Lore:Old Orcish

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 Relationship

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]}

Literature

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 Goltragga Torug ne rohi Ornim lochan norgim krazak	Torug at the Summit, One Chief Torug will not allow the looters to find his remains. Chief Torug will allow no lesser Orcs to find interment above him.
Torug ag Krazak, Uhg Goltragga Torug dek vorkhim lorak eb norgimin sim Torug dulg krazak eb Jur ugo sim ren tum beshkar	Torug at the Summit, Two Chief Torug gathered up his armored bracer and his dying body. He climbed to the summit and placed himself in a cairn of his own making.
Torug ag Krazak, Aht Torug gesh Glushun Zugka* ugo magicka lorish Uba eb uba urgalick voshu Ornim tarask Torug golzarga ubeshka	Torug at the Summit, Three Then he laid Sorrow's Kiss* upon his enchanted armlet. Forever waiting for a worthy Orc to claim his most cherished possession.

* 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 List

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.

A

Ag 

At

Agra 

Shield

Aht 

Three

B

Beshkar 

Forge, Making* (noun)

C

Crun 

Blood, Heart

Crunzarga 

Revenge (lit. blood-price)

D

Dek 

Gathered

Dulg 

Climbed

E

Eb 

And

G

Gesh 

Laid (past tense of to lay)

Glushun 

Sorrow (specifically the mountain of Sorrow)

Goltragga 

Chieftain

Golzarga 

Most cherished

Granosh 

Of iron

J

Jur 

Placed (past tense of to place)

K

Khazun Ghash 

Seamount*

Krazak 

Summit, Above

L

Lochan 

Find

Lorak 

Bracer

Lorish 

Armlet

M

Magicka 

Magic, Enchantment

Murimush 

Looter

N

Ne 

Not Allow

Nor 

Death

Norgim 

Death, Interment

Norgimin 

Dying

O

Osh 

Iron

Or 

Stone

Ornim 

Orc

R

Rakh 

Blade, Sword

Ren 

In

Rohi 

Lesser

S

Sim 

Body, Remains,

T

Tarask 

Claim

Tum 

Cairn

Tumn 

Death

U

Uba 

Ever*

Ubeshka 

Possession

Ugo 

His

Uhg 

Two

Uhz 

One

Urgalick 

Awaiting

V

Vorkhim 

Armored

Vosh 

Courage,

Voshu 

Worthy, Courageous*

Z

Zarga 

Price*

Zugka 

Kiss

Zugra 

Curse

Old Orcish Grammar

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 Languages

• Magicka - magic, enchantment - cf. Aldmeris, Ayleidoon & Tamrielic Magicka
• Ne - not allow - cf. Aldmeris ne- (not)
• Ornim - Orc - cf. Aldmeris Orsimer, & Dragon Language Ogiim

Notes

• There is apparently no word in Old Orcish for "patience", with the closest word literally meaning sedated.
• The Iron Orcs of Craglorn cling to the old words more than most other Orcish cultures.

References

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.