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Sith (language)
"Dzworok k a yun; nyshqwai, nwiqwai. Wotok tsawak midwanottoi, yuntok hyarutmidwanottoi"
The Rule of Two
Sith, or the Sith language, was the native language of the people of Ziost and Korriban. It was adopted as the mystical language of the
Sith Order after the Dark Jedi Exiles enslaved the Sith species. Sith was an agglutinative language, in which words or even phrases were
made up of linears sequences of distinct meaningful units. Despite the preeminence of the Galactic Basic Standard, the Sith language
remained in use up until the post-Imperial period. To the Lost Tribe of Sith, an order founded on the remote planet Kesh, the Sith language
was known as the Old Tongue.

Contents

Usage
Satal Keto: "By the Empress! I... I can read it perfectly!"
Ommin: "Of course you can, my son."
Satal Keto acquiring the knowledge of Sith language from King Ommin
Originally, this language was only spoken by the Sith, a species of redskinned Humanoids [9] from the

Sith

Stygian Caldera.[10] It was later expanded upon and evolved when the second generation of Dark Jedi

Red Sith[1]

split from the Jedi Order in 7000 BBY, just after the Battle of Corbos, and enslaved the natives of
Korriban.[9] The Sith language became a symbol of the newly created Sith Order, a powerful sect of dark
side adepts. This was made easier through the creation of devices known as translation talismans.[11]

Sith Order[1]
Brotherhood of Darkness[2]

Speakers

Order of the Sith Lords[3]

Such artifacts, initially designed and created by the Jedi Exiles who sought to learn of the Sith's secrets,

Lost Tribe of Sith[4]

allowed their wearer to read the Sith language as if it were their own mother tongue.[12] The Code of the
The spellbook of Freedon Nadd
was written in Sith

Sith, originally penned in Basic by the Exile Sorzus Syn and inspired by the lifestyle of the Sith

Sith Worlds[1]

Locations

Purebloods,[1] was also translated in Sith language as Qotsisajak.[13]

Kittt[5]

Around 5000 BBY, the Sith dreadnaught Omen was forced to crash land on the remote planet Kesh. The

High Sith[6]

Script

marrooned Sith were never able to to return to space, so they settled amongst the native Keshiri and founded the Lost Tribe of the Sith. This

Common Sith[6]

allowed the Sith language to expand far from its cradle.[4] In this marginal Sith colony, the language became known as "the Old Tongue".[14]
Even after the majority of Sith were of other species than the Sith Pureblood, the language was preserved in holocrons,[15] temples, and

Balc speech[7]
Dialects

Massassi language[8]

tomes.[16] However, outside of the dark side circles, very few scholars knew how to decipher this language, and even fewer could pronounce
its complex word structures.[12] Much later, in the eleventh century before the Battle of Yavin, the Human Darth Bane became familiar with

Related languages

Myke language[6]

the tongue of the ancient Sith during his studies at the Academy of Korriban, unlike most of his fellow students. Bane would seek the
wisdom of Masters long dead in leather-bound volumes covered with blood-red ink.[2]
Millennia after the founding of the Sith Order, individuals as modern as the fallen Jedi Vergere[17] and Jerec [18] or the Sullustan naturalist Dr'uun Unnh,
[19] spoke it. The members of the Lost Tribe of Sith also managed to preserve the knowledge of the Old Tongue, and all members from apprentices

and higher knew it. For example, Vestara Khai was able to use it to communicate with a pack of Tuk'ata on Korriban.[14] The last members of the
Order of the Sith Lords founded by Bane, Darth Sidious and his successive apprentices Darth Maul, Darth Tyranus and Darth Vader, were all capable
of speaking Sith fluently.[20]

Phonology and accent

Three of Master Atris's Sith

holocrons

The phonetic palette of the Sith language consisted of 23 phonemes or speech sounds. There were 17 consonants: t, d, k , q, m, n, ts, dz, s, z, h, ch,
j, sh, r/l, w, y. There were also 6 distinct vowels: i (as in "hit" or "heat"), (as in "bash"), u (as in "suit"), (as in "club"), o (as in "toad"), a (as in "ah"). In addition, a and o would
combine with i to make diphthongs: oi (as in "toy") and ai (as in "buy").[5]
Because of this limited segment inventory, Sith scribes faced difficulties when trying to translate non-Sith names. For example, the name of Palpatine would have to be transcribed as
Marmtin, as the Sith language did not have a "p" sound or an "l" between two consonants. To overcome such difficulties, creative scribes would actually translate the name into their
language based on its etymology.[5]
Sith morphemesthe smallest meaningful units in the grammar of a languagewere often made of closed syllables (syllables ending with consonants), which made them sound brisk
and choppy. The language was regularly stressed, with every word accented on the first syllable.[5]
The Sith language discouraged vowels in hiatus, and glides were inserted when two vowels appeared next to each other. The phrase siqsayanjat ("about a demon") was in fact composed
of siqsa ("demon") and anjat (ablative noun marker), with the addition of the glide y to eliminate the hiatus.[21]

Morphology
The language of the Sith extensively employed regular agglutination and used derivative suffixes to a greater extent than Galactic Basic Standard. Many different markers could be added
to a root until very long words were formedand a single word could constitute an entire sentence. For example, the phrase "because of dreaming about a demon" translated in Sith as
a single word k sk utsiqsayanjat. This word was made of four distinct morphemes: k sk + ut + siqsa + (y)anjat = "to dream" + (nominal verb marker) + "demon" + (ablative noun
marker). Some markers could be added only to nouns, and others only to verbs.[5]

