Old Orcish is the ancient language of the Orcs, and most likely the precursor to the language known as Orcish. It is unknown when the langage became distinct from the other Elven languages, but the first written record of the language dates back to the rule of King Torug gro-Igron, before the first siege of Orsinium in 1E 950; nor is there any evidence to how it evolved into modern Orcish, which in 3E 417 was well established as the language of the Orcs of High Rock and Hammerfell. Seeing that there is evidence for the Old Orcish language having been largely forgotten in Wrothgar by 2E 582, 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 RelationshipEdit
Old Orcish is part of the Ehlnofex Language Family, and most likely a descendant of Aldmeris. It shares this ancestry with the other elven languages: Ald Chimeris, Dark Elvish, Dwemeris, Falmer, Altmeris, Bosmer, and Ayleidoon.[verification needed — see talk page]
LiteratureEdit
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: "Torug ag Krazak" (translated into Cyrodilic as "Torug at the Summit"), a series of inscriptions at the tomb of Torug gro-Igron, the founder of the first Orsinium. Apart from this, little remains of this language but scattered words and phrases.
| Old Orcish | Translation |
|---|---|
| Torug ag Krazak, Uhz Goltragga Torug ne murimush lochan sim |
Torug at the Summit, One Chief Torug will not allow the looters to find his remains. |
| Torug ag Krazak, Uhg Goltragga Torug dek vorkhim lorak eb norgimin sim |
Torug at the Summit, Two Chief Torug gathered up his armored bracer and his dying body. |
| Torug ag Krazak, Aht Torug gesh Glushun Zugka* ugo magicka lorish |
Torug at the Summit, Three Then he laid Sorrow's Kiss* upon his enchanted armlet. |
- * 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 ListEdit
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.
AEdit
- Ag
- At
- Agra
- Shield
- Aht
- Three
BEdit
- Beshkar
- Forge, Making* (noun)
CEdit
- Crun
- Blood, Heart
- Crunzarga
- Revenge (lit. blood-price)
DEdit
- Dek
- Gathered
- Dulg
- Climbed
EEdit
- Eb
- And
GEdit
- Gesh
- Laid (past tense of to lay)
- Glushun
- Sorrow (specifically the mountain of Sorrow)
- Goltragga
- Chieftain
- Golzarga
- Most cherished
- Granosh
- Of iron
JEdit
- Jur
- Placed (past tense of to place)
KEdit
- Khazun Ghash
- Seamount*
- Krazak
- Summit, Above
LEdit
- Lochan
- Find
- Lorak
- Bracer
- Lorish
- Armlet
MEdit
- Magicka
- Magic, Enchantment
- Murimush
- Looter
NEdit
- Ne
- Not Allow
- Nor
- Death
- Norgim
- Death, Interment
- Norgimin
- Dying
OEdit
- Osh
- Iron
- Or
- Stone
- Ornim
- Orc
REdit
- Rakh
- Blade, Sword
- Ren
- In
- Rohi
- Lesser
SEdit
- Sim
- Body, Remains,
TEdit
- Tarask
- Claim
- Tum
- Cairn
- Tumn
- Death
UEdit
- Uba
- Ever*
- Ubeshka
- Possession
- Ugo
- His
- Uhg
- Two
- Uhz
- One
- Urgalick
- Awaiting
VEdit
- Vorkhim
- Armored
- Vosh
- Courage,
- Voshu
- Worthy, Courageous*
ZEdit
- Zarga
- Price*
- Zugka
- Kiss
- Zugra
- Curse
Old Orcish GrammarEdit
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 LanguagesEdit
- Magicka - magic, enchantment - cf. Aldmeris, Ayleidoon & Tamrielic Magicka
- Ne - not allow - cf. Aldmeris ne- (not)
- Ornim - Orc - cf. Aldmeris Orsimer, & Dragon Language Ogiim
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.