"Their leader, who was bedecked in feathers, edged towards me. It was I who spoke first. "Salaam brother, we come in peace!" He spoke to me in his own tongue which I could not understand. It was time to declare the reason for our entry into his land before they decided to attack us..."
- —Extract from the record of Ibn Jellaba's expedition to Zlatlan, ca. 1150 IC[1a]
The Saurian alphabet, comprised of pictographic glyphs.
Saurian, known as Sslssyl'k among the Lizardmen[6a], is the language of this ancient and alien species. It is a primeval reptilian tongue that is almost unpronounceable for any intelligent mortal race other than the Lizardmen to speak, due in part to the reality that it contains many unique sounds that can't be spoken in other tongues. Only a Lizardman can voice these or interpret them as words or sentences.[1b]
The Lizardmen's written language is composed of pictographic glyphs chiseled into bare stone or beaten gold. It is doubtful whether the Saurian tongue was spoken by the Old Ones who created the Lizardmen and many of the other intelligent peoples of the Known World, as they probably communicated with the Slann of the First Spawning by means of telepathy. As such, many scholars believe that the Saurian language is one unique to the Lizardmen.[1b]
Dialects[]
A more detailed look at a small collection of the pictographic glyphs which serve as the written form of Saurian.
There are currently three dialects of the Saurian language, which is divided between the three core species. The language of the Slann is the most eloquent form of Saurian. However, the Slann rarely bother to speak it. They can communicate with each other by means of telepathy and so restrict their speech to dictating their prophecies to the Skink scribes and issuing their directives. The Slann's use of words are usually reduced to a bare minimum of words and are enigmatic to say the least. As such, it is the Skinks duty to interpret its meaning.[1b]
The Skinks are the most vocal of the Lizardmen race as they are the builders and crafters of their society. They speak a dialect known as Skinkian, and as such do most of the talking and all of the reading and writing. They do not speak fast, but in long sentences laboriously constructed in a low, croaking tone. They use much gesticulation to help communicate because all Saurian words are vague in precise meaning and yet must be used to convey the profound thoughts of their masters, the Slann.[1b]
Crude Saurian is the dialect of Saurian spoken by the Saurus and to an extent the Kroxigors. The Saurus are not really capable of pronouncing many words at all. They are far better at fearsome roars and blood-curdling battle-cries then actual speech. When they do speak in Saurian, it often comes out deep and harsh. As such, most of their vocabulary is limited to only fifty or so words that is mostly associated with fighting. It is their leaders job then to string these words into coordinated orders and battle plans for their cohorts.[1b]
- Words are stressed on the second-to-the-last vowel (excluding U).[3a]
- U does not occur as an independent vowel.[3a]
- X is pronounced like 'SH'.[3a]
- LL is pronounced like a long 'L'.[3a]
- TL counts as a single consonant, never as a full syllable. TL is a type of sound not found in Old World languages but common to the Saurian language.[3a]
- CU and UC are both pronounced 'KW'.[3a]
- HU and UH are both pronounced 'W'.[3a]
- H without an adjacent U represents a glottal stop.[3a]
- Z is pronounced like 'S'.[3a]
Lexicon[]
A[]
- Ataxa - Plague/Curse[2a]
- Ata - Prophecy/Archive/Sequence[2a]
B[]
- Boq - (Bock) Weapon/Hurt/Hit[2a]
- Botl - Permanence/Solidity[2a]
C[]
- Cho - Warm-blooded/Ignorant[2a]
- Chaq - Hatred/Deep/Dark[2a]
- Conqua - (Kon-Ka) Join/Group[3a]
- Cuaq - (Kwak) Learning/History[2a]
D[]
G[]
- Gar - Attack[2a]
- Goq - (Gock) Forward/March[2a]
- Gor - (Gore) Rend/Slash/Strike[2a]
H[]
- Hex - (Hecks) Ground/Solid Base[3a]
- Huan - (Hoo-an) Darkness/Deep jungle/Moon[2a]
- Hua - Hunt/Mist[2a]
- Huini - Small/Insignificant[2a]
I[]
- Itza - (Its-ah) First one/Beginning[2a]
K[]
- Kai - (Kie) Ancient/Forgotten/Lore[2a]
- Kro - Dead/Sacrifice/Transcendence[2a]
- Kha - Revered/Justified[2a]
- Kor - Mighty/Impressive/Majestic[2a]
L[]
- Loq - (Lock) Fierce/Danger/Death[2a]
- Lot - Slayer/Brave[2a]
M[]
N[]
- Nka - Captive/Unchanging[2a]
O[]
- Oatl/Otl - (Oh-tul) Construction/Stronghold/Founding[3a]
Q[]
- Qu'itt - Gift/Sacrifice/Balance[2a]
- Qua - Blood/Fate[2a]
S[]
- Sslssyl'k - The name of the language spoke by the Lizardmen known to other intelligent races of Mallus as Saurian.[6a]
T[]
The Lizardman glyph Tlax represents a pyramid temple and stands for the idea of "city" or "pyramid temple" which are considered to be more or less the same thing in the Saurian tongue. When the Skink scribes want to refer to a city in their texts they use this glyph. If they want to name a specific city, then they will spell out the name of the city in alphabetic glyphs, followed by the glyph for "city". Where the name for a city incorporates the element Tlax, as in "Tlaxcan", then the glyph can be used phonetically as part of the spelling of the name, but the name will still be followed by the glyph to indicate that it is a city, and so the glyph appears twice in spellings of the name "Tlaxcan". The glyph can also be used to refer to individual pyramid temples, in which case the precise meaning is made clear by the name spelt out in other glyphs, or the context.[1c]
- Tehe - (Tuh-heh) Scholarly/Knowledgeable[2a]
- Tenq - (Tenk) Writing
- Tlax - (Tlacks) City/Temple[3a]
- Tli - Beast/Servant[2a]
- Tupyn tzlaga anapaq quito qrizliz - Which roughly translates to: "Get out of the way because the Horned Ones are thirsty!"[5a]
- Tza - (pronounced "Chah") Water/Swamp[3a]
U[]
- Uax - (pronounced "Orks") Sea level/Flood[3a]
X[]
- Xa - Vengeance/Cold Rain[2a]
- Xapati - Flat/Stone[2a]
- Xili - Fire[2a]
- Xiliquncani - Volcanic eruption[2a]
- Ximni - Smoke/Suggestion[2a]
- Xochitataliav - Ku'gath Plaguefather
- Xocibiki - Sustenance[2a]
- Xla - Law/Thesis/Affirmation[2a]
Z[]
- Zec - Foe/Intruder/Thief[2a]
- Zlat - (Slat) Importance/Focus[3a]
Names[]
An official name generator for the Lizardmen was available on the Games Workshop website and is still available today.[4a]
Canon Conflicts[]
In Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition the Lizardmen language known as Sslssyl'k also had a dialect called Ss'kyzz'l'k which was used by the Troglodytes.[6a]
In the PC game Total War: Warhammer II, the word Xiliquncani is treated as a warcry by the Saurus. "X" is often incorrectly pronounced in the game as "ks" instead of "sh" as would be the case in the Indigenous [Nahuatl] language of Mexico which is the real world basis of Saurian.
Sources[]
- 1 Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (5th Edition)
- 2 Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (7th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 39
- 3 Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (6th Edition)
- 3a: pg. 78
- 4: Black Gobbo (Magazine)
- 4a: Lizardmen Name Generator by Bryan Barnes
- 5: White Dwarf 232
- 5a: pp. 47-48
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 6a: pg. 291