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Vocabulary and Grammar of Tir

Summary:

Exactly what the title says: vocabulary, grammar, and ideas for writing dialogue in the language spoken by the githyanki and githzerai. The gith have been around since the publication of the 1981 Fiend Folio, featuring in monster manuals, magazines, video games, and more. They've got a lot to say and hopefully this document will help us understand it.

4/24/2024: Major updates incoming soon, this is very much a WIP!

Notes:

In Dragon Magazine #294, “Scale Mail,” Wizards of the Coast made a formal statement that there were no plans to create an official language primer for the gith. Doesn’t look like that’s changed. Unless Larian Studios has one, we're on our own.

The first chapter includes a link to a lexicon hosted off of AO3, since having that directly on the site may not be in line with the Terms of Service. At the moment, the list of sources of Tir words and phrases is as complete as I can make it. The second chapter is designed for people who want to use this as a springboard for creating their own dialogue for gith characters. The third chapter addresses the possibly influence of the language of illithids on Tir. The fourth chapter has some speculation on how the history and culture of the gith (especially the githyanki) are expressed through the translations of their language. This one's my personal favorite, even if it's not very long. Yet.

The official Tir script is available in Dungeon magazine #100, The Lich-Queen’s Beloved. It’s worth taking a look at.

Chapter 1: Dictionary

Chapter Text

After reviewing the TOS, I don't think incorporating the entire known corpus of Tir words here is acceptable on AO3. It's not transformative to simply list words. But the rest of the chapters *are* in line with this, as would be any chapter that contained words purely of my invention.

This is a link to a Neocities page I've created which contains every word and phrase in Tir I've been able to find. The sources I used are on that page, but I'm also putting them here for easy AO3 reference. Grammar starts in the next chapter!

  • AD&D Dark Sun: Black Spine
  • Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, 2000, BioWare
  • Baldur’s Gate 3, 2023, Larian Studios
  • Chainmail Miniatures Game: Blood and Darkness - Set 2 Guidebook
  • Complete Psionic
  • Dawn of Night (novel)
  • DDEP08-02 Stardock Under Siege
  • Dragon #117 – Hounds of Space and Darkness
  • Dragon #281 – Calm Amid the Storm and By Any Other Name: Races of the Underdark
  • Dragon #298 – Chainmail
  • Dragon #306 – Killing Cousins
  • Dragon #378 – Player’s Handbook 3 Debut: Githzerai and Playing Githzerai
  • Dungeon #92 – Interlopers of Ruun-Khazai
  • Dungeon #100 - The Lich-Queen's Beloved
  • Dungeon #100 Web Supplement: Tu’narath City Guide
  • Dungeon #125 – Seekers of the Silver Forge
  • Dungeon #164 – Haven of the Bitter Glass
  • Dungeon #167 – Garaitha’s Anvil
  • Dungeon #168 – A Tyranny of Souls
  • Explorer’s Handbook, 3rd Edition
  • Exploring Eberron, 5th Edition
  • The Eyes of Gith, James Wyatt
  • Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, 2004, Stormfront Studios
  • A Guide to the Astral Plane, 1996
  • Manual of the Planes, 3rd Edition
  • Manual of the Planes, 4th Edition
  • Monster Manual, 5th Edition
  • Monstrous Compendium Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures
  • Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
  • Neverwinter Nights 2
  • The Plane Above, 4th Edition
  • The Plane Below, 4th Edition
  • Planescape, Faction War, 2nd Edition
  • Planescape, Sigil and the Outlands, 5th Edition
  • Planescape: Torment
  • Players Handbook 3, 4th Edition
  • Polyhedron #159 – Incursion, Knights of the Lich Queen
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase, 1998

Chapter 2: Grammar

Chapter Text

Word-for-word Translation vs. Sense-for-sense Translation

In word-for-word translation, each word in a statement is translated independently and directly, which is a very tempting way to translate. It also sometimes works well! In sense-for-sense translation, however, the meaning of an entire statement is conveyed even if it’s not word-for-word accurate.

