Sangheili (language)/Silver

Sangheili is a language created for the Halo: The Television Series created by David Peterson, creator of the Dothraki language used in Game of Thrones,, and Carl Buck.

Peterson posts transcripts for the words and their translations in a series of posts on Archive of Our Own, accessible here. See also David Petersons records here.

Overview

Sangheili, the language featured in the show, is a language spoken by the Sangheili, as well as generally inside the Covenant, an alien alliance that worships the Halo Array. The language is a lightly inflectional head-final language with distinctive vowel length and ejectives.

Sangheili uses Standard American Romanization. Ejective consonants are written with a following apostrophe, and the r is the tap [ɾ]. The language has long vowels, represented by a doubled vowel, and occasionally has geminates, also written doubly. Likely the most challenging aspect of the phonology are the consonants with a velar release. These are written as if they began with a consonant cluster, but they occur at every point of articulation—namely, pkh [pˣ], tkh [tˣ], kkh [kˣ], and qkh [qˣ], and even the fricative (or fricative-ending) consonants skh [sˣ], shkh [ʃˣ], and chkh [tʃˣ]

Primer

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Grammar and Morphology

Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
		Inclusive	Exclusive
First Person	jan	riin	jaari
Second Person	k'e	k'iri
Third Person Animate	mu	muuri
Third Person Inanimate	tkha	tkhaari

Case Particles / Postpositions

These particles are placed after an object.

Type	Particle	Use
Ablative	ga	Indicates movement from a source or starting point of an action. This particle expresses the idea of "away (from)" or "of."
Adessive	ni	Indicates the location or position of an object or a person in relation to another object or place. It expresses the notions of "near, by, at, on, with, or upon."
Allative	oni	Indicates movement toward a location, destination, or recipient of an action. This particle expresses the ideas of "to, onto, at, for, or of."
Elative	ba	Indicates a separation or departure from a place or a starting point. This particle expresses the idea of "out of" or "from."
Ergative	o	Used after a noun to mark it as the subject of a transitive verb.
Illative	zhi	Indicates direction or movement toward a location or place. It expresses the idea of "into" or "onto."
Inessive	me	Indicates being in a certain place or object. It expresses the ideas of "inside, within, or along side."
Vocative	ghu	Used to address or gain someone's attention directly.

Verb Tenses

	Dynamic	Stative	Suffix
Bare	Imperative	Present
Reduplicative	Imperfect	Emphatic	Varies
Inceptive	Inceptive	Inchoative	-(i)khi
Completive	Perfect	Cessive	-(i)tan
Declarative	Present	Probabilitive	-(i)jo
Witnessed	Emphatic	Past	-(i)ji
Overheard	Uncertain	Possibilitive	-(i)jen
Prospective	Future	Future	-(i)jaga (irregular -chaga)
Negative	Reverse action	Contrary state	-eya
Yes or No Question			-jahe

Demonstratives

	Adjective	Singular	Plural	Adverb
Proximal	ne	ine	niri	nis
Medial	zo	uzo	zuri	zus
Distal	tkha	athka	tkhaari	tkhaas
Unknown	ba	aba	baari	baas
Negative	ii	ngajo		ngamaas

Sangheili phrases by David J. Peterson

* Denotes a word's spelling has not been confirmed.

Samples

Jan David *ngitkha.	My name is David.
*Haait'u ga k'utkho!	From strength, fight! or Fight with strength! (Used by Sangheili as both a greeting and a farewell.)
Jan o moa ba ngani rotkho *p'onji.	I will eat a Moa burger.
Ch'inji, k'utkho ba kkhosa k'entan ch'anoq'o sangheli et'ojo T'elo Badami oni.	Taken, from a sangheili swordsman of great nobility named Tel 'Badami (Thel 'Vadamee) who chose to flee rather than fight.

Vocabulary

Transcribed words

The following words were transcribed phonetically and showcased in Episode 4 of the TV series.

