- "There is no word for "thank you" in Dothraki."
- ―Jorah Mormont
Dothraki is the language spoken by the Dothraki people.
The Dothraki do not have their own writing system, nor much use for the writing systems of neighboring peoples, so they are an illiterate society.[1]
Important Terminology
- Dosh khaleen - Widows of deceased khals, who preside over the Dothraki city of Vaes Dothrak. Wise-women who essentially the leaders of the Dothraki religion.
- Khal - Dothraki warlord.
- Khaleesi - The wife of the khal.
- Khalasar - Dothraki clan or tribe, led by a khal.
- Ko - Kos are lieutenants of a khal, commanding subdivisions of a khalasar. On the death of a khal, a ko may try to become the new khal, or split off his own riders to form a new, smaller khalasar.
- Me nem nesa - "it is known"[2]
- Qoy Qoyi - (literally, "blood of my blood") "Bloodrider", a Dothraki warrior that has pledged his life to the service of a khal.
- Vaes Dothrak - the only Dothraki city, located deep within the Dothraki Sea.
- zhey - the Vocative particle in the Dothraki language, used when directly addressing the object of a sentence; thus it is very frequently heard in Dothraki dialogue. While the Vocative case was present in the Proto-Indo-European language, it fell out of use in modern Romance languages, as well as Germanic languages such as English and German (but is still present in Celtic and Slavic languages). Thus there is no direct English equivalent for zhey, though it basically means "you", or more loosely, "hey". For example, Rakharo says to Irri, "Hash yer ray tih loy alegra, zhey vikeesi?" (Have you seen any ducks, woman?). However, Daenerys says "Zhey qoy qoyi!" (Blood of my blood!) when addressing her bloodriders, or simply "zhey Rakharo" (literally just "Rakharo"), when trying to get Rakharo's attention. However, the Vocative particle may also be used reflexively when the subject is referring to himself: Khal Drogo swears "Anha, zhey Drogo, atak jin" (I, Drogo, will do this).[3]
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
According to an interview with David J. Peterson on Forbes.com in November 2012, there is actually only one line in the Dothraki language in Season 3 of the TV series.[4]
Behind the scenes
The Dothraki language was created by David J. Peterson of the Language Creation Society, and as of May 2011 has a vocabulary of over 2,500 words. He has also worked on other languages for the show, such as Skroth and Asshai'i.
References
- ↑ David J. Peterson's blog, Dothraki.com, July 19, 2012.
- ↑ David J. Peterson's blog, Dothraki.com, June 4, 2012
- ↑ Dothraki.org
- ↑ David J. Peterson interview with Forbes.com