Thalassian is the language of the high elves, half-elves, half blood-elves, and blood elves — a derivative of the Darnassian language of the night elves. It has both written and spoken equivalents. Individuals who are unfamiliar with the language's proper name may refer to it as high elven (not to be confused with the language Elven).
Like Nazja, Thalassian is derived from the Darnassian language.[1] The elder tongue is almost forgotten.[2] Hence, Thalassian is closely related to Darnassian and there is some overlap between the two languages. Further Darnassian utterances have therefore been preserved in modern Thalassian.[1]
So far, linguistic scholars have opted to err on the side of caution in documenting Darnassian terms and phrases that are also considered part of the Thalassian language. Certainly this issue, however delicate, merits further research. Nevertheless, addressing a blood elf with a Darnassian-specific word or phrase can be considered offensive or foolish, and so the speaker must handle the situation with care.[1]
This is one of the four known elven dialects.[3]
Thalassian Primer (official translations)[]
Here are a few common Thalassian phrases and words, for which the translations have been officially confirmed by Blizzard:
- Anar'alah = By the light[4]
- Anar'alah belore = By the light of the sun.[1]
- Anaria shola = Speak your business.[1]
- Ann'da = Papa[7]
- Bal'a dash, malanore = Greetings, traveler.[1]
- Ban'dinoriel = Gatekeeper[8]
- Band'or shorel'aran — (Roughly) "Prepare to say farewell", spoken by Commander Sarannis, officially translated in the Chinese version of WoW.[citation needed]
- Bash'a no falor talah! = Taste the chill of true death!,[1] Sylvanas Windrunner (WC3)
- Belore = "The sun", though can mean to uncover something hidden or unknown if used in Darnassian.[9]
- Dalah'surfal = My love.[citation needed]
- Doral ana'diel? = How fare you?[1]
- Felo'melorn = "Flamestrike"[10]
- Kim'jael = Little Rat
[53] Kim'jael Indeed!
- Medivh = Keeper of Secrets[1] [11] (W2Man 38) [12]
- Minn'da = Mama[13]
- Quel'dorei = "high elves",[14] or "the high elves".[15][16] (M&M 16)
- Quel'Thalas = "High Kingdom" or "High Home"[14]
- Quel'Zaram = High Blade.[17]
- Quel'Danil = High Peak.[18]
- Selama ashal'anore = Justice for our people.[1]
- Shindu fallah na! = They're breaking through!.[1]
- Shindu Sin'dorei! = Failing children of the Blood. Shindu roughly translates to breaking or failing.[citation needed] In Lament of the Highborne Sylvanas sings of the fall of the Sin'dorei.
- Shorel'aran = Farewell.[1]
- Sin'dorei = Children of the blood. This could also be interpreted as "people of the bloodline", referring to the continuation of the line of the Highborne.[1], this is also said to mean Blood Elves by Kael'thas Sunstrider[20]
- Tal anu'men no Sin'dorei! — Death to all who oppose the Children of the Blood.[21]
High elven names[]
The past is a burden to the high elves, yet they maintain naming rituals that are millennia old. Many of the names of elven priests and heroes have become the names used for elves in modern times. The high elves share a connection with the sun that is quite prevalent in their choice of family names.
- Male Names: Mariel, Athaniar, Anandor, Tharama, Viridiel, Malanior.
- Female Names: Anarial, Driana, Coria, Alanassori, Melanion, Azshara, Anna.
- Family Names: Boughstrider, Dawnblade, Lightbringer, Morningray, Suntreader.
Untranslated words or phrases[]
Edit to the right of the section title.- An'daroth — One of the three Ghostlands Darnassian spy encampments. Possibly Darnassian?
- An'owyn — One of the three Ghostlands Darnassian spy encampments. Possibly Darnassian?
- An'telas — One of the three Ghostlands Darnassian spy encampments. Possibly Darnassian?
- Aranal, ledel! - Prince Keleseth
- Anara'nel belore — Kael'thas= May you all go through the fire.
- Balamore shanal! — Kael'thas
- Bandal! — High Nethermancer Zerevor
- Belesa menoor! — High Nethermancer Zerevor
- Danil - "Peak"[citation needed]
- Diel fin'al. — High Nethermancer Zerevor
- Elrendar — a Quel'Thalas river and a waterfall, both fed by a lake with the same name.
- Endala finel endal! — Nethermancer Sepethrea
- Endorel aluminor — High Botanist Freywinn
- Falthrien — an arcane academy on Sunstrider Isle.
- Falithas — One of the runestones protecting Eversong from the plague.
- Felomin ashal — (by deduction could be "flames of justice"? Or given he also says "Vengeance Burns" and the similarity between justice and vengeance, mean that is the translation.) Kael'thas in Magister's Terrace
- Quel'Danas — Island home of the dragonhawks and location of the Sunwell.
- Quel'Lithien — A quel'dorei lodge in Eastern Plaguelands, and location of the Silvermoon City Register.
- Selama am'oronor! — High Nethermancer Zerevor
- Selama amor'anore! — Gathios the Shatterer
- Shalandis — An island off the coast of the western Ghostlands, headquarters of Darnassian spying missions against Silvermoon City.
- Shan'dor — One of the runestones protecting Eversong from the plague.
- Tel'thas - Dagger of the Blood King
- Quel' - "High" ((Quel')Thalas = High Home, (Quel')dorei = High Elves, (Quel')Danil = High Peak)[citation needed]
- Thalas'din belore - inscripted on Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalas.