When the gith translate their language to another language, they don’t always do it word-for-word. A notable instance in Baldur’s Gate 3 is a scene between Kith’rak Voss and the player. He opens by kneeling and offering his sword, saying “Ska’kek kir Gith shabell’eth. My blade rests. Mother Gith compels you to listen.” The direct translation of his phrase, however, is “the word of Gith be present.”

This is an example of sense-for-sense translation. To any githyanki present, Voss’ action and statement combine for the cultural meaning that he then expresses in the common language for the benefit of other onlookers (or the player character, if they aren’t githyanki). When creating statements in Tir, keep in mind that word-for-word translation is less important than sense-for-sense.

 

Phonemes

From the Tir alphabet provided in Dungeon #100, The Lich-Queen’s Beloved:

  • The English alphabet, A-Z
  • Affricates (stopped airflow to started airflow, as in the word “charm”): ch
  • Apostrophes: See below for more details.
  • Diphthongs (two adjacent vowel sounds in the same syllable): ea, oa, oi, ou
  • Fricatives (consonant produced by forcing air through a channel, for example the lower lip against the upper front teeth): sh, th, zh
    • In some recent cases, as in “senzha’si,” the “zh” has been replaced with “j,” “senja’si.” The pronunciation appears to be the same.

From other sources, especially Baldur’s Gate 3 and 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons:

  • Affricates: gh, kh
    • Note that “gh” may be broken with an apostrophe; in this case it doesn’t function as an affricate, but as two separate syllables. See the section on apostrophes below.
  • Diphthongs: ai, uo
  • Fricatives: ht, jh

 

Roots

Note that when you see these sequences of letters, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re being used as a root. Look carefully and critically at a word before deciding one way or the other. Additionally, sometimes roots can end up split by an apostrophe, so they might be harder to spot.

  • ach: Kalach’cha, karach; matter, substance, material
  • ath: g’lathk, Katal Hazath, Karokath; settled place, settlement
  • gh: g’hath, ghaik, g’hel; mind/brain/illithid-related objects
  • ht: hta’ka, hta’zith, krash’ht; at the beginning or end of a word to indicate an action
  • ik: gith’vyrik, istik; non-githyanki
  • ir: dvenzir, draa’zvir; independent word and also root meaning pain
  • isk: vin’isk, zaith’isk: service, use
  • ith: kith, gith, zaith’isk; mind/soul/spirit
  • kal: irrevrykal, Kalach’cha, storvakal; support, service
  • la: gith’attala, h’sharlak; hunting/pursuing
  • mir: mirhanac, mir’r’tal, Githmir; strength/solidity/stone
  • sha: adlishar, h’sharlak, Shasal Khou; many/great number/all
  • vry: pa’vrylk, revrykal; something inferior
  • zha: zhak, zharn, senzha'si; past/future/time

 

Rules

Sentence structure

  • English sentence structure is typically [subject, verb, object]. In Tir, the sentence structure is typically [subject, object, verb].
  • Voss killed the illithid, versus Voss the illithid killed.

Articles

  • Tir sentences don’t use articles (a/an/the).
  • In the above example of sentence structure, the Tir sentence would be most accurately written “Voss illithid killed.” Whether or not it was the illithid (specific) or an illithid (general) is implied by context.

Apostrophes

  • Not pronounced except as potentially a brief pause; they’re used primarily in writing words on slates.
  • They do matter! “Chraith” means “enemy” while “ch’r’ai” means “faithful.” Apostrophes separate parts of words, form compound words, and indicate where infixed verbs (next section) might go. They’re not arbitrary.
  • Apostrophes can also alter phonemes. The phoneme “gh” works in “ghaik,” but in “g’hel,” there’s a brief pause creating two separate syllables instead of one.
  • Some older sources use dashes instead of apostrophes. In keeping with current standards, where there are no dashes, I’ve updated all words to use those. Altered words will be marked, however, for thoroughness.
    • It appears that githzerai titles, such as “Ag” (Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith, V’ziir-Ag) still use hyphenation.

