Unlike many modern fantasies, Howard did not detail unique languages for his heroes and locations. This is true of Conan and Cimmeria as well. There is little to go on for origins and examples of what Cimmeria's language might be, and there are really only three elements from Howard's writings: the names of Conan, Cimmeria, and Crom; and the clues he wrote of the Cimmerians' origins and connections to historical Celts.
Background[]
Conan, a natural polyglot, learned many tongues as he traveled. The name of the diety Crom tells that the language was not strictly syllabic (comprised of consonant-vowel pairings). Howard's inspiration was explicitly more Celtic than Germanic: Conan and Cimmeria are Celtic-Briton origin names, and Howard's "real-world" incarnation of Conan in historical times was as a Gaelic sea-reaver[1]. In the essay "The Hyborian Age", Howard wrote "The Gaels, ancestors of the Irish and Highland Scotch, descended from pure-blooded Cimmerian clans."[2] The Cimmerian language may be seen as more Celtic, Briton, Welsh and Gaelic than Norse or Germanic, which would have smaller contributions to its makeup. Although evolved in Cimmeria, the people and their language are descendants of Howard's savage Atlanteans, so Cimmerian also contains linguistic artefacts of lost glory.
Language Basics[]
With limited source material, one can outline features of the Cimmerian language by extrapolating from Howard's Celtic and Nordic inspirations and the features of Cimmeria and its rough people. Directness is a hallmark of Cimmerian style, so the structure will highlight action and short descriptive terminology.
Morphology and Pragmatics: Curt Speech[]
- VSO (Verb-Subject-Object) Syntax: The foundational structure; action-first to ensure immediate, unvarnished communication.Example: Slé-e χón Anér (Slays the wolf the man).
- Celtic Conciseness (Prepositional Pronouns): Prepositions and pronouns are fused into single, compact units to maintain brevity and efficiency. Example: Lóm (With me), Tá-e (From him).
- Uralic Efficiency (Agglutinative Case System): Uses noun suffixes (cases) to denote location/direction, eliminating separate prepositions.
- The Intentional Mood (Suffix: -āā): A critical grammatical feature, this suffix is added to a verb to change its meaning from a simple statement of fact to one of intent, desire, a boast, or a threat.
- The exact dual number (Suffix: -aé): counting a pair of thematically linked concepts, either complementary or opposed- an Atlantean holdover; "with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth."
- The Bifurcated Copula (Bé vs. Fí): Two verbs for "to be," creating a philosophical divide:
- Bé- is used for permanent, existential states ("I am Conan").
- Fí- is used for temporary conditions ("The sea was barren").
Phonology and Lexicon: The Language of the North[]
- The Rough Sound System: Combines Celtic and Norse influences for a harsh, non-fluid phonetic flow.
- Celtic ICM (Initial Consonant Mutation): Creates phonetic turbulence.
- Norse Phonology: Incorporation of the guttural 'Sk' cluster (Skjald, Skul) from bordering Æsir tribes.
- Survival Lexicon: Vocabulary emphasizes struggle, clan, and the bleak landscape.
- Ogh-Víl: (Striving Will)—The internal strength given by Crom.
- Gór-Vár: (Black Ice)—Specific term for hidden danger.
- The Kenning (Norse Poetic Structure): Used for layered, metaphorical lore, curses, and poetry (less so for daily speech). Example: Drátt-Se-at (Battle-Sweat) for blood; kennings usally are adjective-noun; Sun-blood splitter: Súl-Vrann Skevor. Regular descriptive grammar is noun-adjective. Sword-Notched: Claine-Rún
- Sample translation - "Hither came Conan":
- Dá-e Cónán, Címr-án. Folt-Dor, Ógh-Dór, Claine-ta. Rúa-Dor, Róth-Anér, Slé-e. Bé-e Dor-Cháth-aé Ór-Bhros-aé. (Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, in The Phoenix on the Sword)
- Conan cast the dice on the tavern table with a laugh: Skev-e Conán Clócím Branther Gravarer Rakh-en: Cast Conan dice on-table in-tavern laugh-manner.
An original language of Cimmerian can be sketched from our understanding of Conan and Cimmerian character, Howard's interests and influences, and selective application of linguistic guidelines from thematically appropriate languages such as Gaelic, Finn-Uralic, Avestan and Norse.
Gallery[]