• [qˣe.p'os] - "qkhep'os" : needler
• [saŋ.'ɣe.li.sˣu] - "sangheliskhu" : Sanghelios
• [saŋ.ɣe.li] - "sangheli" : Sangheili
• [xo.bu] - "khobu" : shoot
• [ki:.'gia:.ra] - "kiigiaara" : Kig-Yar
• [ɣa.ˈʃaŋ.k'o.] - "ghashank'o" : demon
• [o.' q'o.ga.xa] : "oq'ogakha" : Keystone
• [tʃ'aŋ.'ga.go.mo] - "ch'anggagomo" : Halo
• [tʃ'aŋ.go.no] - "ch'anggono" : shield
• [sˣu.tʃo] - "skhucho" : Down
• [do.tʃo] - "docho" : Up

Basic Nouns / Names

• Ch'adomo : Spartan(s)
• Ch'ambuujo : Hierarch(s)
• Ch'anggagomo : Halo, The Halo Ring
  • Qkhado Ch'anggagomo : The Sacred Ring, The Holy Ring
• Ch'awaruutu : The Journey
  • Oq'o Ch'awaruutu : The Great Journey
• Domo : Human(s)
• Gaik'inat'u : Regret, regret
• Ghashank'o : Demon, Master Chief
• Hirajo : Blessed One
• Juukhojo : Prophet(s)
• Q'iitu : Prophet of Mercy, mercy
• Maduriga: Madrigal
• Mak'ii : Makee
• Oq'ogakha : Keystone
• Sangheli : Sangheili
• Shak'o : The Path, the way
• Shandi : The Covenant, alliance
• T'iiwajo : Heretic(s)

A

• aamu : god(s), deity(ies)
• akke : hand

B

• baan : spine or back, behind
• baashi : ceremony
• bak'ontu : justice
• bambit'a : to promise
• bambit'agha : promise
• banghaina : to sense, to pick up on (derived from the verb: ghaina)
• bekkhajo : creature, animal
• bojo : mother(s)

C

• ch'aamosik'o : to understand, to comprehend
• ch'anaani : pillar
• ch'anik'o : to see
  • ch'anik'otan : saw
  • ch'anik'oji : seen
• ch'anu : head
• ch'imo : take, get, gain
• chkhan : all, whole, endless
  • chkhan ba : all by
  • chkhan ni : over all

D

• daagha : to worry
• diibe : where (conjunction), in/to a particular place, at/from which (See also: ghaadi)
• dokkhat'u : kindness
• duje : to molt
• dzana : woman, mortal female
• dzima : brave
• dzumu : to be sharp
• dzuk'uuchi : battled

E

• et'ojo : swordsman(men)
• eya : no

G

• gadi : lower mandible
• gaibaat'u : fortune, riches
• gaiduje : to sully, to pollute (derived from the verb: duje)
• gaikhawa : to guess, to predict (derived from the verb: khawa)
• gakha : rocks, stones
• ghaadi : where, in what place or position (See also: diibe)
• ghaina : to hear
• ghaazhi : [causal conjunction] (Because..., So..., For..., If..., When...)
• ghaq'aaga : map
• guulo : master(s)

H

• haala : strong
  • haali : stronger
• hira : bless, praise
• hodu : wait, pause

I

• ik'o : eye(s)
• ikhi : now, presently
  • ikhi ga : right now, right away, immediately
  • ikhi jaya : come quickly, come now
  • ikhi baazhi : previously

J

• jaja : perhaps
• jan : [First Person Singular] : I, me
• jaya : come, arrive
  • jayaleya : can not arrive
  • jayatan : arrived
• juuch'i : to adopt, to embrace
• juukhawa : to claim (derived from the verb: khawa)
• juun : upper mandible
• juunduje : to make look good, act good, perform well (derived from the verb: duje)

K

• k'aidon : kaidon
• k'e : [Second Person Singular] : you, your
• k'iis : light
• k'iisho : luminary
• k'ung : both
• k'unjo : others, the rest
• k'utkho : to fight
• k'uucho : warrior(s), fighter(s)
• khaayagha : profit, benefit
• khawa : to say
• khebit'a : to have, to possess
• khech'imo: retrieve, bring, reclaim
• khekhawa : to respond (derived from the verb: khawa)
• kheluuga : artifact, relic
• khis : mongrel
• khobu : fire (from a weapon), to shoot
  • khobuuya : hold your fire, cease firing
• khoya : wise
• khuut'a : brother(s), kin
• kkhaaya : worthy
  • kkhaayeya : not worthy, hardly worth
• kkhagadza : affirmative, that's right

L

• la'ajo : twin, partner, counterpart
• lakhi : to rise up, to ascend
• loshkho : to show
  • loloshkho : reveal
• luk'a : spear
• luuka : blood

