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Constructed languages are a staple of the fantasy and science-fiction genres. Examples include Klingon from Star Trek, J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish languages, and Dothraki from Game of Thrones. Thuum.org is a fan community dedicated to the use and expansion of the dragon language in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

At Thuum.org, our goals are to:

Document the language. We're dedicated to recording every attested word, and all the nuances of the language as it's presented in Skyrim. Our goal is to make Thuum.org the authoritative source on the dragon language. Teach the language. We want to create a place where anyone can learn the language in depth, with the support of lessons and tools that aren't available elsewhere. Promote the language. We want to see the language grow and develop in the fan community, and produce literature and tools that can be used by Skyrim fans and language enthusiasts alike.

We hope you enjoy your stay, and look forward to sharing the dragon language with you.

-paarthurnax, developer and administrator

About the Dictionary

The dictionary here at Thuum.org is dedicated to documenting the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as completely and accurately as possible while providing valuable insight for those looking to use the language themselves.

All officially recognized usage of the dragon language—the dragon language corpus—spans from in-game dialogue, books, music, developer notes, and external official guides in print or online. The contents of this dictionary were written by examining the entirety of the corpus and consolidating all known information in one place.

The guide below breaks down the dictionary entry format so you can find exactly what you're looking for and make the most of the information provided.

Understanding Dictionary Entries

Each dictionary entry covers a distinct word with its own definition and usage. Only base words have dictionary entries (e.g., dovah 'dragon' has a dedicated entry, but dovahhe 'dragons' does not). When looking for a word, make sure to look for the base word. There are some exceptions where the base word might not occur, or where a word's base form might not be readily obvious.

The goal of each dictionary entry is to succinctly describe the meaning of a word and demonstrate its usage as it officially occurs.

Many specifics of the dragon language are unknown or unexplained. Dictionary entries may provide additional, unofficial notes to enhance the understanding of a word beyond what is officially documented. These notes are based on extended analysis, taking into account the language as it occurs in-game and the process by which Bethesda created it, and represent the best current understanding of the language. As these notes are ultimately hypothetical in nature, you are free to heed or ignore them for your own purposes. We encourage you to read the source material and draw your own conclusions.

Word

The Word section provides the dragon word in both the original dragon runes and the romanization. Words are spelled as observed in-game or in official external material, such as the Prima Games guide.

Dragon rune spellings are derived from each word's official romanization and the official alphabet. Not all words appear written in dragon runes in-game. The dragon words presented in the dictionary entries are the standard spellings. (See the Alphabet and Writing in Dragon Runes lessons for more information on spelling.)

There are some spelling discrepancies between official guide material and actual in-game usage, in particular misspellings that are found in the subtitles and dialogue files. For the sake of completeness, the most common misspellings have their own dictionary entries to reference. In cases where a word may only occur once, the spelling listed in the official guide is determined to be official. The spelling of related words also determines official spelling. If you cannot find a word, try looking at nearby words in case the word you are looking for may be misspelled.

Pronunciation

The Pronunciation section provides the word's pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet. The pronunciations provided are broad transcriptions for the sake of readability and accuracy. See the Alphabet page for more on dragon language pronunciation.

Some words may list multiple pronunciations. Pronunciations are listed in order from most typical to least typical.

The dragon alphabet is highly phonemic, meaning that words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled. The pronunciations listed are based on in-game pronunciations and the "textbook" pronunciations derived from a word's spelling. Most words do not have recorded pronunciations to reference. In-game pronunciations vary greatly between voice actors and international versions of the game. Textbook pronunciation is derived from the most common observed pronunciations that provide the least amount of overlap between letters. (For example, in textbook pronunciation gron /gron/ 'to bind' and graan /grɑn/ 'to rout' are not homophones, but gron is sometimes pronounced in-game as /grɑn/.) Where in-game pronunciation differs from a word's textbook pronunciation, textbook pronunciation is listed first as the recommended, standard pronunciation.

Discrepancies may exist between the syllables listed as stressed in the dictionary and the syllables that are stressed in the in-game pronunciations. Stress placement varies greatly between voice actors. In words that do not have observed pronunciations, stress placement is hypothetical. The root of a word generally receives the stress, and affixes are generally unstressed. Syllables with aa or ii can also influence stress. Stress may also change with the flow of a sentence. The stresses listed are the recommended pronunciations.

Word Type

The Word Type section provides the part of speech that a word serves as. Dragon words are highly flexible and may function as multiple parts of speech in different contexts. The parts of speech system used in the Word Type section describes how a word may behave based on in-game examples and analysis.

The terms 'strong' and 'weak' denote how adjectives and verbs can be used. 'Strong' indicates an adjective or verb that can also be used as a noun, while 'weak' indicates an adjective or verb that cannot be used as a noun. All words are assumed to be strong unless there in an explicit noun form (e.g. aam 'to serve' is considered a weak verb due to the existence of ahmik 'service'). Words with similar meanings but different etymologies do not inform one another's strong or weak qualities. For example, the existence of vur 'valor' does not make krilot 'valiant' a weak adjective because vur and krilot are unrelated. Some words may be considered strong despite having explicit noun forms. For example, mul 'strong' is considered a strong adjective despite mulaag 'strength' because it is used to mean 'strength' in the Dragon Aspect Shout.

The Word Type section is unofficial except where noted in the official definition. A word's listed part of speech may differ from official notes where a word's meaning or behavior better fit the listed part of speech.

