Gargish Alphabet

Overview
Used heavily in the later parts of Ultima VI, and periodically in many later games, the Gargoyle language consists of a unique alphabet and pronunciation.

Usage
"Gargoyle" is an English corruption of gargl, the Gargoyles' name for themselves and their language. An informal word for gargl as the name of the Gargoyle language is "Gargish".

Spoken Gargish is grammatically rather flexible. Distinctions between nouns, adjectives, and verbs are indicated by gestures and intonations. This flexibility is also apparent in the names of magic spells derived from Gargish phrases. "Vas Sanct Lor", for instance, is derived from the Gargish vas saengkt lor, but it is equally correct to say saengkt vas lor or even lor saengkt vas. Gargoyles tend to omit words they consider to be unnecessary complications, like pronouns, and they often speak in infinitives. While a Human attempting to speak Gargish might come up with something like í est ker í le vid ú prae, "I'm certain that I've seen you before", a Gargoyle would simply say ker le vid prae (or more idiomatically, ker prae vid le), "to be certain having seen before". With practice, it's possible to deduce the implied pronouns in a Gargoyle sentence, but it's not always easy.

Unlike spoken Gargish, the written language has no way to mark the intonations and gestures that make the speech intelligible, so there are suffixes that mark words as being verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and also indicate the tense and aspect of verbs. In many cases, these are words which are meaningful by themselves, such as the adjectival suffix -de, which means "of" in isolation. Here is a list of the most common suffixes:


 * char "part" (names a tool used for doing a certain action, such as agrachar "weapon")
 * de "of" (marks adjectives or adverbs formed from nouns, verbs, and other words)
 * ku "with" (forms adjectives, such as mirku "watery")
 * le "end" (marks past tense or perfective aspect of verbs)
 * lem "one" (similar to English -er in baker, writer, miner, etc.)
 * re "begin" (marks future tense of verbs)
 * sa "able" (similar to English -able, ible)
 * tas "quality" (marks abstract nouns, such as ámotas "love", vs. ámo "to love")
 * te "in" (marks present tense or imperfective aspect of verbs)
 * ve "like" (forms adjectives, such as misve "similar")

Gargoyles have an alphabet of 30 characters, arranged in a 5x6 pattern. Similar sounds are grouped together by rows and columns. For instance, the first row, transcribed as p b m f v u, represents sounds that are produced with the lips, and the sounds in the first column, p t ch kl k, are all voiceless stops.

The letter u also serves to represent w at the beginning of a syllable when followed by a vowel. The sequence k-u is sometimes pronounced ku, as in kuante, but more frequently kw (traditionally transcribed as qu), as in quas. Three of the letters (ny nl, and hl) serve only to complete the chart, and are not found in contemporary spoken Gargish.

The Gargish language has long and short vowels. They are not normally distinguished in spelling, except where this would cause confusion. For example, uus means "up," but us means "diligence." In this document, long vowels are marked with an accent: us vs. úus, súm vs. summ.

Names
Most gargoyles have names that describe their profession, however some (particularly the elite) have names which are meaningless in themselves (such as Draxínusom), or have meanings beyond their profession (like Beh Lem, which means "just one of many").

Magical Language
The Words of Power used in magic are derived from Gargish. Indeed, many potent spells, or rituals, are spoken in Gargish.

Examples of complex spells using Gargish include the following:

Lexicon
Provided here is a dictionary of all known Gargish words and their English equivalent.

Examples of Usage
Here are a few samples of Gargish sentences translated literally, then into more idiomatic English.

Trivia

 * Gargoyles name for both themselves and their language is gargl. Gargoyle and Gargish are English corruptions of their toungue.


 * The full description of the Gargish Language and its usage is first seen in the Ultima VI Cluebook (which is copied on the Ultima Web Archive).


 * Creation of this alphabet is credited to Herman Miller.


 * A Gargish True Type Font is available on the Ultima Web Archive, allowing you to write in gargl.


 * In addition to the Words of Power, the Mantras for each of the Virtues are also present as the Gargish translation of that virtue!


 * Many of the Gargish words are Greek, Latin or scientific base words (i.e. aur is Au from the periodic table symbol for "gold"; semi is Latin root for "half"; kli is a variation of tri, the Greek prefix meaning "three").

External Link
Gargish Language on the Ultima Web Archive Gargish Introduction on UOHerald