- Thalas means kingdom or home, belore means "the sun", so one can assume it is probably along the lines of "Kingdom/Home of the Sun", especially given the context. The only other time "din" is used in a word is "ban'dinoriel", or "gatekeeper", and considering "ban" is separated, one can most likely say that "dinoriel" is "keeper", and since there is a root to that word, saying "ban" is gate isn't implausible and since another way to describe a gatekeeper is as a "keeper of the gate"; "din" may mean "of".
- Zaram - "Blade"[citation needed]
Thalassian speculation[]
This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials.*Thalassian word parser[]
This is the list of words created by the in-game language parser for the Thalassian language, and is listed as language number ten (word range 800-901) in the Language text file.
In the in-game translator, the language parser for Thalassian shares similar words with the Darnassian parser.
Note: The language algorithm used by the in-game "translator" merely makes the words look like Thalassian. It does not actually translate words. Therefore, translated in-game speech isn't truly Thalassian.
| Number of letters in word | Word List |
|---|---|
| One-letter words | A, N, I, O, E, D |
| Two-letter words | Da, Lo, An, Ni, Al, Do, Ri, Su, No |
| Three-letter words | Ano, Dur, Tal, Nei, Ash, Dor, Anu, Fal, Tur, Ala, Nor, Osa |
| Four-letter words | Alah, Andu, Dath, Mush, Shar, Thus, Fulo, Aman, Diel, Dieb, Rini, Anar |
| Five-letter words | Talah, Adore, Ishnu, Bandu, Balah, Fandu, Thera, Turus, Shari, Shano, Terro, Eburi |
| Six-letter words | Dorini, Shando, Ethala, Fallah, Belore, Do'rah, Neph'o, Man'ar, Ishura, U'phol, T'as'e |
| Seven-letter words | Asto're, Anoduna, Alah'ni, Dor'Ano, Al'shar, Mush'al, Aman'ni, Shan're |
| Eight-letter words | Mandalas, Eraburis, Dorithur, Dal'dieb, Thoribas, D'ana'no, Il'amare |
| Nine-letter words | Neph'anis, Dune'adah, Banthalos, Fala'andu, Dath'anar, Shari'fal, Thori'dal |
| Ten-letter words | Thero'shan, Isera'duna, Ash'therod, Dorados'no, Shar'adore |
| Eleven-letter words | Fandu'talah, Shari'adune |
| Twelve-letter words | Dor'ana'badu, T'ase'mushal |
| Thirteen-letter words | U'phol'belore |
| Fourteen-letter words | Turus'il'amare, Anu'dorannador |
| Fifteen-letter words | Asto're'dunadah |
| Sixteen-letter words | Shindu'fallah'na |
| Seventeen-letter words | Thoribas'no'thera, Ando'meth'derador, Anu'dorinni'talah, Esh'thero'mannash |
Translations speculation[]
This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials.*For fan translations see Thalassian translation (speculation).
Darnassian vs. Thalassian speculation[]
This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials.*Of note, Kael'thas greeted Tyrande and Maiev with "Ishnu'Alah" when they met in the Plaguelands. This may mean that some of the words still have the same meaning in both languages, or that some phrases have, over thousands of years, lost their offensive implications in their respective languages. It also could be that Kael'thas knew Darnassian.
History speculation[]
After the high elves were exiled from Kalimdor by the night elves, they set up in the Eastern Kingdoms. There, they lived for millennia, cultivating their culture and their magic. Because of their long life spans, Thalassian, as they called their language, still retains parts of the old language. In fact, it is possible that Thalassian is not therefore a separate language, and is merely a dialect of Darnassian. Even if this were the case, however, the two languages would still not be mutually intelligible.
Thalassian outside the Warcraft Universe[]
- An award-winning song from the BlizzCon 2007 Song Contest was "Belore Shala Diel", sung in Thalassian and English, by Phillip Presswood (Xalea).
Trivia[]
- It is possible that the origin of the word Thalassian is produced from the Greek stem (thalassa) of the word used in medicinal practice - Thalassemia, which in Greek and New Latin, translates to "Sea of Blood". Seeing as how blood elves have the word 'blood' in their name, and underwent a catastrophic genocide at the hands of the Scourge, it could be possible Blizzard used the stem of this word to produce the name of the language for the blood elves.
- Unfortunately, thalassa means 'sea' and not blood (haema in Greek), but Haemassian doesn't sound as good.
- Another clue to the origin of the word Thalassian comes from the greek term 'Thalassocracy' meaning 'Sea Power' or an empire that primarily presides over maritime regions; especially considering the elves founded Quel'Thalas coming by boat and lived on and island before settling the Northern Eastern Kingdoms.
- A third possibility is that the name derives from some similar names in Dungeons & Dragons' elven language, as many members of the original Blizzard team play/played that game. "Quel" at the beginning of the name may be from Qualinesti, an elven kingdom in Dragonlance, while Tanis Half-Elven's elven name was Tanthalas, and he had an adopted brother Gilthanas, the "thalas/thanas" sound being rather common in Elvish names.
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/encyclopedia/576.xml
- ^ Day of the Dragon, 136
- ^ Cycle of Hatred, 67
- ^ Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, 231
- ^ Revelations
- ^ Through the Mirror Darkly
- ^ Descent, 16
- ^ Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, 227
- ^ Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, 231
- ^ Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, 237
- ^ W2Man, 38
- ^ The Last Guardian
- ^ Descent, 16
- ^ a b Lands of Conflict, 113
- ^ Magic & Mayhem, 16
- ^ M&M, 16
- ^ Shadows & Light, 172
- ^ Lands of Conflict, 100
- ^ Lands of Conflict, 19
- ^ </nowiki>Beyond the Dark Portal, 238
- ^ https://twitter.com/Loreology/status/377918675669770241
- ^ WoWRPG, 37
External links[]
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