DWARF LANGUAGE

HistoryThe dwarves had developed their own language and alphabet long before humans Alagaësia. The humans were illiterate, which must have made reading maps difficult and is perhaps why they landed up in Alagaësia - their ships were out for a cruise and ended up sailing into open sea instead of back to their homeland, because the captain couldn't read the navigational charts. However, soon after arriving in Alagaësia and meeting with the dwarves, the humans began using the dwarves' runic alphabet and even adopted some of their words, like "father" from the dwarven word "farthen" (probably to the relief of all the unnamed human male parents).

Sentence Construction1. Descriptions are placed before the object they describe.
Example: "Az egraz knurlag" means "a strong man", and literally translates as "a strong man".
2. Unlike in English, descriptions can be placed in any order following the object.
Example: "Az carkna cesti borith" (a great, holy chief) can also be rendered as "az cesti carkna borith" (a holy, great chief).
3. Aside from questions, The structure of a sentence in the dwarf language is usually the same as it would be in English.
Example: "Knurlag dorzada az mérna" would literally translate as "he loves the pool". No restructuring of the sentence was required.
4. Questions are ordered subject, verb, object.
Example: "Jok oc fild?" means "who are you?", but literally translates as "you are who?" in English.

Prefixescar-: changes verbs into nouns of action. For example, "ignh" (bring) becomes "carignh" (bringer).
en-: turns adjectives into their superlative forms. For example, "egraz" (bald) becomes "enegraz" (baldest).
men-: gives words the opposite meaning. For example, "alfrell" (kind) becomes "menalfrell" (unkind).
q-: changes words to past tense. For example, "is" (do) becomes "qis" (did). If the "q" interferes with the word's pronunciation, it replaces the interfering consonents at the beginning of the word. For example, "zeitmen" (honour) becomes "qeitmen" (honoured).
strâdd-: changes present simple verbs into present participles. For example, "smer" (serve) becomes "strâddsmer" (serving).
vol-: changes words into having endless or eternal properties. For example, "brâgha" (danger) becomes "volbrâgha" (eternal danger). It also acts as "all" or "every" for a word. For example, "sartos" (family) becomes "volsartos" (every family).

Suffixes-a: gives a word a membership or nationality connotation. For example, "ingeitum" (smiths) becomes "ingeituma" (of the smiths).
-egûr: turns verbs into nouns. For example, "barzûl" (to curse) becomes "barzûlegûr" (a curse).
-n: pluralises nouns. For example, "borith" (chief) becomes "borithn" (chiefs).
-z: makes nouns possessive. For example, "jurgen" (dragon) becomes "jurgenz" (dragon's).

Articles, Conjunctions, Auxiliary Verbs, Prepositionsalso: wharn
and: oen
are: oc
by: vor
do: is
does: strâddis
for: akh
has: nos
in: bahst
is: ana
let: os
may: jordn
no: eta
of: rak
the: az
then: azt
there: nithgech
this: formv
want: frekk
was: qana
what: hert
who: fild
yes: oeí

Pronounshe: knurlag
him: knurlag
it: ilf
our: dûr
them: knurlar
we: né
you: joc

Nounsarranger: carvlorss
bear: urzhad
chief: borith
city: kyth
clan: dûrgrimst
courier: carharûg
coward: sheilve
danger: brâgha
dragon: jurgen
Dragon Rider: Jurgencarmeitder
dwarf: knurla
elders: urû
elf: vanyali
faith: otho
family: sartos
fate: orodûm
father: farthen
fighter: und
flesh: thargen
food: voth
foot: kóstha
frost-beard: feldûnost
giant: tronj
guard: hefthyn
guest: belard
hall: grimst
hammer: korda
head: hiem
heart: nien
helm: heim
home: grimst
honour: zeitmen
ill fate: barzûl
love: dorzada
man: knurlag
moment: hort
place: goroth
pool: mérna
rider: carmeitder
river: ragni
sapphire: mithrim
Shade: Hreth
sight: astim
smiths: ingeitum
son: menthiv
staircase: turin
star: isidar
statue: hírna
stone: knurl
tear: sweld
war: vren
wolf: shrrg


Verbs and Adjectives