Languages
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| Language | Other Names | Typical Speakers | Script | Equivalent | d12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient | Ancient Hylian, Sheikah | Gods, sheikah, researchers, some undead | Ancient | Abyssal or Celestial | 1 |
| Blin | Beastspeak, Demise, Moblin | Blins and allies of Ganon | Blin | Goblin or Undercommon | 2 |
| Deku | Treetongue, Sylvan | Deku scrubs, koroks, kokiri, fairies | Ancient | Elvish and Sylvan | 3 |
| Eldish | Goro, Subrosian | Gorons, mogma, subrosians | Common | Dwarvish, Ignan, and Terran | 4 |
| Gerudo | — | Gerudo, zuna, desert-dwellers | Gerudo | Orc | 5 |
| Hebric | Anouki, Tundran, Yook | Anouki, yeti, ice or wind elementals | Common | Giant and Auran | 6 |
| Hylian | Common, Hyrulean | Hylians and their allies | Common | Common | — |
| Lizal | Draconic, Saurian | Lizalfos and most intelligent reptiles | Lizal | Draconic | 7 |
| Mudoran | Mudora | No known surviving speakers | Mudoran | — | — |
| Minish | Picoran | Minish and other diminutive creatures | Minish | Gnomish | 8 |
| Sign | Hylian Sign Language | Deaf hylians and their allies; silent professionals | Hands | — | 9 |
| Sky | Sky Writing | Oocca and a few researchers | Sky | — | 10 |
| Twilight | — | Twili, twilit, Twilight denizens | Ancient | Deep Speech | 11 |
| Zoran | Aquan | Zora, parella, aquatic creatures | Common | Elvish and Aquan | 12 |
If a DM would prefer to use Hyrulean content in a more traditional Dungeons & Dragons setting, it is best if the Hyrulean languages above are replaced with their listed equivalent.
Ancient
| This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information. |
Ancient—formally "Ancient Hylian" and sometimes "Sheikah"—is the progenitor of most modern languages, but its use has been forgotten among most people. Among hylians and their allies, it is sometimes spoken by sects of Sheikah, and is sometimes learned by those who research ancient history or magic. The rare creature who remembers events of millenia ago—guardian spirits and some undead—may still be able to understand and speak it. Some say it is still spoken by the gods in the Sacred Realm.
Ancient script parallels modern Common or "Hylian" script in that it reads from left to right and its characters have similar, often overlapping meaning. Ancient has noticeably fewer characters.
Ancient is not spoken consistently. It is clear that those who remember Ancient—gods and spirits—speak it with a slower and bolder cadence than the choppier pace spoken by those who have only learned it with modern education.
Blin
Blin is perhaps the most widely spoken language across the known realms, but it is closely associated with monsters and Ganon himself. As this language's most populous speakers appear to be blins, the language itself has become known as blin. Indeed, Blin is spoken by various monsters from lynel to taros, and is even commonly spoken in the Dark World. Hylians and their allies usually only learn it for espionage purposes, or to study monsters, as even speaking it is viewed with suspicion. Veterans don't easily forget achemen and other spies of Ganon.
Because it is so widespread among otherwise isolated groups, Blin has a wide variety of accents and dialects. Blin-speakers often have a very difficult time understanding those from far realms, or with fundamentally different physiology.
Blin script is unique to itself. As with spoken Blin, written Blin comes in extremely diverse forms—it isn't even consistently written right to left, left to right, or top to bottom. There are very few scrolls or any long written works of Blin, leaving even less room for scholars to agree on any kind of standardization. When a moblin is observed struggling to read "its own language" because of the language's inconsistencies, hylians and even lizal are often quick to dismiss this as merely the renowned stupidity of moblins.
Deku
In the common language of Hylian, Deku is named after the Great Deku Tree and deku scrubs, and the language as a whole is widely associated with forests and plants. The Great Deku Tree seems to be the progenitor of this language, or at least the oldest widely-known speaker of it. As it is spoken by several races populating the Light World's many woodlands and forests, Deku is one of the more abundant and diverse languages in the realm. It is even the primary language spoken by most fairies. Deku's use is occasionally associated with adventurers and tradesmen, due in part to being the native tongue of Business Scrubs.
The roots of the Deku tongue clearly lie in Ancient, as many languages do. Its structure is remarkably similar to Hylian and Gerudo, other languages closely tied to Ancient—it is thus relatively easy for speakers of Hylian, Gerudo, and Deku to learn each others' languages. Unlike most descendants of Ancient however, Deku retains a script nearly identical to Ancient itself.
