‘S i a’mhearr mor dő se meoirchill eann crèig na’mor.

……..My fear is darker than my own shadow.

It is here where the narrator begins to indulge in a particularly favourite pastime of his: that of multifashioned Speech and those happily affiliated with its diverse forms. Of course, one cannot even begin to recount all the various tongues and dialects and idiomatics and gnomics and curses and blessings known to all the Rykris; thus, it must be satisfactory for the present time to briefly cover only the common ones, as well as perhaps some of those which he has encountered during his travels across the Realms.

Naturally, every Blood will grasp its own speech-melding with keen eye and willing ear, but of the many inhabitants of the Nine, some speech rides sharper, more forceful winds of lore than others. Of the Glimmdrad – who are great in number alone, even accounted for separately from all their faere-kin – three prominent languages will surface among their shimmering kind. The vast majority of Glimmspråk* derives from the long-bygone speech, Hadelom. Few remnants bearing its writing remain, and its seed-tongues are scattered among many lands.

Faere-folke

Llywnor – one of two språk (the other being Aurvenic) considered closest to classical Hadelom: Æld-Vel (vel being the Glimmspråk word for ‘speech’/’tongue’). Of æld times, largely spoken by the Deriath and Ailad as the usage of Hadelom declined. A notable dialect (often spoken colloquially) is Řywn.

Aurvenic – also considered Æld-Val; the spelling of names and some Glimmspråk in the lore-song ‘Flight of Faelön’ follows this GS variation most closely. In ages passed spoken by the Four Councils besides the Deriath and Ailad.

Ëraich – the most diverted form of Glimmspråk, more recently developped than the other two prominent forms; least resembles ancient Hadelom; ‘harsher’ sounding than other forms of Glimmdrad speech; considered ‘Meld-Val.’ In recent ages, Ëraich has commingled with other languages to produce increasingly differentiating variants and dialects.

Of Ælves, Dwarves, Hybrikin, and various other Bloods, a ridiculously generalised summary like the ones here shall be relegated to a future Account. The narrator, in both chapters, will list a few most prominent språk well-known to be spoken by the various lineages and regions, as even beginning to detail the linguistic complexity of merely the Realms – never minding Spheres themselves – would be an extraordinarily overwhelming task, even provided the knowledge which the narrator was blessed to incur during his rather hey-ho adventures.

This, moreover, does not even tally the sheer total of dialects hopping about each individual Wourlde. As aforementioned, then, this will be the briefest (and likely the most unsatisfactory) of linguistic introductions known to hermits and librarians alike – the tiniest fraction, indeed, of the actual menagerie. Yet it shall suffice, I think, for a bent-up raisin like myself: Lorefall~~ would prove a much nicer greeting perhaps –

-but I digress.

Men and Notable Regional Dialects

Men: Middlish, etc.; of the Humans the narrator encountered (the vast majority of such reside in Terras), he found, to his suprise, that Middlish (our Common Speech), though prominent there, is merely one of many thousands of other tongues and dialects. Of these, he must dejectedly withdraw from discussing in this account, for he knows next-to-nothing of their history and structures, other than that there are some notable similarities with those of other Wourldes and Realms.

Delviriens~~: these folke are, perhaps, a bit different speech-wise, in that they have not developed a complete linguistic system, but rather have incorporated words from various tongues, stratagems, academics, and the like to pop up with a sort of Middlish-dialect of their own. For instance, the Middlish word chase became shoop and the word hare, flelp, and so on.

Hence, when any mundane, childlike sentence (Well then, you see that hound chasing a hare over there?’) is converted into Delvirian (with a round sprinkling of healthy interjections), a ridiculously amusing, incoherent blessing emerges: ‘Dimn cur be’a shoopin’ na’ shit-flelp yond, g’viton, hah!’

The look of indestructible confusion on a stranger’s face is always most enjoyable.

Highlanders – Melỳ, Mhearn, Driaegeod, other groups

Celpinn – used by nations of the Mirage-Lands and the Hallochs: these lands are fraught with vales and meadows and only a couple sektors away from Raoglach and Fjørdlach (below)

Greiffinn – used by those populating the mountainous, rugged, forested lands of Raoglach: Rymwell

Skål (Driaemhearn-skål) – from a Middlish-Norsk word meaning cheers; a combination of Nordic dialects (brought over to Rymwell-Ysthyria from inhabitants of Terras); spoken in the sektor Fjørdlach, named for its fjords and bitterly rugged, forested terrain

Giants and other fellish** creatures

Dreikllyrv – this speech differs from others, even among those harbouring the same sounds, due to its guttural and snarling sounds which constitute the bulk of its meaning. The given title for it is a rough translation of two meanings: murk and marring.

Additional notes

Let it once again be noted that this list does not even begin to tread water on the complexity and abundance of languages throughout the Nine Realms. Various other prominent ones (and by no means an exhaustive list) include Phlorien, Béorikk, Nordspråk (observably, influenced by the Nordic speech of Men), Brinnic, Baxian, Sylesian, Gwyrith, Aûphe, Kaptron, Aimo, Irilok, Erylish, Ayyrm, and Xādrik.***

* Here the narrator borrows from a Nordic word, used in Norsk, språk, meaning ‘language.’ It remains yet another indicator to his journeys and linguistic enterprises. In fact, even the title of this account refers to a tweaked Highlander spelling of this word.

**Colloquialism created from combining ‘hellish’ and ‘fell’

*** Xādrik – not to be confused with Xādrick, a masculine name.

~~ Lorefall – The narrator refers to five volumes by Brinn-Wellin-Lekaai on the complex variety and structures of languages and dialects pertaining to the Rykris (penned ~ 3592-3974 I.Æ.)

~~Delvirians: from the sektor Delvir, in the sphere Ërian (Delvir: Ërian)