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'''Ghiscari''', or '''Old Ghiscari''', is the [[languages|language]] of the ancient [[Ghiscari Empire]]. After the [[Valyrian Freehold]] conquered the Ghiscari Empire five thousand years ago, the indigenous language of the Ghiscari died out, as the inhabitants of the region were forced to adopt the [[High Valyrian|Valyrian]] language of their new masters.
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'''Old Ghiscari''' is the [[languages|language]] of the ancient [[Ghiscari Empire]]. It is a dead language by the time of the [[War of the Five Kings]], but influenced the local variety of [[Low Valyrian]] spoken in [[Slaver's Bay]]. A few loanwords from Old Ghiscari survive into Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian, such as "mhysa" - the Old Ghiscari word for "mother".<ref>"[[Mhysa]]"</ref>
   
  +
==History==
After the [[Doom of Valyrian]], four hundred years before the [[War of the Five Kings]], the local cities of [[Slaver's Bay]] re-asserted their independence, but five thousand years of Valyrian domination had taken a heavy toll. While they pride themselves as descendants of the old Ghiscari Empire, only a few scraps of its ancient culture survived, and Old Ghiscari remained a dead language.
 
   
 
After the [[Valyrian Freehold]] conquered the Ghiscari Empire five thousand years ago, the indigenous language of the Ghiscari died out, as the inhabitants of the region were forced to adopt the [[High Valyrian]] language of their new masters. After the [[Doom of Valyria]], four hundred years before the [[War of the Five Kings]], the local cities of [[Slaver's Bay]] re-asserted their independence, but five thousand years of Valyrian domination had taken a heavy toll. While they pride themselves as being descendants of the old Ghiscari Empire, only a few scraps of its ancient culture survived, and Old Ghiscari remained a dead language.
However, without the central influence of Old Valyria anymore, the old High Valyrian language mutated into various romance languages, differing from region to region, known as [[Low Valyrian]]. Some words and features of the old Ghiscari language influenced the new Low Vayrian of Slaver's Bay, making it quite different from the various Low Valyrian languages of the [[Free Cities]].
 
   
 
However, without the central influence of Old Valyria anymore, the old High Valyrian language mutated into various romance languages, differing from region to region, known as [[Low Valyrian]]. Some words and features of the old Ghiscari language influenced the new Low Vayrian of Slaver's Bay, making it quite different from the various Low Valyrian languages of the [[Free Cities]].
For example, the word for "mother" in Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian, "mhysa", is a direct loanword from Old Ghiscari, in which "mhysa" also meant "mother".<ref>"[[Mhysa]]"</ref>
 
   
 
For example, the word for "mother" in Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian, "mhysa", is a direct loanword from Old Ghiscari, in which "mhysa" also meant "mother".<ref>"[[Mhysa]]"</ref>
The language of Slaver's Bay is still fundamentally a form of Low Valyrian, however, and a few loanwords and possibly grammatical features, little of Old Ghiscari has survived five millennia after the destruction of the old empire. In the present day, the ruling [[Slavery|slave-masters]] of Slaver's Bay even pride themselves on speaking High Valyrian - once the language of their Valyrian conquerors, but now the preferred language of refined social elites across much of Essos.<ref>"[[And Now His Watch is Ended]]"</ref>
 
  +
 
The language of Slaver's Bay is still fundamentally a form of Low Valyrian, however, and besides a few loanwords and possibly grammatical features, little of Old Ghiscari has survived five millennia after the destruction of the old empire. In the present day, the ruling [[Slavery|slave-masters]] of Slaver's Bay even pride themselves on speaking High Valyrian - once the language of their Valyrian conquerors, but now the preferred language of refined social elites across much of Essos.<ref>"[[And Now His Watch is Ended]]"</ref>
   
 
==Lexicon==
 
==Lexicon==
 
Little of Old Ghiscari has survived, save for a few words in Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian which are known to be direct loanwords from the earlier Ghiscari language:
 
Little of Old Ghiscari has survived, save for a few words in Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian which are known to be direct loanwords from the earlier Ghiscari language:
   