Eldish
In the common language of Hylian, Eldish is named after the Eldin region where its speakers are abundant. When spoken, it incorporates many short but sharp consonants such as "k" and "g"; there is a a noticeable emphasis on vowel sounds, particularly "ah," "oh" and "oo."
Subrosians speak it universally, but among Light Worlders it is most closely associated with gorons and sometimes mogma. It is a common language among races that live underground, in tunnels, in mountains, or among active volcanoes. The tongue is closely associated with earth and fire, and elementals such as magmanos or podoboos will often understand it innately.
The roots of this language may lie underground, as it commonly spoken even in the subterranean continent of Subrosia. In modern use it shares a nearly identical script to Hylian, but this practice has only been around a few centuries—in days long past it used a script that more closely resembled Ancient.
Gerudo
| This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information. |
The Gerudo language finds its roots in Ancient and shares structural similarities with Hylian. Compared to Hylian, when spoken has a noticeably greater use of consonants which use teeth in the pronunciation, such as "f" or "s" but especially "v."
It is believed that Hylian and Gerudo languages branched in a manner similar to how hylians and gerudo may have branched from what was once one race, many millenia ago.
Unlike the commonly spoken Hylian language, today Gerudo is rarely spoken except by gerudo themselves and a few other desert-dwellers such as zuna and some lizal. It is rarely if ever the only language a creature knows. Because of its structural similarity to Hylian, almost all native Gerudo speakers have branched out to learn the much more commonly spoken Hylian tongue as a second language.
Literal translations
Sarqso. "Thank you."
Vasaaq. "Greetings."
Sav'otta. "Good morning." Typically used when the sun is rising, especially at amicable temperatures.
Sav'aaq. "Good day" or "good afternoon." A greeting typically used when the sun is high, especially when the day is hot.
Sav'saaba. "Good evening." Typically used when the sun is setting, especially at amicable temperatures.
Sav'orr. or "good night." A greeting typically used when the sun is setting or has set, especially on a cold night.
Sav'orq. "Goodbye."
Vai. "Woman" or "female adult."
Voe. "Man" or "male adult." In modern usage it almost always refers to a hylian man.
Vehvi. "Daughter." Sometimes used to refer to children with a maternal disposition, similar to "niece" or "little one."
Vaba. "Grandmother." Sometimes used to refer to an elderly person with a personal familiarity.
Vure. "Bird" or sometimes "rito." Sometimes paired with "vure voe" or "vure vai" to more distinctly or respectfully refer to a rito adult.
Sa'oten. An exclamation. Sometimes erroneously translated to be vulgar.
Hebric
In the common language of Hylian, Hebric is named after the Hebra region where its speakers are abundant, though the roots of this language originate from much further away. When heard aloud, there is a distinctly greater emphasis on consonants than vowels. In modern use Hebric shares the same script as Hylian, but this practice has only been around a few centuries—in days long past it used a script that more closely resembled Ancient.
Hebric is spoken almost universally among anouki and yeti, but many other people living in the far north speak it as well. Creatures born of cold or ice magic, such as chilfos, often understand it innately.
Hylian
The Hylian language—also known as Hyrulean, Common, or the common tongue—is one of the most abundantly spoken languages in the Light World, and is understood by virtually all hylians and allies of hylians. It is sometimes regarded as "everyone's second language." Many races such as gorons and gerudo are typically fluent in it, but prefer their own regional or cultural language except when dealing with hylians.
Like the hylian race themselves, the Hylian language may have originated in some form from the goddess Hylia. She is known to primarily speak Hylian, while other deities of her status typically speak Ancient or other more esoteric languages. Across space and time, Hylian remains understandable through many spoken dialects, but its scripts and style of writing has diverged so many times that it may be difficult for even the most well-versed Hylian speaker to read scripts from centuries ago or from the other side of the world.
Literal translations
Chu. [choo]. An onomatopoeia for "squeak" sounds. Often used in words related to mice and certain oozes. Examples include bombchu and chuchu.
Demise. [dih-mahyz]. Though it originated as the name of Demise, historically a proper noun, this word has since become synonymous with death—especially an untimely death, or doom in general.
Geldo. [gel-doh]. (Archaic, Vulgar). A mistranslation of gerudo, which is now seen as an ignorant or disrespectful name for the race. "Geldo" has a connotation with sand and deserts, much like the most renowned gerudo. Geldo is still used in the names of monsters such as geldarm and geldman.
-fos. [dohs] or [fohz]. The suffix "fos" is often applied to the names of anthropomorphic monster species. Examples include chilfos, lizalfos, stalfos, and wolfos.