Plurals

  • Indicated by the suffix "i," as in "kith'raki," "istiki."
  • Some dialogue in Baldur's Gate 3 has githyanki referring to "istiks," but Lae'zel uses "istiki" when talking to Gale. Might be a consistency issue.
  • Regarding the word "githyanki" and "githzerai:" These are both plurals. The "Children of Gith" and "those who spurn Gith" refer to groups of people. However, nowhere will you ever see "githyank" or "githzera." When referring to a single githyanki or githzerai, it's appropriate to just use the cultural term as if it's a singular word. The githyanki and githzerai themselves will use "gith" as a singular term (and as a plural with no "i" suffix to refer to their own cultural group).

Infixed verbs

  • Example using tsk'va (an expletive):
  • In the phrase “Sarevok'cha tsk'in'va: Saverok can eat shit” (Baldur’s Gate 3), it appears that “eat” is represented by ’in’ placed between “tsk” and “va.” The apostrophes in words may serve as gaps where verbs are placed.
  • Infixed verbs should be placed in the apostrophe space of the object of a sentence.
  • If that’s true, then the phrase “Lae’zel’cha t’zharn’la” would be “Lae’zel can recall her sword.”

Single letters

  • Join two separate words together to form a compound word.
    • a, k, r, and y do this.
  • Function as determiners (see “Possessive determiners” for more details).
    • k and t do this at the beginning of words.
    • a does this at the ends of words.

Double letters

  • Double consonants, like rr, tt, and kk appear to be more prevalent in the githzerai dialect of Tir than they are in the githyanki dialect.
    • Examples: rrakkma, rrathmal, and gith’attala
  • Double vowels, like aa and ii, appear to be more prevalent in the githyanki dialect of Tir.
    • See “Loan Words” for discussion of “uu.”

Possessive determiners

  • Analogous to the [’s] in English possessives, as in “Jane’s coat” or “the cat’s toy.” May also be written using “of,” as in “the coat of Jane” or “the toy of the cat.”
  • The first style is indicated by [t’] affixed to a proper noun, as in “Baht t’Vlaakith,” Sister of Vlaakith.
    • A romantic Tav might say that they are “zhak vo’n’fynh t’Lae’zel,” the source of Lae’zel’s joy.
  • The second style is indicated by [’a] affixed to a common noun, as in “Ch’mar zal’a Vlaakith,” Vlaakith’s will above all/the will of Vlaakith above all.

Imperative mood

  • The mood for issuing commands.
  • Potentially indicated by “pa” as in “pa’vrylk.”

Modal verbs

  • Example using chraith’kan zharn (may your enemies remember you):
  • “kan” is simultaneously a predicate (know) and modal verb (may)—modal predicate.
    • To build a sentence with this structure: [subject]’kan [object]. “Zerthi’kan t’la” would be “may the followers of Zerthimon know the sword.”
  • Second example, using Vlaakith'ka sivim hrath krash'ht (only in Vlaakith may we find light):
  • “ka” (may) is a modal verb, NOT a modal predicate. Removal of the “n” appears to be what makes that change.
  • The predicate of the sentence is find (krash’ht). The subject is Vlaakith, and the object is light (hrath).
    • To build a sentence with this structure: [subject]’ka [object] [predicate]. “T’la’ka ghaik vrylk” would be “may our swords stop the illithids.”

Noun Cases

  • In the third act of Baldur’s Gate, if Lae’zel turns against Vlaakith, she will make the statement that “Yisk Gith’ka tavki krash’ht” / Mother Gith, reveal your light. A scene later, speaking to another githyanki, she tells them directly that “Gith’ka tavkim krash’ht.” This is clearly the same sentiment, but the noun cases are different.
    • Note that “yisk” is still not “the.” If it were, it would appear in both sentences, or in other places where an article would go.
  • For English speakers like me who don’t know what cases are, they’re a grammatical function that modify nouns. For example, the accusative case of a noun is used on the object of a transitive verb. In the sentence “Wyll flourishes a sword,” the subject (taking the action) is Wyll, the object is “sword,” and the predicate, a transitive verb, is “flourish.” If English had an accusative case, it would modify the object “sword.”
  • In the sentences above, the subject is Gith (Githyanki, see “modal verbs” for the “ka” on the end), the object is tavki (truth), and the predicate is krash’ht (find/have).
  • When used in a general statement, as in the sentence “Orpheus tav’ki na’zin” (also a line from Lae’zel), “tav’ki” is the unaltered word. When used in a statement directed at another person, the word is given in the second case, “tav’kim.”
    • Using the word h’sharlak (traitor) as an example of how this might work when the noun doesn’t end in an “-i,” a sentence might look like: Gish h’sharlak’im vrylk (the gish stops the traitor). If said as a general statement, it would simply be: Gish h’sharlak vrylk.