*''mhysa'' ("me-sar") - "Mother".
+
*''buzdar'' ("booz-DAR") - "slave".
  +
*''ez'' ("ehz") - "of; at"
  +
*''gadbag'' ("GAHD-bahg") - "slave name".
  +
* ''gurp'' ("goorp") - "fool"
  +
* ''kraz-'' ("krahz") - "strong, powerful"
  +
*''mhysa'' ("MEE-sah") - "mother".
  +
*''tokar'' ("toe-kar"<!--don't know which syllable is stressed-->) - "[[tokar]]"
  +
* ''vrog- ''("vrohg-") - "collapse".
  +
  +
==Behind the scenes==
  +
Linguist [[David J. Peterson]], who invented the Dothraki and Valyrian languages, has directly confirmed that "Old Ghiscari" is a dead language during the time of the TV series. As for how "mhysa" could be a word from "Old Ghiscari" yet still be a word used for "mother" in Slaver's Bay, Peterson explained that it is simply a word from Old Ghiscari which survived into the new Slaver's Bay Low Vayrian after the Ghiscari Empire was destroyed. He compared this to how certain words in modern English are direct loanwords from Celtic, Old English, Latin, etc., even though those are all "dead" languages:
  +
  +
:"This is event is so common as to be completely unremarkable. Old English is a dead language, for example, but we've got plenty of words that were in use them in English. Latin, too. A single, common word? It survives because people remember it and keep using it. You can take a noun from any language and use it another. Think, for example, what would happen if every Japanese-speaking person switched to some other language over night and forgot Japanese. In English, we’d still have the words kimono, sushi, etc. They’re not likely to go away just because the language they came from died."<ref>[http://www.dothraki.com/2013/09/new-dothraki-script/ David J. Peterson's blog], Dothraki.com, September 15th, 2013.</ref>
  +
  +
The local elites in Slaver's Bay hate the old Valyrian Freehold and view them as conquerors, and have tried to re-introduce other elements of the old Ghiscari Empire whenever possible, but so little of the original Ghiscari language survived that they made no attempt to reintroduce it, instead actually continuing to use the language of their hated conquerors. Peterson went on to confirm that so little of the Old Ghiscari language has survived that, even though slaver-masters in present day Astapor and Yunkai try to cling to any cultural scraps from the Old Ghiscari Empire, they have made no attempt to revive Old Ghiscari, and instead slave-masters such as [[Kraznys mo Nakloz]] pride themselves on speaking High Valyrian, as the language of all refined social elites across the regions of Essos that the Valyrian Empire used to control (stretching from the Free Cities along the [[Narrow Sea]] to Slaver's Bay in the east).<ref>[http://www.dothraki.com/2013/09/new-dothraki-script/ David J. Peterson's blog], Dothraki.com, September 15th, 2013.</ref>
  +
  +
Therefore the inhabitants of Slaver's Bay speak a variant of Low Valyrian which has some local influences from the old Ghiscari language, but this may be compared to how "French" or "Spanish" are both fundamentally Romance languages but developed into separate languages due to the influences of different Germanic invaders (Franks in France, Visigoths in Spain).
  +
  +
The word ''[[tokar]]'', if it exists in the show continuity, is presumably of Ghiscari origin as well.
   
 
==In the books==
 
==In the books==
  +
In the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' novels, when [[Daenerys Targaryen]] asks what language is spoken is [[Yunkai]], [[Missandei]] says that they speak a version of Low Valyrian.
In the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' novels, Ghiscari is much more widely-spoken in Slaver's Bay (as part of an attempt to reclaim their cultural heritage and erase all trace of the [[Valyria]]n conquest) and remains the primary tongue of the kingdom of [[Ghiscar (kingdom)|Ghiscar]] to the south. When Daenerys asks what language is spoken is Yunkai, Missandei says that they speak a version of Low Valyrian. The cities of Slaver's bay actually have a polyglot population, because slaves are brought in from distant areas. In the books, Daenerys is hailed by the freed slaves as "mother", but using the different words for "mother" in at least five different languages: ''Mhysa'', ''Maela'', ''Aelalla'', ''Qathei'', and ''Tato''. "Mhysa" is the word for "mother" in Old Ghiscari, but the other four languages aren't identified. The TV series simply had the freed slaves call her only "Mhysa" and omitted the other forms.
 
   
 
In the books, Daenerys is hailed by the freed slaves as "mother", but using the different words for "mother" in at least five different languages: ''Mhysa'', ''Maela'', ''Aelalla'', ''Qathei'', and ''Tato''. "Mhysa" is the word for "mother" in Old Ghiscari, but the other four languages aren't identified. The TV series simply had the freed slaves call her only "Mhysa" and omitted the other forms.
The books aren't very consistent on this point, because at times Old Ghiscari is spoken of as if it is functionally a dead language, while at other times it appears that at least some of the population speaks it.
 
   
For the TV show, the Ghiscari language appears to be regarded as more of a dead language (hence the "old" appellation) than an active one and the people of Slaver's Bay instead speak a variant of High Valyrian with some old Ghiscari language influences.<ref>[http://www.dothraki.com/2013/03/game-of-thrones-season-3-premiere-event/ David J. Peterson's blog], Dothraki.com, March 19, 2013.</ref> For the TV show, it is not yet known if the Ghiscari kingdom to the south speaks Ghiscari or a similar variant of High Valyrian.
 
