gharata mlach amce

this blog is dedicated to analysing and expanding the little-developed vampire language spoken by the gharasham tribe in the witcher. i'm no conlanging or linguistics expert — just a fan who's obsessed with the witcher, vampires and languages. 🖤 the blog is currently on HIATUS, but translation requests are always OPEN.

[garasham]

Hey, I know you mostly do translations and linguistics, but after reading the What Lies Beneath by Jopheil, I started to wonder what the Vampires call their home world and how they named their cities. I believe Orianna in the story mentioned a city called Marcuthe, but what do you think? 🦇🌺

Hey there, thank you very much for writing!

I needed a bit of time to come up with an answer, hence the slight delay - hope you'll like my ideas ❤️

First of all, your message reminded me of how much I love What Lies Beneath by @yowzie! The author was kind enough to allow me a while ago to use some of their concepts about the Vampiric language and culture for my own Vampiric, and your ask prompted me to delve deeper into this source of inspiration and have fun with it 🥰

(Please note: everything below, except for the idea of Marcuthe being a vampire metropolis, was coined by me.)

Marcuthe

metropolis in the vampires’ original world, named in reference to its elevated position making it closer to the moon

from mar tlusc moon, ancient form

Clespur

Great City, capital in the vampires’ original world

from clesne extensive, great, large + spur city

Artumra

the vampires’ original world

from aritimi & co. (artume, artam, artms, artumes, arthem), alternative word for vampire, vampire species/people, suggesting they are deities of spells, prophecies, night, death and/or natural growth

[garasham]

🌺send this to bloggers you think are wonderful. keep the game going🌺

Hi anon, thank you so much for your kind message and for remembering me even though I've been so inactive! I hope you're well & wish you a wonderful day 😊✨

[garasham]

.

[garasham]

vampire language — update xiii

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

update

a (new grammar @ google doc link)

new words

angarul to die, perish permanently with no chance of regeneration

atzapar: claw

lecin to leave

muna place

ose or

new sentence

A lecin muna, ose angarul atzapar mes.

Leave this place or die by my claws. (lit. Leave place, or die claws my.)

a: [imperative] lecin: to leave muna: place ose: or angarul: to die atzapar: claw mes: my

[garasham]

vampire language — update xii

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

last updated: 25 april 🩸

update

sin, -s (new grammar @ google doc link)

new words

a: ah, oh

axapri: friend

kamethlece, kamit’na: beloved friend, dear friend

krumokares: frost, ice

mes: my

odlaza: begone

new phrase

a kamit’na mes...

oh, my dear friend...

a: ah, oh kamit’na: beloved friend, dear friend mes: my

[garasham]

vampire language — update xi

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

special thanks to anon for this ask 🖤

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

last updated: 23 april 🩸

changes

thuta: people, person

<vili> (updated grammar @ google doc link)

new words

belu: ashen, pale, pallid, white, specifically in reference to a vampire’s skin that’s ‘too’ pale because they consume little blood

bevilucin: pallid one

Calusin: mythical beast found in the vampires’ homeworld and depicted on the necklace the Toussaint Unseen Elder wears

-(e)cin: one

hecce, hecece: bottomless, endless, timeless

neri: water, waters

new phrase

hecece neri! 

blast it all! (lit. bottomless waters!)

hecece: bottomless, endless, timeless neri: water, waters

[garasham]

What about dumb words in vampiric.. I wanna know how to call someone a anemic shrimp in vampiric

Hi anon!

Thank you so much for this ask, it’s a joy to get any requests and this one in particular was brilliant 😂👌

I assumed you meant shrimp in the pejorative sense of someone who’s small and insignificant, but feel free to tell me if I misinterpreted your meaning!

