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Eldar Language in Harlequin


The GW book (published by Boxtree) Harlequin contains many passages relating to the Eldar which would be of interest to Eldar players. Part of this is a couple of sentences which the Assassin Meh'lindi recites as part of her practice for imitating an Eldar.

Unsurprisingly these phrases have very little in common either with the published GW Eldar words or the language in this guide, however I have attempted to integrate them nevertheless. Study of the sentences indicates that they are not even self-consistent (e.g. [go] is used to mean both (a lie) and (we)), and anyway we were here first, so I feel no shame in championing our guide over theirs.

I have now been informed (by Eric Starr) that the so called Eldar in these books is in fact almost entirely Irish, its not even made up for the book! While I have made some corrections below in this light I think it gives me even more right to feel ever so slightly more superior in the Eldar Language game, since I at least made something up for them.


The 2 sentences are as follows :

Da gceilfi an fhirinne, b'fheidir go neosfai breag
if the truth were hidden, perhaps a lie would be told

Bih se chomh dorcha gur cheapamair go raibh an oiche tagtha
It was so dark that we thought night had come

These present obvious problems, especially since the number of words indicate that they use separate words for tenses such as [an] and [se], and probably also [neosfai]. However I have made the following guesses, altered where possible to match Eric Starr's Irish translations.

States


   b'fheidir                b'fheidir              b'fhein
      Perhaps, maybe, possibly
   breaga                   breag                  brion
      Decieve, lie, misinform
   cheapmai                 cheapon                cheapamair
      Plan, suppose, think
   chomh                    choma                  chom
      Very, extreme, totality
   dorchain                 dorcha                 dorch
      Invisible, dark, unseen
   fhirin                   fhir                   fhirinne
      Truth, honesty, perception
   gceilfi                  gcheil                 gceilan
      Concealment, evasion, hiding
   neosfai                  neosfi                 neosfail
      May become, may have been, could be
   oiche                    oiche                  oiche
      Come, arrive
   raibh                    raiph                  raibha
      Night, stillness, dreams
   tagtha                   tageth                 tag
      Down, fall, descend

Names

   An                       then or next
   Bih                      'it was' equiv. to 'once upon a time'
   Da                       if
The book also contained the following names:
   Mile'ionahd              Warrior of wonder, Warrior of surprise
   Urgebelach               The Philosphy of the Webway
   B'fheidir                Maybe and Perhaps
   Seachmall                Illusion
   Seachran                 Delusion