 

Loan Words

Common loan words:

  • The name of the dog breed “kaoulgrim” doesn’t look much like any other words in the known Tir dictionary. Splitting the word into pieces, “ka” and “oul” are both valid Tir phonemes (see the official Tir script). Odd-sounding in the rest of the dictionary, but valid. “Grim,” however, is very much not a Tir phoneme. It’s a word in English/Common.
    • Setting aside the real-world implications of English being the Common language for a moment, it’s still clear that “grim” is a loan word. Whatever “kaoul” means, “grim” almost certainly means exactly what it sounds like.
  • In the name of the location “Tor Nav’roc,” a githyanki city in the Astral Plane, “tor” is actually a real word. It comes from the Old English “torr,” meaning “tower” or “high, rocky hill,” depending on the root origin. This indicates that “Tor” as a name for a fortress or city is also a loan word.

Deep Speech and Undercommon:

  • Githyanki ships are occasionally named using Deep Speech, as in the astral strike ship Iliyoru, “White Blade.”
  • See Chapter 3 for more discussion of Deep Speech.

 

Chapter 3: Undercommon

Chapter Text

There are limited resources on Undercommon or Deep Speech, the language of the illithids (which one depends on your edition of D&D). Since the gith were enslaved by the mind flayers for so long, it seems that some of the sounds of their language have stuck around. The meanings may have changed over time, but the sounds themselves remain embedded in the Tir language.

Prefixes and suffixes from Dragon Magazine #281, p.48-49. Other words drawn from various monster manuals, and particularly from Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark, 1999.

Sample Words

  • alhoon: a mind flayer lich
  • Ch’Chitl: a small mind flayer city in the Underdark of Faerun
  • Ilsensine: the god of the mind flayers
  • Maanzecorian: a minor god of mind flayers
  • neothelid: a tadpole never implanted in a host brain and grown to horrifying size
  • nyraala: a type of tentacled construct made of fungus, humanoid flesh, and illithid mucus
  • Oryndoll: one of the oldest and greatest illithid cities in the Underdark of Faerun.
  • qualith: the mind flayer writing system; designed specifically to be read by psionic beings with four tentacles and no one else really can do it
  • Soothoon: title of an elder alhoon
  • uchuulon: a chuul infected with a mind flayer tadpole
  • urophion: a roper infected with a mind flayer tadpole
  • ustilagor: larval intellect devourers

Name Prefixes

  • Abster: memory
  • Al: dead, death
  • Illi: mind
  • Ilsen: brain
  • Lugri: fear, feared
  • Maanze: creed, law
  • Malin: arcane, psionic
  • Quas: honor
  • Uli: noble
  • Ullip: thought
  • Urop: servant, slave, thrall
  • Xalli: disgust, pain

Name Suffixes

  • arint: gourmet of, taster
  • ator, tor: elder, revered
  • bossk: lord, master
  • corian: leader, liaison
  • hion: black, dark, darkness
  • hoon: abomination, outsider
  • mious: sage, scholar
  • ordell: construct, humanoid, mind flayer
  • sine: great, powerful
  • tharid: devour, devourer
  • thelid: conqueror, eater
  • thid: flayer, ruler