   
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
{{Reflist|2}}
 
{{Reflist|2}}
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{{SlaversBay}}
 
[[Category:Languages]]
 
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Ghiscari]]
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[[Category:Ghiscari culture]]
[[Category:Valyria]]
 
 
[[Category:Slaver's Bay]]
 
[[Category:Slaver's Bay]]

Revision as of 21:13, 15 October 2014

Old Ghiscari is the language of the ancient Ghiscari Empire. It is a dead language by the time of the War of the Five Kings, but influenced the local variety of Low Valyrian spoken in Slaver's Bay. A few loanwords from Old Ghiscari survive into Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian, such as "mhysa" - the Old Ghiscari word for "mother".[1]

History

After the Valyrian Freehold conquered the Ghiscari Empire five thousand years ago, the indigenous language of the Ghiscari died out, as the inhabitants of the region were forced to adopt the High Valyrian language of their new masters. After the Doom of Valyria, four hundred years before the War of the Five Kings, the local cities of Slaver's Bay re-asserted their independence, but five thousand years of Valyrian domination had taken a heavy toll. While they pride themselves as being descendants of the old Ghiscari Empire, only a few scraps of its ancient culture survived, and Old Ghiscari remained a dead language.

However, without the central influence of Old Valyria anymore, the old High Valyrian language mutated into various romance languages, differing from region to region, known as Low Valyrian. Some words and features of the old Ghiscari language influenced the new Low Vayrian of Slaver's Bay, making it quite different from the various Low Valyrian languages of the Free Cities.

For example, the word for "mother" in Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian, "mhysa", is a direct loanword from Old Ghiscari, in which "mhysa" also meant "mother".[2]

The language of Slaver's Bay is still fundamentally a form of Low Valyrian, however, and besides a few loanwords and possibly grammatical features, little of Old Ghiscari has survived five millennia after the destruction of the old empire. In the present day, the ruling slave-masters of Slaver's Bay even pride themselves on speaking High Valyrian - once the language of their Valyrian conquerors, but now the preferred language of refined social elites across much of Essos.[3]

Lexicon

Little of Old Ghiscari has survived, save for a few words in Slaver's Bay Low Valyrian which are known to be direct loanwords from the earlier Ghiscari language:

  • buzdar ("booz-DAR") - "slave".
  • ez ("ehz") - "of; at"
  • gadbag ("GAHD-bahg") - "slave name".
  • gurp ("goorp") - "fool"
  • kraz- ("krahz") - "strong, powerful"
  • mhysa ("MEE-sah") - "mother".
  • tokar ("toe-kar") - "tokar"
  • vrog- ("vrohg-") - "collapse".

Behind the scenes

Linguist David J. Peterson, who invented the Dothraki and Valyrian languages, has directly confirmed that "Old Ghiscari" is a dead language during the time of the TV series. As for how "mhysa" could be a word from "Old Ghiscari" yet still be a word used for "mother" in Slaver's Bay, Peterson explained that it is simply a word from Old Ghiscari which survived into the new Slaver's Bay Low Vayrian after the Ghiscari Empire was destroyed. He compared this to how certain words in modern English are direct loanwords from Celtic, Old English, Latin, etc., even though those are all "dead" languages:

"This is event is so common as to be completely unremarkable. Old English is a dead language, for example, but we've got plenty of words that were in use them in English. Latin, too. A single, common word? It survives because people remember it and keep using it. You can take a noun from any language and use it another. Think, for example, what would happen if every Japanese-speaking person switched to some other language over night and forgot Japanese. In English, we’d still have the words kimono, sushi, etc. They’re not likely to go away just because the language they came from died."[4]

The local elites in Slaver's Bay hate the old Valyrian Freehold and view them as conquerors, and have tried to re-introduce other elements of the old Ghiscari Empire whenever possible, but so little of the original Ghiscari language survived that they made no attempt to reintroduce it, instead actually continuing to use the language of their hated conquerors. Peterson went on to confirm that so little of the Old Ghiscari language has survived that, even though slaver-masters in present day Astapor and Yunkai try to cling to any cultural scraps from the Old Ghiscari Empire, they have made no attempt to revive Old Ghiscari, and instead slave-masters such as Kraznys mo Nakloz pride themselves on speaking High Valyrian, as the language of all refined social elites across the regions of Essos that the Valyrian Empire used to control (stretching from the Free Cities along the Narrow Sea to Slaver's Bay in the east).[5]

Therefore the inhabitants of Slaver's Bay speak a variant of Low Valyrian which has some local influences from the old Ghiscari language, but this may be compared to how "French" or "Spanish" are both fundamentally Romance languages but developed into separate languages due to the influences of different Germanic invaders (Franks in France, Visigoths in Spain).

The word tokar, if it exists in the show continuity, is presumably of Ghiscari origin as well.

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, when Daenerys Targaryen asks what language is spoken is Yunkai, Missandei says that they speak a version of Low Valyrian.

In the books, Daenerys is hailed by the freed slaves as "mother", but using the different words for "mother" in at least five different languages: Mhysa, Maela, Aelalla, Qathei, and Tato. "Mhysa" is the word for "mother" in Old Ghiscari, but the other four languages aren't identified. The TV series simply had the freed slaves call her only "Mhysa" and omitted the other forms.


References

  1. "Mhysa"
  2. "Mhysa"
  3. "And Now His Watch is Ended"
  4. David J. Peterson's blog, Dothraki.com, September 15th, 2013.
  5. David J. Peterson's blog, Dothraki.com, September 15th, 2013.

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