the letters, it would be quite a difficult task to decode it, assuming there is anything to decode.







References
 
 
  

External links
Academy for Dwemer Studies - includes a font containing all Dwemer glyphs