Shared Roots

  • ch, as in “Ch’Chitl:” too many Tir results to count but especially “ch’r’ai and “ch’mar”
  • qua, as in “qualith:” qua’nith
  • ul, as in “ullip-“ and “uli-:” uluriak
  • ustil, as in “ustilagor:” ghustil
  • xa, as in “Xalli-:” Xam’vadim

Double vowels: “uu” and “aa”

  • There’s an odd double vowel that appears in just two known words: “Ruun’khazai” (gray-stone hand) and rzydu’un (ectoplasmic blast). While the second word incorporates an apostrophe, the basic sound remains the same.
  • This same framing pops up in mind flayer naming. The names Omeluum (Baldur’s Gate 3) and Mehiluum (Stardock, from Adventurer’s League DDEP08-02) both incorporate it, as well as “uchuulon.” Pronounced “ey-oo,” it appears that “uu” remained embedded in Tir even after the gith rebellion broke free from illithid control.
  • Based on what Undercommon resources we have, “aa” may also remain (Maanzecorian and nyraala), used in words like “vlaakith,” “astraan,” and “draa.”

Chapter 4: History and Culture

Chapter Text

In some of the official translations of githyanki words, the chosen translations are fascinating. After spending so much time digging into the language in detail, I found some where the literal translation means something that—on the surface—seems completely different. Learning those meanings deepened my understanding of the culture of the gith and often revealed hidden tragic or transcendent aspects of their history.

Even more interesting to me, over forty-plus years of existence, the gith have been handled by dozens of writers, artists, and editors. The language hasn’t always been managed with consistency, leading to some downright weird situations. In the Doylist sense, this is just a matter of inconsistency and we could focus strictly on the most recent or consistently-present ideas in the language. In the Watsonian sense, though, some of these inconsistencies can lead to absolutely fascinating implications about the culture and history of the gith.

This chapter will likely see additions as I work more with the language, so if you're interested in that, check back occasionally!

Ancient history: “astraan” and “draa’zvir”

  • Sometimes I look at certain words and it's like...hello, that's literally just English. Why would you use "draa" for dragon or "astraan" for mages who handle the astral plane? Out of universe, this is a matter of people making somewhat-less-than-creative choices. In-universe, this is a language that predates the "common tongue!"
  • Considering it through that lens, though, something else takes shape. The githyanki and githzerai are a group of humans who were enslaved by mind flayers ages ago before Gith led the rebellion to freedom. Tir was a branch of some human language. In-universe, maybe it's that the words for dragons and stars are part of a proto-language that survived into modern Tir and the modern "common tongue." A long-forgotten connection.

ghir: freedom

  • Draws on the roots for all things mind flayer (gh) and for pain (ir). Could be more literally translated as “mind flayer pain”—in light of the gith rebellion against the mind flayers, the concept of freedom takes on a whole new aspect.

g’lyck: an expression similar in meaning to a sigh

  • One of the planets sharing Toril’s system is Glyth, inhabited mostly by mind flayer cities. Fascinating choice for an exasperated sigh.

kith’rak: commander

  • May more literally translate as “spirit of vengeance” with “kith” meaning “spirit” and “rak” potentially meaning “vengeance. These are the people put in charge of githyanki armies.

T’lak’ma Ghir: Sister in Freedom

  • “T’la” is literally sword, and “k’ma” is band or company. See above for “ghir,” but this doesn’t literally translate to “sister.” It translates to “sword of the band.” T’lak’ma Ghir means “freedom fighter.”

Ruun’khazai: gray-stone hand; a citadel on the Astral Sea

  • The “uu” sound is a loan from Deep Speech and “zai” means honor. While the name “Ruun’khazai” may be translated as “gray-stone hand,” the literal parts of the name hint at a past victory over mind flayers at the citadel.

zaith'isk: purifier/purifying device

  • “Zai” means “honor, “ith” relates to the spirit and mind, and we see “isk” in the word “vin’isk,” minion or underling, a root that relates to service. Putting it all together, “purification” isn’t the most direct translation. That would be “a thing that restores honor to the mind.” This says some very interesting things about the way the githyanki view infection by a mind flayer parasite and how it affects honor and purity.