Zerrikani Dialect

**The Zerrikanian Language**, **Zerrikani Dialect**, or simply **Zerrikanian**, is the language primarily spoken by the humans of the predominantly human nation of Zerrikania. It is the most widely spoken language of the region and is itself an offshoot of the elven language of Hen Llinge. However, due to its relative isolation the Northern Realms and Nilfgaard, the language has evolved such that it contains few carry over words as compared to its linguistic counterparts. Because of this, non-Zerrikanians have trouble learning and understanding the language. Conversely, native Zerrikani speakers proport the opposite, and in fact have greater ease understanding Elder, Nilfgaardian, and even Skellige Jargon with than they do Common Speech.

### Real World Origins

Like the Hen Llinge of canon, the Zerrikani dialect shares some words with celtic languages, primarily Welsh, but has also been broadened to include words from Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Hindi, and Romanes. This is in part to provide a familiar, but unique sound to the language, while also playing into the inspirations for the region introduced by CDPR.

The language follows a similar grammatical structure to Hen Llinge, with several notable differences. Words ending with ‘a’ usually, but not always, denote masculinity. Meanwhile words that end with ‘i’ usually, but not always, denote femininity. Words ending with ‘ii’ indicate a plural form, but if there is a vowel at the end of the singular form of a word, an ‘n’ is added instead, such as the case with the word for ‘Lord’ which changes from Raya to Rayan.

#### Additional Themes

The language is designed to illustrate the matriarchal properties of Zerrikanian culture. The words for sister and brother especially illustrate this, as when literally translated are “mother’s daughter” and “mother’s son” respectively. This also indicates that Zerrikani lineage is traced through the maternal line, and that the heads of clans, houses, and families are always “Honorable Mothers”.

This is furthered by the fact that there is no word for ‘King’ or ‘prince’, only Queen and Princess, in spite of the fact that the word used to denote a noble male is ‘king’ in Hindi. The highest form of political office a male can achieve in Zerrikani culture is that of a lord, and only through marriage to a noble lady.

### Names and Titles

 Alvéaenerle
 Téa
 Jehkipe
 Ishtalíareian

### Phrases

 Mayiis draigg’janah daima zala y’yol.
 Mayiis y’dóxa parla lluedanyi akvyn Korat.
 Mayiis y’zaferii paimal y'dushmanii az draigg’anyí!
 Daj, caen ninnau va an mire Ra’Draigg?
 Easeís gat y ddraig saov.

## Notes

* This is a **FAN-MADE Expansion** of the lore on one of the many dialects of Elder Speech, as described in Andrzej Sapkowski's works, and of the lore on Zerrikania, as described in CDPR's Witcher game series, the Gwent stand-alone, and R. Talsorian's Zerrikanian DLC for the Witcher TRPG.
* This Fanon is available for collaboration; **specifically**, *if this collaboration includes corrections to the words used in the above glossary.* The original author of this article is not a linguistic expert and therefore **welcomes the input of native speakers of the languages** used to construct the Zerrikani Dialect.
	+ Please note that some words have been purposely modified, or used to mean something other than their original real world meaning. In most cases this is intentional, but critique is always welcome and alternatives will always be considered.