My idea (subject to change as always) includes the following:

new word belu ashen, pale, pallid, white, specifically in reference to a vampire’s skin that’s ‘too’ pale because they consume little blood

new suffix -(e)cin one

<vili> (shortened to <vi>): diminutive form placed after the first vowel of a word to express condescending smallness, inferiority or weakness

This gives us bevilucin, aka “pallid one” with condescending connotations of smallness. I’m afraid it’s not really dumb or funny haha, but I did my best to make it as scathing as possible while following vampire logic 😂

Don’t hesitate if you have any other requests (of insults or anything else), questions or thoughts! ❤️

[garasham]

vampire language — update x

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

new words

altza: dreadful, gruesome

Altzana: Black Death, a lost sword made of a secret material capable of permanently slaying higher vampires

angarona: death, permanent death from which even higher vampires cannot return

Gael: Water Bird

ghasvia: water bird

lamiu: post-Conjunction creature

natis: seer, wise

saxutei: mage, sorcerer, sorceress, witch, wizard

[garasham]

vampire language — update ix

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

last updated: 25 april 🩸

update

-te (new grammar @ google doc link)

changes

cver: moola, mula

faltei: alp, alpor

nosferat: nekurat, nosferat

xeste: ekimma, ekimmara

new words

alfazei: happiness, joy, short form alfaz

cana: beauty, favour, gift, happiness

desmonti: bat, the Toussaint Unseen Elder’s emblem

fates: to pertain to, to relate to

thalna: sex, sexual intercourse

z’ragi: wonderful

new sentence

Thalna z’ragi, thalna cana alfaz emeithate fates.

Sex is wonderful and associated with beauty, joy and pleasure. (lit. Sex [is] wonderful; sex to beauty, joy and pleasure relates.) 

thalna: sex, sexual intercourse z’ragi: wonderful cana: beauty, favour, gift, happiness alfaz: happiness, joy emeitha: pleasure, satisfaction -te: [and] fates: to pertain to, to relate to

[garasham]

vampire language — update viii

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

special thanks to @stillness138 🖤

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

updates

vampire people — higher vampires: individuals (new headcanon @ google doc link)

vampire people — higher vampires: names (new headcanons @ google doc link)

changes

Draakul: Regis’ mule, partial loanword

ruthven: crow, raven, Regis’ emblem

new words

anxarie: plumard

caluxas: moth, Dettlaff’s emblem

cver: mula

emeitha: pleasure, satisfaction

Emiel: Pleasure Seeker

pentsatum: higher vampire

zusiel: to seek

[garasham]

vampire language — update vii

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

special thanks to @indexvirus for this conversation 🖤

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

last updated: 28 february 🩸

updates

vampire language: history (new headcanon @ google doc link)

vampire people — higher vampires: tribes (new headcanons @ google doc link)

changes

orianix: serpent, poetic form

Orianix (Orianna): Serpent, poetic form

new words

amur: to conquer, to prevail

Amurun: Vampiric name for the Ammurun tribe

faltei: alp

tetu: eternal

Tetu: Vampiric name for the Tdet tribe

vuisi: garkain

xeste: ekimmara

[garasham]

vampire language — update vi

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions, except for those marked with a ☆ which come from canon

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

last updated: 25 april 🩸

update

is(e)- (new grammar @ google doc link)

changes

nosferat: melody, music, symphony

new words

alxu: to give

bruxa: bruxa ☆

estatu: to drink

feratun: melody, music, symphony

iseme: myself

katakan: katakan ☆

nosferat: nosferat ☆

nunca: never, short form nun

rikominen: to break, to violate

trivni: idea, principle 

new sentence

Nun rikominen trivni iseme alxu.

I never violate the principles I set for myself. (lit. [I] never violate principles [I to] myself give.)

nun(ca): never rikominen: to break, to violate trivni: idea, principle iseme: myself alxu: to give

[garasham]

First of all, I want to tell you how amazing your work is! And secondly, a possible translation for the other Vampire tribes, Tdet and Ammurun? The translation of Gharasham really interests me, since just a while ago we took some close-up shots of Regis' ring and many admitted it looked like it had two roses

Hi there 💕

First of all, thank you for being the first person to ever send me an ask on this blog (woohoo, exciting!) and for saying such kind words 🥰

I’m glad you like my translation of Gharasham! Would you happen to have a link to the post where you were analysing Regis’ ring? 👀

As for Tdet and Ammurun, it says on the Witcher Wiki that the vampire language “is a mother tongue of intelligent vampires […] belonging to Gharasham tribe.” This seems to suggest the Tdet and Ammurun tribes might have other mother tongues than the vampire language I’m developing - either because they already did in the vampires’ original world before the Conjunction, or because there used to be one common language for all tribes back then and it evolved in slightly differently ways on the Continent due to the tribes being geographically separated from one another.

