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Guide portrait4 ifghar

Ifghar reading. Since Krakish is the most widely spoken language in the Northern Kingdoms, it is assumed that most of the books written there are written in Krakish.

Krakish is the language spoken by most of the creatures from the Northern Kingdoms, as opposed to the language of the Southern Kingdoms, Hoolian. It is described as having harsh sounds, sometimes compared to the sound of "gargling rocks". The language originated from the Clan of Krakor, where Cleve of Firthmore came from.

Phonology[]

Krakish has

• The vowels A, Aa, E, I, O, U

• The diphthongs Au, Ou, Uo

• The glottals Gh, H

• The liquids / rhotics R, L, Rh/Rr

• The labials M, B, V, Vv/Vh, P, F, Ff/fh

• The dentals N, D, T, Z, S

Structure[]

The structure of Krakish is not explicitly described, but can be inferred from its use. However, it seems to bear similarities to Romance languages in that adjectives change depending on the noun they are applied to,[1] and that verbs are conjugated into six forms.[2]

Vocabulary[]

This is a list of known Krakish vocabulary. It is alphabetized by the Krakish word.

Pronouns[]

These pronouns are inferred from when Otulissa is conjugating verbs on page 9 of The Burning.

Krakish Hoolian
yuoy I
tuoy You (Singular)
tuoy he/she/it
nuoy we
vuoyou You (plural)
vuoyven They

Nouns[]

Krakish Hoolian
bhago book
bleshen blood
brikta schnee deep snow, the season of winter
byssenskitch a channel that grows narrower
criffen battle
erraghh rage
frahmm flames
frisen friend
frissah fires
ghylls secret passages
glauc life
glossen glass
grot-ghot native (of the Northern Kingdoms)
hordo snake
hordonphonk supremely beautiful snake
issen ice
issen blaue blue ice
issen glossen clear ice
issen vintygg deep ice
kraal pirate
krepla schnee fast falling, blinding snow
kronkenbot vacuum transport
lav issen low ice
liffen schmoo light frost, the season of fall
magen magic
mik jewel
mydlsvarls natural network of tunnels of frost
m'whocki owl
nachtmagen bad magic
N'yrth uppermost part, beak
N'yrthnookah A northeast wind that brings with it the heaviest of blizzards
ny schnee no snow, the season of summer
phawish food
regno ruler
rhot ghort a small rule infraction
salixa willow
siypah schnee snow that falls at dawn
sklardrog sky dragon
skog storyteller
smeisshen smith
soffen issen soft ice, the season of spring
strah crown
sund sound, music
S'yrth lowermost part, feet
tantya aunt
unguis talons, claws
vhagen / hagen evening
Vlimyk vintur last winter hunters
vrahkyn faith
vroknenplonk a very serious offense
wykensprat witness stand
Yinqui listener/spy

Adjectives[]

Krakish Hoolian
blaue blue
clarren clear
gunda/gunden good
ilis safe
mi/mi't my/mine
michten little
nacht bad
nachtglaux against Glaux
nar noble
prinka poor, pitiful
trufynkken drunk
tuoy your/yours
utmyrket splendid
vintygg deep
whiskerspritz full of spirits
yoicks / yoickers crazy

Verbs[]

Due to taking these verbs directly from a speaking context, they are in various forms, not necessarily the infinitive. For those of which the form is known, it will be listed.

Krakish Hoolian
aroch teach
bit it is
bity it will be
bisshen say/speak (likely the infinitive)
frihl it burns
fryke freeze
goot hoot
grash eat
heeldving think
kerplonken yeep
kraalynk to attack for treasure
misnacht [Do you] understand
murischev Teach to fight
skog tell/sing
stresschen to originate from/hail from
vinc conquer, win, overcome
yeben become

Adverbs[]

Krakish Hoolian
achtin here/for
vatsapoose travelling on one's belly

Miscellaneous[]

Krakish Hoolian
ach exclamation for surprise
di of
der the
e another form of and
effen of (as in from)[3]
in in
ja yes
murm like, as
nuftan no way
nunchat no
nynick never

Phrases[]

Krakish Hoolian
Framisch longha Follow me
Gare heeldvig Think nothing of it
Gunden vhagen Good evening
Hvrash g'mear mclach? Where are you going?
Takk Thank you
Fyrndronken nyghot ig fyrnsfris We have nothing to fear but fear itself
Vreeling cladonia mich vaargen, scmuttz engen guneer gunden Cleve's comment on the amazing diversity of cladonia lichen, exact translation unclear
Bisshen ninga Krakish y faar son Otulissa's reply to Cleve, exact translation unclear
Verschtucken mitgon vouykinn schnitzkin bynnghis yonkus A code spoken by Blix that meant: "Beware, slipgizzles are among us. The enemies, the two Horneds."
Gishmahad frissah bralaag gyrrrmach tuoy oschuven Spoken by one of the owls involved in the "peg-out" operation, near the end of The Shattering, to deceive Nyra's forces.

Be verbs[]

Also inferred from when Otulissa is conjugating verbs on page 9 of The Burning.

Krakish Hoolian
Yuoy bis I am
Tuoy bit You (singular) are
Tuoy bim He/she/it is
Nuoy bimish We are
Vuoyou bimishi You (plural) are
Vuoyven bimont They are

Interrogative pronouns[]

Krakish Hoolian
Hvrash Where?
Vhrunk What?

Examples (Contextual)[]

Krakish page

There are several examples in the books that can be studied to provide a better understanding of Krakish, the longest being Nyra's statement of love and devotion to Kludd in The Siege:

Erraghh tuoy bit mik in strah.
Erraghh tuoy frihl in mi murm frissah di Naftur, regno di frahmm.
Erragh tuoy bity mi plurrh di glauc.
E mi't, di tuoy.

Several grammatical structures can be gathered from this text. For example, it can be observed that di is the possessive indicator, in the cases frissah di Naftur, the fires of Naftur or Naftur's fires, regno di frahmm, the flame's ruler or the ruler of the flames, plurrh di glauc, life's blood or blood of the (my) life, and di tuoy, of your (heart) or yours. Also note, that though it can be interpreted either way, grammatical syntax appears to be "possessor (what's doing the possessing) di possessive (what's being possessed)".

Also if you look at Erraghh tuoy, I would propose that you place the object that you are possessing in front of the noun when you are using a pronoun without di.

I would also assume that pronouns can function as descriptive or possessive without any change. The use of tuoy as both you and your indicates this.[4]

Trivia[]

The Krakish words actually have some roots in Norwegian. Krakish is the language of the Northern Kingdoms, and that made me think of Scandinavian countries. So I did go to a Norwegian language Web site and picked out a few words. Then I sort of mangled them a bit, turned them inside out, and came up with this weird-sounding language. There is also a hint of Yiddish-like words thrown in."

- Kathryn Lasky, Guardians of Ga'Hoole Discussion Guide

References[]

  1. This is not said outright but can be inferred from the word for "good", which changes from gunda to gunden depending on what it describes
  2. Revealed in The Burning, page 9
  3. Svall refers to Ezylryb as Lyze effen Kiel in The Burning.
  4. All assumed information above is inference until proven validated.
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