Ancient Gnomish
Ancient Gnomish was the language spoken by the gnome race before they adopted the common tongue as a standard language. Only a small proportion of the language is known as it has been translated by Anita the gnome, Glough's girlfriend. Gnomish is no longer a widely spoken language and gnomes have mostly forgotten it,[confirmation needed] though the Gnome Glider service write their locations in Gnomish. Players can learn a small proportion of the language by reading the translation book given by Anita.
Translation book lexicon
A
- ando - gate
- andra - city
- arpos - rocks
- ataris - cow
C
- cef - threat
- cheray - lazy
- Cinqo - King
- cretor - bucket
E
- eis - me
- es - a
- et - and
- eto - will
G
- Gal - all
- gandius - jungle
- gentis - leaf
- gomondo - branch
- gutus - banana
H
- har - old
- harij - harpoon
- hewo - grass
I
- imindus - quest
- ip - you
- irno - translate
K
- kai - boat
- kar - no
- ko - sail
L
- lauf - eye
- laquinay - common sense
- lemanto - man
- lemantolly - stupid man
- lovos - gave
M
- meriz - kill
- meso - came
- mi - I
- mina - time(s)
- mond - seal
- mos - coin
P
- por - long
- prit - with
- priw - tree
- pro - to
Q
- Qui - guard
- Quir - guardian
R
- rentos - agility
S
- sarko - Begone
- sind - big
T
- ta - the
- tuzo - open
U
- Umesco - Soul
- Undri - lands
- Notes
The suffix -lly / -olly means stupid. For example, lemantolly is stupid man and laufolly is stupid eye.
Location names
From the Gnome Glider menu:
| English Name | Gnome Name | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| The Grand Tree | Ta quir Priw | The guardian tree |
| White Wolf Mountain | Sindarpos | Big rocks |
| Digsite | Lemanto Andra | Man city |
| Al Kharid | Kar-Hewo | No grass |
| Karamja | Gandius | Jungle |
| Feldip Hills | Lemantolly Undri | Stupid man lands |
| Ape Atoll | Ookookolly Undri | Stupid monkey lands |
This implies that the word for "stupid man" can also mean "Ogre" as the majority of Ogres live in the Feldip Hills area.
The fabled Gnomish city of Arposandra translates as Rocks city, while the Galarpos Mountains translate to All rock.
Atarisundri, the place in Kandarin where the Battle of Atarisundri was fought, translates to Cowlands.
Partial translations
Page 13 of My notes has a Gnomish entry that can only be partially translated.
The scrawled note from Monkey Madness II contains a text in ancient gnomish, which is then translated by Anita, yielding the translated note. Here they are shown side by side:
| Original | Translation |
|---|---|
| Glough, Sasoine ut polis laquin, is ta lemonas tandus lovos eis ta vimus. Mi cura tutas encandum matorem pro mekum mi pos kriw ipi kosa. Kom prima, ipi lova pro ... |
Glough, It took some persuading, but the monk has finally shown me the route. I have managed to find a replacement pilot to fill my post while we are away. At dawn, we head to... |
By comparing the two versions, the following translations of individual words could be speculated on:
| Ancient Gnomish | Speculative translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| sasoine | took | possibly 'saso' as the infinitive? compare 'tuzo' → 'open'; 'lovos' → 'gave' |
| ut | some | |
| polis | persuasive | |
| laquin | sense | compare 'laquinay' → 'common sense' 'polis laquin' could be rendered as 'persuasive sense' |
| is | but | |
| lemonas | monk | compare 'lemanto' → 'man' |
| tandus | finally | |
| vimus | route | |
| cura | have | or 'managed' |
| tutas | managed | or 'have' |
| encandum | replacement | or 'pilot' |
| matorum | pilot | or 'replacement' |
| mekum | fill | |
| mi | my | 'I' in the translation book |
| pos | post | compare 'arpos' → 'rock' |
| kriw | while | |
| ipi | we | compare 'ip' → 'you' |
| kosa | away | |
| lova | (to) head | |
| kom | at | |
| prima | dawn |
Untranslated words
These words are featured in-game, but have no confirmed translation.
- atarischeray[a][b]
- egramentos[c]
- em[c]
- emeto[c]
- gan[c]
- hamo[d]
- ipmesi[a]
- is[d]
- lamiten[c]
- laufata[d][e]
- mesi[a]
- minahar[a]
- minapor[a]
- ki[d]
- qua[d][f]
- rei[c]
- undo[d]
- Notes
Trivia
- To learn the language your adventurer must get the Translation book from King Narnode Shareen, which is a limited guide.
- The only gnome in Gielinor who communicates almost exclusively in Ancient Gnomish is the elderly Hazelmere, though this is by choice, as he is proficient in the common tongue as well, but deems it "rudimentary" and "uncivilised".[1]
- In the quest The Grand Tree, the player must translate a letter from Ancient Gnomish.