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Daemon tongue/dark tongue


Lord Kallozar

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Are there any examples of Daemon language used by the forces of Chaos?

 

Cheers.

 

I haven't seen any in 40k, but there are a few lines in the Warhammer book Trollslayer, page 52, 55 and 56 that seem to be the Dark Tongue, spoken by Slaaneshi Cultists:

 

"Amak tu amat Slaanesh"

"Ygrat tu amat Slaanesh! Tzarkol taen amat Slaanesh!"

"Amak tu Slaanesh!"

 

"Amak Klessa! Amat Slaanesh!"

 

I remember the old Realm of Chaos book "the Lost and the Damned" had other examples of it, and even the "alphabet" of Chaos and a random Chaos/Daemon name generator, but I haven't been able to find that book from my parents attic, so can't give any examples.

 

I wonder if anyone out there on the Internet has compiled a "dictionary"? I know that there are those who have done Klingon, Goa'Uld etc, etc, so I suppose there might be someone who has :(

Well, the Hordes of Chaos book for Fantasy included a rudimentary outline of the Dark Speech, but comes nowhere close to being an actual dictionary. Basically, the language is comprised of innumerable root words, and thousands of prefixes/suffixes that alter the meaning of the root word. For example, the names of the Chaos Gods are actually bastardisations of their names in the daemonic tongue, being broken down into a root word, and a suffix meaning source of/lord of/creator of. Khorne is Khar'neth (source of/master of/creator of rage/the will to dominate), Slaanesh is Slaa'neth (source of ecstasy/the will to feel and sense), Nurgle is Nurgh'leth (the master of decay/the will to live/defy decay).

 

Another example listed in Realms of Chaos is some variations of the word Aqshy, which basically translates as red/fire (one of the Winds of Magic from Fantasy), with variations being Aqshy'y (brass), Aqsh (the colour red), Akhash (blood), Akh (battle/bloodshed/to slay), Aksha (battleaxe), Ksy (key, incidentally the symbol of the Wind of Aqshy), Iakash (lock/obstacle), Aksho (To seek), Akshami (Secret), Akhamshy'y (Slayers/warriors), Akami (Guardians).

 

Nurgle daemons names (i.e. "Plaguebearer" in the Dark Tongue) all feature variations of the word Ghyran (Life), i.e. Great Unclean One - Bahk'ghurani'aghkami, Nurglings - Khan'gurani'i. Slaaneshi daemons also all start with the prefix Q', although I've got no idea what it means.

 

Basically, it's an incredibly complex language, with countless root words, and countless variations of those root words. No human would ever be able to learn it in its entirety, so it'd be impossible to compile an actual dictionary. Even the Hordes of Chaos book points out that they list only a few root words/suffixes/prefixes.

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