Lizal
This language is commonly named for its most abundant speakers, lizal themselves. Its distinctive sound includes many consonants which rely on the tongue and teeth (ss, t, th, l, etc) and few if any which rely on lip movement (p, b, m, etc). It is most commonly associated with dragons, reptiles, and amphibians. Reptilian races often take a certain pride in speaking and writing it. Mammalian races who attempt to use it—such as hylians or blins—are often regarded with ire for doing so. Such races often have difficulty enunciating certain consonants with the correct accent due to their "preoccupation with lips."
Lizal uses a unique script, though it seems to be distantly related to Ancient script.
Minish
Minish is a relatively secret language spoken almost exclusively by beings who are smaller than a hylian's hand. Its primary speakers, the minish themselves, are even thought by many to be mythical as few adult humanoids can even perceive such creatures normally. As such it is very rarely spoken by most humanoids, and is instead spoken almost exclusively by minish, some tiny fairies, and what few other intelligent beings stand under mushrooms.
When spoken properly, Minish carries a very high pitch. There are many instances of the "pi" and "co" sounds, to the point Minish themselves are sometimes called "Picori" by foreigners due to the sounds they make. Those unfamiliar with the Minish language may be unable to distinguish its high pitched syllables from the squeaks and scratching noises that mice and similar pests might produce. Like Minish themselves, this language is so subtle that a Medium-sized humanoid often won't even notice it.
The Minish script is not used by any other language. Though the script includes many nuanced characters, only a small portion of these are routinely used. Consisting of fine lines, Minish script is characteristically "written" by using tiny hands to scratching hidden messages into rupees, leaves, seeds, shoe laces, and other objects most humanoids would consider to be small.
Mudoran
This language was supposedly used by the ancient Zonai tribe, but it has no known modern speakers. Mudoran survives only as script, consisting of complex hieroglyphs clearly unlike any other language of the Light World. Its pronunciation is unknown even to the most erudite historians. Any player-character who knows this language, of course, only knows how to read and write it—not how to speak it.
Sign
This language can't be spoken or heard, and doesn't have a script. Instead uses visual hand gestures to communicate messages based on the Hylian language. While individual script characters and some messages can be portrayed with one hand, clear communication at a pace comparable to spoken Hylian generally requires two hands.
The earliest roots of Sign may be only a few centuries old, and are rumored to have been created by hylian thieves to communicate silently in secret. Regardless of its origin, the language is now used in deaf communities across Hyrule and even neighboring regions as a much more practical form of communication than writing everything out.
Sky
Often called "Sky Writing," this language is today rarely spoken today by any but the esoteric oocca. A vanishingly small number of twili and hylians speak it as a secondary language passed down through generations. There are a number of written books using Sky Writing, and a few interested historians strive to retain this language before it is "forgotten" like Mudoran. It is similar to Ancient and languages descended from it, so much so a handful of words could be understood through the language barrier.
Twilight
The Twilight language is the most abundant language spoken in the Twilight Realm, and is infrequently spoken in the Light World. Usually only those with ties to the realm speak it, including twilits and twili themselves. Indeed, it is the language of the twili, and its etymological roots overlap with the Hylian language. Both Twilight and Hylian are rooted in a common ancestral tongue which itself is derivative of Ancient.
To Light Worlders, when Twilight is spoken spoken it often sounds like scrambled Hylian, but there is too little in common to clearly communicate messages. Those unaccustomed to hearing Twilight often claim it sounds as though it echoes.
The script used in Twilight is nearly identical to that used by ancient.
Zoran
In the common language of Hylian, Zoran is of course titled after the aquatic race of the same name. Though most renowned through zora themselves, Zoran is by far the most recurring tongue used among aquatic and amphibious people. The roots of this language may lie underwater, as it commonly spoken even at the bottom of the ocean by parella. The language is clearly designed for aquatic use, as it lacks any sounds which cannot be easily pronounced and understood underwater.
In modern use, Zoran adopts the Hylian script, with some accents to annotate different pronunciations. This practice is relatively recent and may be a result of alliances between hylian and zora royalty.
For many millennia Zoran had no lasting script. Unlike most languages, Zoran was made to be spoken underwater—and of course, erosion occurs much faster underwater. Modern historians believe that if any uniquely Zoran script ever existed, it would have been used less frequently than dry scripts, and any instances of it are unlikely to survive in the historical record.
Zoran is one of the most common languages spoken in the Light World thanks the abundance of aquatic creatures found in rivers, lakes, and the Great Sea who do not rely on any other language.
The material on this page is based on content found throughout the Legend of Zelda series, which is copyright Nintendo Co., Ltd.