We could speculate that Regis gave Geralt the names of the tribes in his own language (i.e. the vampire language) even though they might have other names in the tribes’ individual languages? Or the so-called vampire language and any other tribe languages could in fact be nothing but slightly varying dialects/variations which overlap on words like Tdet and Ammurun? What do you think? 

Either way, I’d be happy to come up with a translation of those words (maybe once we’ve discussed this a bit more, since I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts)! Thanks so much again for the question/suggestion ❤️

[indexvirus]

Heya 👋

I wasn’t able to find the discussion, but here are the original screenshots; https://indexvirus.tumblr.com/post/636145594971324416/by-request-old-friends-ring-very-curious

Now then. I believe that if the vampires don’t share a mother tongue, it must’ve been so before the Conjunction. In the books (Chapter 7, Baptism of Fire), Regis notes that only about 1200 Vampires were trapped in the Continent and have been there for roughly 1500 years. Small population and longer average lifespan that equals to fewer generations per century, means development of language and culture is slow. For example, The Unseen Elder speaks in the same dialect and words as Regis, despite being at least centuries older.

And then “Only about 1200 vampires” suggests the Conjunction doesn’t trap huge portions of a foreign population to the Continent, but just a group from one unfortunate area. Humans in the Continent do share a mother tongue, but considering they have different accents and dialects, the area they were “transported” from might have been the size of Europe or half. Still, your point stays valid; Even an area as small as Northern Europe/Asia doesn’t share a language group. 

As for Regis speaking the tribe’s names in his own mother tongue, the tribes Tdet and Ammurun do have a bit of a different tone than Gharasham. Tdet sounds like it could be inspired from Egyptian - Like Set, Djed or Thoth. Ammurun in the other hand reminds me of Ammoron/Amaron, a Nephite name meaning something like “Beloved” or “Friendly”.

This is what I brainstormed. Tell me what you think! 👍

Also I’m sorry for the bad grammar.

[garasham]

Ah, thanks for the link! Very interesting indeed 👀And thank you for all the amazing points and ideas you brought up, it was great reading you! 💖

Well, the more I think about it and the more I believe there’s a real likelihood of the phrasing on the Wiki being misleading semantically... Perhaps it says the ‘vampire language’ is spoken by members of the Gharasham tribe not necessarily so as to exclude the possibility of the other tribes having the same language, but simply because we’re not given much additional information on said tribes and all the information we do have comes from Regis’ potentially biased/limited knowledge? In other words, I’m not sure I can rely on the exact wording there and derive any definitive meaning from it.

Alternatively, perhaps we can instead look at how Tdet and Ammurun fit into the template of the ‘vampire language’ provided by CDPR? 

I’m realising just now that all the language examples I’ve found appear to vaguely follow rules of Etruscan phonology (or at least more broadly an Etruscan ‘aesthetics') - with the exception of Draakul, which (interestingly) is to my knowledge the only vampire word named in the books, and could very well be a loan/wordplay derived from Common or another language spoken on the Continent.  

Taking that conclusion to mean that all words in the ‘vampire language’ should at least vaguely look like they could be Etruscan, Tdet and Ammurun don’t fit the pattern since none of the Etruscan dictionaries I know feature the letter combinations td and mm and the latter might thus not be viable in Etruscan.

Going back to your idea that any and all vampire languages would probably originate from the vampire’s world and more specifically one area thereof, perhaps we could say then that the Tdet and Ammurun tribes probably did and do have their own languages (either very different to CDPR’s ‘vampire language’, or variants/dialects thereof). The tribe names Regis provides would most likely be the original names in the respective tribe languages.

Which prompts the question - how would members of the Gharasham tribe call the Tdet and Ammurun tribes and their associated languages? In terms of meaning, I really like the connections you drew between Tdet and Egyptian and Ammurun and the Nephite name Ammoron/Amaron, but I don’t quite know yet how those could be used for a translation... Will give this a think, and I believe I should be able to add the result to next weekend’s update! 😊

(Edit: I just saw while going through this post again that the Witcher Wiki lists “Vampire language” under “Languages” on the individual pages for Tdet and Ammurun... 😝 This seems to confirm the dialect theory as opposed to the Tdet and Ammurun languages being entirely separate/distinct.)