Official Definition

The Official Definition section lists the word's definition verbatim as it appears in official sources, such as dialogue file developer notes or the Prima Games official guide. Sources are cited beneath the definition. Only the first or most prominent instance is cited if a definition appears in the same source multiple times. A source may be cited multiple times if it contains multiple, distinct definitions.

Below is a list of all sources used to produce the official definitions. Brackets indicate variable text, such as a name or number:

({Shout Name}) - The definition as listed in the in-game Shouts menu. Some Shouts are not directly available to the player and can only be accessed via console commands. See UESP.net for a complete list of Shouts and their corresponding IDs if you wish to verify the definitions in-game.





(Book, {Title}) - The definition as provided from an in-game book. The most commonly cited books are Songs of Skyrim and Dragon Language: Myth No More.





(Dialogue File, {Form ID}) - The definition as provided from developer notes in Skyrim's dialogue file* exported from the Creation Kit. The cited Form ID refers to the specific line or group of dialogue where the definition is listed. Only developer notes and in-game dialogue that explicitly state a definition are considered valid definition sources. In-game dialogue that comments on the dragon language (such as commentary from Paarthurnax) but does not explicitly state a translation is not considered valid, as these comments are often paraphrase. Commentary may be accepted as an official translation where a translation does not exist elsewhere.



* The linked file includes dialogue from the base game but not the Dawnguard or Dragonborn DLCs. Some dialogue citations use notes from Dawnguard or Dragonborn dialogue. These must be verified in the Creation Kit at this time.





* The linked file includes dialogue from the base game but not the Dawnguard or Dragonborn DLCs. Some dialogue citations use notes from Dawnguard or Dragonborn dialogue. These must be verified in the Creation Kit at this time. (POGGLE, {Page}) - The page in the Prima Games Official Game Guide: Legendary Edition where the word's definition is cited. Definitions are primarily cited from the dragon word list beginning on page 1096, or from the Word Wall transcriptions on the following pages.





(PrimaGames.com) - The definition as provided from Prima Games' online English to Dragon Language list. Some words and notes appear in the PrimGames.com list and nowhere else.

Expanded Definition

The Expanded Definition section is an unofficial definition that provides more detail and clarity than might be found in the official definition, including the English parts of speech that a word can be used as. Below are the abbreviations used for each part of speech:

adj. adjective

adv. adverb

conj. conjunction

interj. interjection

n. noun

pref. prefix

prep. preposition

pron. pronoun

suff. suffix

v. verb

Expanded definitions are based on the part of speech listed in the Word Type section. The expanded definition may list parts of speech that do not occur in canon usage. This is done in favor of flexibility and to satisfy the part of speech system developed to describe the language. You may choose to use words only in the way that they are used in canon.

Usage

The Usage section lists and cites occurrences of the word where it officially appears. The Usage section does not list every occurrence, but those that best demonstrate the definition. Similarly, some sources are not reproduced in their entirety but with enough context to portray the word.

Each usage is followed by a translation and a citation. Translations are official and reproduced verbatim where official translations are provided in the source. Unofficial translations are written in square brackets where no official translation is provided, and are written in as literal a manner as possible.

Below is a list of all sources used to produce the Usage section. Brackets indicate variable text, such as a name or number:

({Shout Name}) - The word as it appears in the in-game Shouts. Some Shouts are not directly available to the player and can only be accessed via console commands. See UESP.net for a complete list of Shouts and their corresponding IDs if you wish to verify the definitions in-game.





(Book, {Title}) - The word as it appears in an in-game book. The most commonly cited books are Songs of Skyrim and Dragon Language: Myth No More.





({Speaker}, {Form ID}) - The word as it appears in dialogue, copied verbatim from the Skyrim's dialogue file* exported from the Creation Kit. The cited Form ID refers to the specific line or group of dialogue where the word occurs.



* The linked file includes dialogue from the base game but not the Dawnguard or Dragonborn DLCs. Some dialogue citations occur in Dawnguard or Dragonborn dialogue. These must be verified in the Creation Kit at this time.





* The linked file includes dialogue from the base game but not the Dawnguard or Dragonborn DLCs. Some dialogue citations occur in Dawnguard or Dragonborn dialogue. These must be verified in the Creation Kit at this time. (Word Wall for {Word}, {Shout}) - The word as it appears in a Word Wall where Word of Powers are obtained. The citation notes the Shout and Word of Power of the Word Wall where the word occurs. Official transcriptions and translations are taken from the Prima Games Official Game Guide: Legendary Edition. Some Word Walls do not occur in the guide or in-game, and are taken from Creation Kit files. Some words do not occur outside of these unused Word Walls. See UESP.net for more information.

Connotations

The Connotations section explains a word's meaning in more depth than the dictionary definition, noting what things it may be associated with and how it differs from similar words. All connotations are hypothetical and are gleaned from its usage. A word's etymology may also inform its connotations, especially where a word may have limited or no usage. In some instances, not enough information exists to provide connotation notes.

Etymology

The Etymology section lists the internal origin of a word. Most etymologies are hypothetical except where noted in the official definition. Some etymologies are more hypothetical than others; etymologies that require the fewest assumptions are favored. Etymologies may sometimes inform a word's definition and connotations, especially where it may have limited or no usage to reference.

Etymologies describe how a word is derived, not how it forms other words. For example, the etymology section for zeymahzin 'companion' will reference zeymah 'brother', but the etymology section for zeymah will not reference zeymahzin. Reference the See Also section instead for other words that are derived from a word.

Notes

The Notes section provides any other information about a word, such as trivia, possible external origins, and ways in which a word should or should not be used.

See Also

The See Also section lists related or similar words relevant to the dictionary entry.