The Romulan Languages
For some time now there has been debate over which language, FASA's Romlesta or Diane Duane's Rihannsu is the 'real' Romulan language. In the Triangle, Mirror, Mnei'sahe and Ark Royal campaigns the GMs have provided a possible solution to the problem.
The languages of the Twin Worlds were originally High Vulcan, artificially aged by working groups on the ships upon which the Travellers left Vulcan for Ch'Rihan and Ch'Havran. Two seperate groups developed two seperate languages, which came to be known as Rihannsu and Havrannsu, or Saflesta and Romlesta. Rihannsu or Saflesta is the Language of the Senate, used by the Tricameron for conduction business and also by some of the older Houses. Romlesta or Havrannsu is the Language of the People, used by the common people and the other Houses.
All Rihannsu officers speak both tongues, while most of the enlisted personnel speak Romlesta rather better than Rihannsu. Certain ships attached to specific Houses use the language of the House.
When the Federation met the Romulans they met a Romlesta-speaking ship, so Starfleet language records contained no information about Rihannsu.
Naturally there has been a lot of cross-pollination between the two languages. The naval ranks, for instance, have their roots in Rihannsu but have been shortened to their current Romlesta useage. Khre'riov, or Commander-General is the Common Tongue version of the formal title of 'One Who Is In General Command Over The Commanders Of The Fleet'.
This is a short list of useful Rihannsu/Romlesta and Havrannsu/Saflesta words and phrases. Coming shortly will be an expanded English-Rihannsu-Romlesta dictionary.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
General Comments
Time
Numbers
Places
Insults
A
aefvadh - "Be welcome." aehallh - monster-ghost. Ael -"Winged." afw'ein - reason, as in use of one's faculties. Aidoann - "Moon." aihai - plains, plain country. aihr - "this is" areinnye - hell arrhe - worth-in-cash. au'e - "Oh yes." auethn - advise me - answer a query. ae - wing aevr - flight afweirrea - Instructor/teacher, professor arrain - Lieutenant arrian'riov - Lieutenant Commander avastam - wedge anna - joining aled - able akdn - later arrhe-aevr - merchant aye - white atlai - river ae'r - to laugh
B
bhai - Farewell (very informal) bhai'allh - farewell to several people(very informal) bresasam - gathering or assembly bedah - Farewell bed aoi - goodbye forever beest - stay bontwe - give willingly bontdet - give unwillingly batlem - wounded bed aoi - goodbye forever
C
ch'Havran -(planet) "of the Travelers." ch'Havranha, ch'Havranssu - native(s) of the planet. ch'Rihan - (planet) "of the Declared." caevra - heart celliea - falling calanam - large area or region cl'vangam - act of revenge choch - quickly chon - here
D
daise - prefix: chief, principal, senior(etc.). daisemi'in - chief among several. deihu - "elder": a member of the Senate: "Senator." d' - grand, great (prefix) d'anna - marriage deletham - defender, protector d'hannam - prayer d'navassa - birth (referring to an intelligent being) d'latta - honorable death, specifically one that furthers the mnhei'sahe of the deceased d'sora - coming of age ceremony held when a child reaches age 5 dypshj - partner, ally dhat - no dekon - help dedreen - conceal dinglh - food center, restaraunt daie - yes (inferior to superior form) delon - swift dalaredh - busy
E
Eisn - "homesun." The G9 star 128 Trianguli. Eitreh'hveinn - the Farmer's Festival. enarrain - Senior Centurion: colonel of infantry, commodore of Fleet forces. erei'riov - Subcommander: captain of infantry, lieutenant-commander of Fleet. erein - antecenturion/subcenturion:officer-cadet of infantry:ensign of Fleet. enriov - admiral class equitorum - crew class eredh - cadet, student eredhin(plural) etrehh - machine ehl'ein - without forethought or reason (see afw'ein) fhaihuhhru - row, fight
F
fvai, fvaii - child's riding-beast and house-pet.
