Things I’ve decided about Undercommon/Drow sibling language
So in drow language (which seems to have been combined with Undercommon in 5e), the words for sibling are “dalninuk” (brother) or “dalninil” (sister). I have stolen the gender neutral suffix for “dalhar” (child) and decided to squish em together to make “dalninhar” (sibling, without reference to gender). And while I’ve seen a lot of writers (esp CR fandom) use “dalni” as a catch-all endearment for sibling, I have decided that older siblings are affectionately called the gender neutral “dalni,” but younger siblings are called the diminutive “ninuk” (little brother), “ninil” (little sister), or “ninhar” (little sibling). Why? Because it sounds fucking cute as hell.
“Dalninil/Dalninuk/Dalninhar” — basic term for sister/brother/sibling
“Dalni” — affectionate diminutive for older sibling, gender neutral
“Ninil/Ninuk/Ninhar” — affectionate diminutive for younger sibling
“Lotha” — small or little, or younger in regards to family
“Lotha dalninhar” — basic term for younger sibling
“Lotha dalni” — you are making fun of your older sibling for being smol
“Lotha ninhar” — you are being particularly protective/parental towards your younger sibling, or being deliberately condescending.
Is this because I’m writing about Verin and Essek being snarky while interacting with an older sister-like drow? Shut up. Also yes.
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In light of the recent SmackJeeves update, Undercommon is no longer able to be found there. Thankfully all the pages up to now have been archived, so we will update again once we have found a new home for the comic!
In Undercommon, as in many languages, there were multiple words for “love.”
There was che, a traditional romantic term for love, with direct connotations of faithfulness, duty, a sense of pride. This in turn was the root for many other things: chev was “beloved one,” “one I am willingly beholden to.” And che’el meant “city,” or rather “beloved place.” Cities, after all, were once unknown to the drow, forgotten during their long imprisonment by the Spider Queen. A grand place of congregation in which many may live, free from imprisonment, in which families may thrive and children may grow? Of course the root of that was in the word “love.” Similarly “citizen” was che’elzen, or “one who is of the beloved place.”
It seemed the term “beloved” was, in common, somewhat antiquated these days, which was rather baffling. Such a precise term of endearment, what should they replace it with?
Additionally there was kyon, or “care.” This was less difficult to explain to outsiders, as both words contained similar multitudes: a sense of companionship and affection and comfort, but also of watchfulness and vigilance. It was the root of kyona and kyone, or “carefulness” and “wariness,” and also shared a root with kyorl, or “to watch, wait, or guard.” This was often a more familial term: a term of protectiveness, of nurturing, and defending. Yet also of suspicion.
Ssinssrigg was straightforward in its connotations of romance and sex, lust and desire, sometimes bordering on greed or possessiveness. But it was rooted in the words ssin, meaning “beauty,” and ssrigg which had no direct translation. Its root word was clearly the Elven ssri, meaning “silk” or “silent” and expressing utmost grace, fluidity. It had been the original name for their people in the Elven tongue — Ssri’Tel’Quessir, the Silk Elves — before they became only the Dhaeraow, the “traitors,” the “dark hearts.” But time in the Underdark had twisted this word, as it twisted all things, and it became ssrigg: a thing with no precise translation beyond a passionate… hunger? A vicious longing, perhaps? No, a desire gone past the point of need, to where all else is devoured by it.
A fearsome and terrible hunger for beauty. And it was translated as love.
But back to “beauty,” the value once viewed as the domain of their people above all others. “Beauty” in particular held all sorts of meaning to it. Aesthetic, emotional, delightful, dangerous.
Ssin’urn was “beautiful.” Ssinjin was “sweet.” Ssinss was the quality of having charm or allure, ssinss’rhul was nudity in any context, ssin’urninness was “one who uses beauty to seduce,” and ssin d’aerth was “one who practices love at the professional level.” Oddly, ssinsuurul was “music,” ssinssrickla was that sort of light laughter Essek never remembered the common term for, ssintchal was “pastry,” of all things.
And yet ssinaeth was “addiction,” a tragedy.
Ssindossa was “whore,” an insult.
Viriggh’ssinss, a sort of madness brought on by beauty that drives one to sickness, or even violence. Essek knew of no term for it in the trade tongue, nor even if this phenomenon occurred in other cultures. But by the nine woven hells, Essek felt of late he must be suffering something akin to that. The Spider Queen must have sent her agents to whisper silk into his hear, to tie his mind in an unbreakable web that kept him from all rational thought when it came to the matter of Caleb Widogast.
NOTE 1: The only word I made up myself was “Viriggh’ssinss,” which I cobbled together from the words vir (which appears to be a root word related to leaving or being pushed) viggtuii (which means “madness”), and the aforementioned ssinss (meaning allure, charm, or seduction).
NOTE 2: All other words can be found from resources online, foremost among them being the ever-fabulous Eilistraee Drow Translator and Dictionary. References to Elven accessed via A Treatise on Espruar: a Field Study of the Elven Language in the Forgotten Realms.
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