[garasham]

First of all, I want to tell you how amazing your work is! And secondly, a possible translation for the other Vampire tribes, Tdet and Ammurun? The translation of Gharasham really interests me, since just a while ago we took some close-up shots of Regis' ring and many admitted it looked like it had two roses

Hi there 💕

First of all, thank you for being the first person to ever send me an ask on this blog (woohoo, exciting!) and for saying such kind words 🥰

I’m glad you like my translation of Gharasham! Would you happen to have a link to the post where you were analysing Regis’ ring? 👀

As for Tdet and Ammurun, it says on the Witcher Wiki that the vampire language “is a mother tongue of intelligent vampires [...] belonging to Gharasham tribe.” This seems to suggest the Tdet and Ammurun tribes might have other mother tongues than the vampire language I’m developing - either because they already did in the vampires’ original world before the Conjunction, or because there used to be one common language for all tribes back then and it evolved in slightly differently ways on the Continent due to the tribes being geographically separated from one another.

We could speculate that Regis gave Geralt the names of the tribes in his own language (i.e. the vampire language) even though they might have other names in the tribes’ individual languages? Or the so-called vampire language and any other tribe languages could in fact be nothing but slightly varying dialects/variations which overlap on words like Tdet and Ammurun? What do you think? 

Either way, I’d be happy to come up with a translation of those words (maybe once we’ve discussed this a bit more, since I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts)! Thanks so much again for the question/suggestion ❤️

[garasham]

vampire language — update v

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions and ideas listed below are my own, except for those marked with a ☆ which come from the story what lies beneath by @yowzie

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

special thanks to @yowzie 🖤

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

new words

cautha: sun

enax: after

helene: to descend, to go down

Marcuthe: metropolis in the vampires’ original world ☆

maucri: another

ruthven: raven

scanderu: to go up, to rise

new sentence

Enax cautha helene, maucri scanderu.

After [one] sun sets, another rises. ☆

enax: after cautha: sun helene: to descend, to go down maucri: another scanderu: to go up, to rise

[garasham]

vampire language — update iv

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions, except for those marked with a ☆ which come from the story what lies beneath by @yowzie 

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

special thanks to @yowzie 🖤

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

last updated: 25 april 🩸

update

zipanu (new grammar @ google doc link)

changes

aki: what

aritimi, artume, artam, artumes, arthem: alternative word for vampire, vampire species/people, suggesting they are deities of spells, prophecies, night, death and/or natural growth

cilthur: human, human species/people

ic, ix: as, how, if, like, short form i

mlavilith: human, human species/people, lit. weakling(s)

Nac ei zia oni?

Nac me ame mina oni sa.

rasenna, rasna: vampire, vampire species/people

rasnev: Vampiric, vampire language

thuu: they, them

new words

acnaz: to create, to fashion 

auctrenes: fleder, protofleder ☆

mecsei: first ☆

mecsei nautrence: beloved, dearest, lit. first and last ☆

mina: us, we

m’tau: what

nautrence: last ☆

oni: they, them

new sentence

I cilthur god mina acnaz, zipanu ame m’tau?

If we were to create a god as the humans have, what would he be like? (lit. If [like] humans [a] god we created, would be what?)

ic: as, how, if, like cilthur: human, human species/people mina: us, we acnaz: to create, to fashion zipanu: [would] ame: to be m’tau: what

[garasham]

vampire language — update iii

this post is part of a project to analyse and expand the vampire language from the witcher; the definitions listed below are my own inventions

navigation: language analysis | language expansion (including wordlists) | word construction details 🦇

requests and messages are welcome 🌹

last updated: 11 february 🩸

updates

-ca and <vili> (new grammar @ google doc link)

new words

adas: under

Cilthur: human, human species/people

cluthumustha: secret

curt: brief, short

h’tni: cover, secrecy

mlathce: weak

Mlavilith: human, human species/people, lit. Weakling(s)

tvami: dark

tvamica: darkness

new phrase

adas tvamica h’tni 

under the cover of darkness (lit. under darkness cover)

adas: under tvamica: darkness h’tni: cover, secrecy