fvillha - One who serves in the fvillhaih ("Praetor")
fvillhaih - Praetorate
fortnepas - all
fvehai - worker
fvrihai - administrator
G
gen - stand gletten - a thin, greasy, gruel-like soup galan - seeker
H
haerh, haerht - cargo space, cargo hold haudet' - computer, from haud = writing and etrehh, machine hfai, hfehan - bond-servant hfihar, hfihrrn - noble house(s) hlai, hlaiin - large flightless birds farmed for their meat. hlai'hwy, hlai'vnau - Tame and wild hlai, respectively hna'h - activation, imperative suffice, e.g. "Fire!" or "Engage!" hnafirh - "see," but not an active verb. Cf. hnafirh'rau, "Let me/us see it." hnafiv - "hear," as in "Let me hear it" hnoiyika,hnoiyikar - predator, similar to Terran weasel but wolf sized hrrau - at/on/in: a general locative particle or infix hru'hfe - Head-of-Household. The senior servant. hru'hfirh - Head-of-House, euph. "The Lord." Most senior member of a noble family. h'ta-fvau - "To last place, immediate return!" H'yhaa - Informal greeting, also h'yallh if greeting multiple people. hannam - communication, message hatham - predator hevam - Human hteij - transporter (comman usage) hwaveyiir - command center, the flight bridge (as opposed to combat control are ) of a ship hwiiy - you are haud - writing hnhaudr - computer data transfer han'etrehh - personal communicator heis'he - love
I
Ie - Come, yes. General response/acknoweldgement. ie'yyak-hnah - "Fire phasers!" iehyyak - "multiple" rather than "several" phasers. i'Ramnau - A small city on ch'Rihan
J
Jolan tru (Jhollan'trruh) - Generic semiformal greeting and farewell. ju - there
K
kheh - a grain used to make ale. khellian - arch. "hunter": also the name of a minor Praetorial house. khoi - "switch off," "cease," "finish." khre'riov - commander-general: colonel of infantry: Commodore of Fleet forces. kllhe - the annelid worm, introduced to domestic hlai-pens, used as an insult kll'inghann - the Klingon people. khell'oann-mhehorael(More of Them, from Somewhere Else). The Klingons kalabam - storm k'manatram - outcast khoilmnriir - chancellor, head of an educational institution Kiith Mrevhoqq'ghi - The Rihannsu diplomatic corps klivam - Klingon (derogatory term) krowert - soon kyr lep - some khnai'ra rhissiuy - warmly phrased expression of thanks kri - building
L
lehe'jhme - fruit used to make wine. Levaeri V - fifth planet of the Levaeri system(113 Trianguli) lhhei - "Madam." llaekh-ae'rl - "laughing-murder": Rihannsu unarmed combat. llaet'rrh - Informal farewell. llhrei'sian - diarrhea as a result of mild food-poisoning. llilla'hu -that will do, "that's just enough": barely adequate, sufficient. lloann'mhrahel - the UFP:the word translates as "Them, from There". lloann'na - catchall title for a UFP member. latasam - road, pathway latta - death ler - near to lyret - truth lyret dedreen - concealed truth lacendt - small lagga - a bush noted for its rose-colored flower llaekh - murder llairhi - ambassador lleifven - attache
M
mnek'nra, mnekha - "correct,satisfactory."Inf.-Sup. and Sup.-Inf. modes, respectively. mnhei'sahe - the Ruling Passion,honor,"face",courtesy mandukar - watchful,vigilant mayri - come Mnahe - hate mrht - but morlas - to explode mosaram - wind morlatta - destruction Mogai - a Rihannsu-sized carnivorous bird native to ch'Rihan
N
nei'rrh - small birds, similar to Terran hummingbirds, with a poison beak. Also an insult. neth ... nah'lai - either ... or nuhirrien - "look-toward", the quality of charisma or mass attractiveness. narvasam - nest, roost (noun) navassa - birth (of a non-sentient creature) notht - health
O
oal'lhlih - "announce the presence/the arrival." oira - "battle-control", battle-bridge. ocala - fire (noun)
P
phi'lasasam - military training Phi'lasasam - military training center, the Rihannsu Academy payr - may patned pra krsh - never pokot - warm
Q
qiuu, qiuu'n(oaii) - all, everything, "the lot."
