Lore:Old Orcish

Old Orcish is the ancient language of the  s, and most likely the precursor to the language known as  . It is unknown when the langage became distinct from the other  , but the first written record of the language dates back to the rule of King  , before the first siege of   in  ; nor is there any evidence to how it evolved into modern Orcish, which in   was well established as the language of the Orcs of   and  .  Seeing that there is evidence for the Old Orcish language having been largely forgotten in   by  ,  it is questionable if the modern language is directly descended from Old Orcish, also due to the scarcity of information about both the ancient and the modern language.

 
 

Language Family and Genetic Relationship
Old Orcish is part of the  , and most likely a descendant of  is. It shares this ancestry with the other elven languages:  ,  is,  ,  ,  is,  is, and  . 

Literature
Like many other ancient languages, Old Orcish lacks a linguistic corpus, its literature being preserved, in a vast enough quantity for linguistic analysis, in but one known sample of poetry: " " (translated into   as " "), a series of inscriptions at the tomb of  , the founder of the first Orsinium. Apart from this, little remains of this language but scattered words and phrases.


:  There was debate by the translator as to whether the faded letters in the original inscription contained the word "zugka", meaning "kiss", or "zugra", meaning "curse".

Old Orcish Word List
The following word list is one that has been gathered from the limited number of sources available, although the translations marked with an asterisk (*) are largely speculative.

A
;Ag :At 
;Agra :Shield  
;Aht :Three 

B
;Beshkar :Forge,  Making*   

C
;Crun :Blood    , Heart 
;Crunzarga :Revenge   

D
;Dek :Gathered 
;Dulg :Climbed 

E
;Eb :And 

G
;Gesh :Laid   
;Glushun :Sorrow   
;Goltragga :Chieftain  
;Golzarga :Most cherished 
;Granosh :Of iron  

J
;Jur :Placed   

K
;Khazun Ghash :Seamount* 
;Krazak :Summit,  Above 

L
;Lochan :Find 
;Lorak :Bracer 
;Lorish :Armlet 

M
;Magicka :Magic,  Enchantment 
;Murimush :Looter 

N
;Ne :Not Allow 
;Nor :Death 
;Norgim :Death,  Interment 
;Norgimin :Dying 

O
;Osh :Iron  
;Or :Stone  
;Ornim :Orc  

R
;Rakh :Blade,  Sword 
;Ren :In 
;Rohi :Lesser 

S
;Sim :Body,  Remains, 

T
;Tarask :Claim 
;Tum :Cairn 
;Tumn :Death 

U
;Uba :Ever* 
;Ubeshka :Possession 
;Ugo :His 
;Uhg :Two 
;Uhz :One 
;Urgalick :Awaiting 

V
;Vorkhim :Armored 
;Vosh :Courage, 
;Voshu :Worthy,  Courageous* 

Z
;Zarga :Price* 
;Zugka :Kiss 
;Zugra :Curse  

Old Orcish Grammar
Articles
Neither definite nor indefinite articles are used.

Torug dulg krazak eb Jur ugo sim ren tum beshkar / Torug climbed the summit and placed himself in a cairn of his own making.


Plurals
Nouns in the plural do not seem to inflect.

voshu Ornim...rohi Ornim / worthy Orc...lesser Orcs


Pronouns
3rd person personal pronouns are often omitted.

Goltragga Torug ne rohi Ornim lochan norgim krazak / Chief Torug will allow no lesser Orcs to find interment above [him].

Comparing Old Orcish to Other Languages
Magicka - magic, enchantment - cf. Aldmeris, Ayleidoon & Tamrielic Magicka
Ne - not allow - cf. Aldmeris ne- (not)
Ornim - Orc - cf. Aldmeris Orsimer, & Dragon Language Ogiim

Notes
There is apparently no word in Old Orcish for "patience". 

References