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
Adessive	ni
Allative	oni
Elative	ba
Ergative	o
Illative	zhi
Inessive	me
Vocative	ghu

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

Vocabulary

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
• 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
• bambit'a : to promise
• bambit'agha : promise
• banghaina : to sense, to pick up on (derived from the verb: ghaina)
• bekkhajo : creature, animal
• bojo : woman

C

• ch'aamosik'o : to understand, to comprehend
• 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

• diibe : where, in a place
• dokkhat'u : kindness
• duje : to molt
• dzima : brave
• dzumu : to be sharp
• daagha : to worry

E

• et'ojo : swordsman(men)
• eya : no

G

• gadi : lower mandible
• gaiduje : to sully, to pollute (derived from the verb: duje)
• gaikhawa : to guess, to predict (derived from the verb: khawa)
• gakha : rocks, stones
• 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 baazhi : previously

J

• jaja : perhaps
• jan : [First Person Singular] : I, me
• jaya : come, arrive
• 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'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
• 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
• luuka : blood

M

• maaro : to find and locate, to search
  • q'amaaro : keep looking, continue searching
• maasa : time, period, lenth of event
• maaziit'u : revenge
• maikhu : tool, device
• moduje : to lose track of (derived from the verb: duje)
• mobaat'u : revelation
• mos : brain, mind
• mosone : councel, advice
• 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'a : but
• qkhaat'u : holiness
• qkhado : holy, sacred
• qkhan : enemy(ies)

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, kin
• 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

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.