R
Ra'kholh - Avenger. A popular ship-name in the Rihannsu Fleet. Ra'tleihfi - the capital city on ch'Rihan. rehei - private name rekkhai - "sir": inferior-superior high phase mode. rha, rh'e - "indeed," "is that so"(colloq. volg. "oh yeah?"). Rhi - five rrh-thanai - hostage-fostering. rav'sam - sibling riov - Commander, Fleet rank equivalent to captain recendt - large rawn - slowly ray - poor, bad, ill, unsatisfactory ru - to ralaaram - sky rhaetelh - executive raihiw'sheh - Advocate, one who speaks for another in court
S
siuren - "minutes": equal to 50.5 Terran seconds. sseikea - a scavenger, analogous to the Terran hyena and employed as an insult ssuaj-ha - "Understood!"(Inferior-superior mode.) ssuej-d'ifv - "Do you understand?" (Superior-inferior mode.) sthea'hwill - "I request (an action) be done at once." (Sup-Inf,courteous) sivas - of pertaining to a locality or a single city-state stelam - star stelai - an area of stars, a sector stelai ler'lloann - The Federation Neutral Zone stelai ler'khelloann - The Klingon Neutral Zone s'ten - gallant, brave seiHehllirh - The Rihannsu government (lit. "The Tricameron") shad elet - today shad onre - tomorrow stev - now show - hot shaoi dan - salutation to equal shaoi ben - salutation to inferior shaoi kon - salutation to superior sesketh - a dessert made of a sugary confection twisted on a spice stick sindari - swarm sahe - love, often used as a term of affection similar to 'beloved'
T
ta'krenn - "Look here, look at this." ta'khoi - "Screen off." Usage for voice-activation equipment ta'rhae - "Screen on." th'ann, th'ann-a - "a/the prisoner." thrai, thraiin - predator, analogous to the Terran wolverine t'liss - a bird of prey(the Rihannsu Warbird) tlhei - "my word", given as in 'my (given) Word" or "my command/order/bidding." takaram - comet talas - to carry or lift talla - duty, obligation (to something NOT involving personal honor) teelis - song Tal Shiar - The Rihannsu secret police and intelligence agency talasagam h'sarin - transporter (technical term) thrad - to lie tharon - sit takas - multi-unit living structure, apartment building temar - night tagor - talon thaliij - mountain theirr - guardian tlaru - intelligence(spying) thural - a small rodent-like aquatic mammal sometimes used as a pet
U
urru - "go to ..." A non-mode imperative. urstev-leave, dismissed ustalam - lifter, a type of cargo conveyance vaed'rae - "Hear me/attend me." More imperative than "listen," and more formal.
V
vah-udt - "What rank?" "Who are you(to be asking/doing this)?" vriha - highest, most superior. vang'radam - traitor, betrayer vas' - prefix referring to a flying creature vastaram - flying object Verelan - Proper name meaning graceful vaed'rehai - professor vadas - to glide
W
wagi - a type of dense, prickly brush
Y
Y'hhau - informal greeting. yhfi-ss'ue - "travel-tubes" or subway. yhfi-etrehh - turbolift
Z
zhown - cold
Some general comments
General prefixes and suffixes:
vas' - a flying creature lh' - verb prefix denoting past tense v' - verb prefix denoting future tense d' - grand, great al - a noun prefix denoting improvement re - freedom, lack of restraint khe - more (as '-er' in English) Here are some nifty suffixes: asz - common suffix for place names (as English '-ton'). in - standard plural ending ih - an agent, office, official, or group of officials asi - suffix equivalent to -ing in English 'al - diminuitive
Units of time:
ewa - "second" (4.2 Terran seconds) siuren - "minute" (12 ewa/ 50.5 seconds) kevn - "period" (12 surien/ 10.1 minutes) tarim - "hour" (12 kevn/ 121.2 minutes) tel - "day" (12 tarim/ 24.24 hours)
Numbers:
vet - zero tie - one til - two sie - three sev - four ko - five kil - six yo - seven yil - eight pie - nine
Places:
ch'Rihan - capital world of the Rihannsu Empire
ch'Havran - companion world of ch'Rihan
Ra'tleihfi - capital city of the Rihannsu Empire, located on ch'Rihan.
Also a river running through that city.
Aihai - area of plains outside Ra'tleihfi
Mnaeha - a city on ch'Rihan
i'Ramnau - a city on ch'Rihan
Mhiessan - a large port city and mountainous province on ch'Rihan
Fethraie - a river on ch'Rihan
Korthre Cliffs - tall, beautiful oceanside cliffs in Mhiessan
Hartlhei Caves - a large complex of caves near Mhiessan Defense Base 1
DB1 - the main starbase in the ch'Rihan/ch'Havran system
Levaeri V - an uninhabited planetoid once used as a military research base
Phi'lasasam - the Rihannsu Academy, the Empire's main naval training facility
stelai ler'lloann - The Federation Neutral Zone
stelai ler'khelloann - The Klingon Neutral Zone
And of course...all the insults:
Areinnye - Hell Dha'rudh - Total Idiot. This is a severe insult. Fvadt - generic interjection, like "Damn!" Hnaev - Offal, crap Hnoiyika(r) - Weasel(s) Khoi-udt - Drop Dead Kllhe - Worm, sh*t-eater Kllhe'mnhe - worm food, sh*t Llaudh - Underhanded person, not always an insult. Nei'rrh - Annoying Gnat Sseikea - Hyena, scavenger Susse-thrai - She-wolf, bitch Urru Areinnye - Go to hell Vah'areinnye - What the hell? vang'radam - traitor, betrayer klivam - Klingon (derogatory term)
A number of there references have come from the Rihannsu Empire citizens at TrekMUSE; S'Taleron, tr'Ashwei, Zarod and Lhaes, among others. Khnai'ra rhissiuy.
Okay, so a lot of this is probably copyrighted. It is given here without permission, but with no intent to defraud anyone.