M

• maaro : to seek, to search
  • maarotan : found
  • q'amaaro : keep looking, continue searching
• maasa : time, period, length of event
• maaziit'u : revenge
• maikhu : tool, device
• matkha : kill, slay
  • matkhaji : killed, slew
  • matkhaya : do not kill
• mejaya : get ready, prepare
  • mejayajo : preparing
  • mejayaq'u : get equipped
• moduje : to lose track of (derived from the verb: duje)
• mobaat'u : revelation
• mogha : waves
• mos : brain, mind
• mosone : counsel, advice
• moq'aaji : pious, devout
• moq'aajo : zealot(s)
• mu : him/her, himself/herself
• muuri : [Third Person plural] they, them

N

• nejo : father(s)
• ngani : to need, to obtain
• nizhi : also, in addition, about, as well
• nujut'u : weakness

O

• ogha : foot
  • ogha ni : near, close
• oq'o : great, glorious, noble
• oq'otu : glory

P

• p'ikhe : creature, animal
• pkha : [an auxiliary marking an order]
• pkhada : stop, halt, cease

Q

• q'unqa : to forget, to forgive
  • q'unqijaga : will forget
• q'a : but
• q'ii : dead, death, demising
• qkhaat'u : holiness
• qkhado : holy, sacred
• qkhan : enemy(ies)
• qkhe : [interjection] oh

R

• riikhe : as a group, collectively
  • riikhe ni : together, all together
  • riikhe oni : regroup, rally together
  • riikhe zi : among, in company
• riin : us, we
• rotkho : flesh, skin, hide
• ruq'a : fire
• ruq'ota : to burn
• ruuk'ina : to attack

S

• shaadat'u : loyalty
• shkhoot'u : sign, signal

T

• t'iis : word
• t'ighaina : to hear and understand, to read one another (derived from the verb: ghaina)
• t'ikhawa : to chat, to speak with (derived from the verb: khawa)
• t'ulu : bone
• tkha : [Inanimate Third Person] it(s)
  • tkhaari : those, them
  • tkhaas : that
  • tkhazhi : then, and then
• tkhahan : to finish, to complete
• tkhet'a : species, people, ilk, nest
• tkhunga : to send, to deliver
• tkhungat'u : herald, bearer
• tkhuyujo : ancients, forerunner(s)
• tskha : to do
• ts'uuchaga : yes
• ts'uutsughaleya : impossible

U

• uro : claws
• uutu : evil

W

• waaka : gift, offering
  • gawaaka : sacrifice
• waqkhi : to leave, to allow
• warut'o : go, forward, charge (inspired by wort from the games)
  • q'awarut'o : continue on, onward
• wele : ship, vessel
• welekkhosa : retreat

Y

• yodu : soon

Z

• zhuro : weapon(s)

Sangheili war chant : The Ballad of Kel 'Darsam

These are only the first eight lines of a lengthier poem.

English	Sangheili
Born of woman, fathered by Deity, Kel ‘Darsam was a pillar of piety,	Dzana bojo ba, aamu nejo ba, K’elo Daasamu moq’aaji, ch’anaani,
Brave and noble, strong and wise, he sought only justice and no other prize,	Dzima ze oq’o, haala ze khoya, gaibaat’u ba q’a bak’ontu maaroji,
He battled with monsters, slew terrible beasts, to make his lands safe and to guarantee peace,	Mu o ghashank’o dzuk’uuchi, matkhaji; tkhaati’ni baat’u, dzukhunt’u waqkho’ni,
But jealous were others, who envied his grace, a rival Kaidon sought his rival’s disgrace,	Q’a k’unjo’ mu’m ch’apkhaat’u ghamaaziji, K’aidon o mu juutkhoma maaroji,
But a cowardly fighter, disgraced and defeated, took aim at the two as they finally retreated,	Q’a juutkhaat’u ba nuju k’uucho o muuri ni welekkhosa ni dzushkhaatan,
Kel ‘Darsam fell, spear in his back, down to the rocks where the waves did crack,	Mu ni baan me luk’a o K’elo Daasamu mogha ni gakha oni ts’aatan,
But as Kel was falling, the sun was arising, the first rays of Urs halted ‘Darsam’s demising,	K’elo ni ts’aha ni has o ruuekhi tkhazhi Daasamu ba q’ii pkhadatan,
The light found him godly with noble intention, and embraced him as kin and confirmed his ascension.	K’iis o aamu ni mu maaroji, tkhazhi tkha o tkhet’a oni mu juuch’iitan.