Grammar
Word order
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The typical declarative word order of Sith was verb-subject-objectfor example, "Wonoksh Qysik nun" was literally "Shall free-the Force-me". However, there also existed prepositional
phrases, and subjects or objects could sometimes be put at the front of the sentence for emphasis.[13]

Verbs
Verb roots were typically one syllable and ended with a consonant. Moods, tenses, and other subtleties were indicated by suffixation verb markers. For example, the addition of -atul
expressed the alethic mood, the speaker's belief that an action was logically necessary or obviously true. (The phrase Chts nu midwan would be "I gain power", while its alethic form
Chtsatul nu midwan could be translated as "I necessarily gain power.") Also, the addition of -ok sh expressed future tense. (For instance, Won Qysik nun meant "The Force frees me,"
while Wonok sh Qysik nun meant "The Force shall free me.") The suffix -win was sometimes added to a transitive verb to indicate ergativity, meaning that the grammatical subject of
that verb was in fact its semantic object, while the true semantic agent remained unexpressed. (In the phrase k otswinot itsu or "my chains break," the action described is in fact being
done to the subject itsu by an undetermined agent.)[13] Thanks to the suffix -ut, verbs could also be nominalized. (For example, k sk was "to dream" while k sk ut was "the act of
dreaming.")[5]

Nouns
Sith nouns had cases, inflectional forms indicating their grammatical relation to other words in the sentence. Those cases were expressed by the addition of a noun marker. Know cases
were the instrumental case (-jont), the ablative case (-anjat), the dative case (-ottoi). Instrumental case indicated that the noun it marked was the means of the accomplishment of the
action expressed by the clause; for instance, ashajont meant "through victoy." As regards the ablative case, it could be best translated in Basic using the preposition "about." The word
siqsayanjat meant "about/concerning a demon." A noun was in the dative case when it was used as an indirect object: midwan was "power" while midwanottoi meant "for/to the power."
[5]

Written forms
"Somehow, the Massassi script, with hook s and barbs on each glyph, seemed more menacing than any curses they could call down."
Corran Horn
The Sith language was originally written in complex hieroglyphics. Over the centuries, Sith scribes wished to develop less complicated scripts. This
resulted in the creation of two different scripts. The first one, known as "Common Sith" was used for mundane, everyday use, while the other, "High Sith"
was for ecclesiastical use.[6] A third writing system known as the Kittt was also used for incantation scrolls. The latter consisted of thirty-seven runes, and
was suitable for both calligraphy and epigraphy.[5]
The Massassi warriors who followed the Sith Lord Naga Sadow in exile on the fourth moon of Yavin Prime also developed their own hieroglyphic system, a
simplified version of High Sith. They carved many inscriptions using this new writing system on temple walls and obelisks scattered across the jungle of
Exar Kun reading Sith
hieroglyphs

Yavin 4,[6] notably in the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster[22] or at the monumental rear entrance of the Great Temple.[23] When the Sullustan naturalist
Dr'uun Unnh explored Yavin 4 on behalf of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, he successfully translated some of the Massassi texts contained in the
Temple of Exar Kun.[23] When the New Jedi Order of Luke Skywalker established its academy on Yavin 4, Skywalker and some of his students learnt to
decipher that script, which allowed them to read the Books of Massassi.[24]

Known vocabulary
"Failure and disobedience are one and the same... In the Sith tongue both translate as "treason". That is the wisdom of the ancients!"
Razer
Sith

Basic

'Ari

"Lord"[25]

Ajak

"Doctrine"[5]

Aleph

A letter in the Common Sith alphabet[24]

-anjat

Ablative noun marker[5]

Asha

"Victory"[13]

-atul

Alethic mood verb marker[13]

Chts

"To gain"[13]

Chirikyt

"He Who Causes Them to Throb and Tremble in Fear"[5]

Chwayat

"Rule, law"[5]

Chwayatyun

"The Rule of Two"[5]

Chwit

"To throw"[21]

Chwq

"Ember"[1]

Daleth

A letter in the Common Sith alphabet[24]

Derriphan

"Devourer"[26]

Dwomutsiqsa

"Summon demon"[1]

Dzwol

"To exist, abide"[5]

Dzu

"Leaf, leaf-shaped object"[21]

Grotthu

"Slave" (referring to the lowest cast of the Sith species)[1]

Hadzuska koshjont "Shadow-born"[1]

Hsk

"Anguish"[5]

Hyal

"To crave"[5]

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Itsu

"Chain"[13]

Jen

"Dark", "shadow", "hidden"[25]

Jidai

"Jedi"[25]

Jen'ari

"Dark Lord (of the Sith)"[25]

Jen'jidai

"Dark Jedi" (referring specifically to the Dark Jedi Exiles of the Hundred-Year Darkness)[25]

Jensaarai

"Hidden followers of truth"[25]

Jiaasjen

"Integrating the shadow"[25]

-jont

Instrumental noun marker[13]

Kaggath

An ancient rite of the Sith[27]

Kaph

A letter in the Common Sith alphabet[24]

Kintik

"Blackest" (plural form)[1]

Kissai

"Priest caste"[1]

Kots

"To break"[13]

kun

"Only" (used as a suffix)[13]

Ksk

"To dream"[5]

-kut

Collective plural noun marker[5]

Lamed

A letter in the Common Sith alphabet[24]

Massassi

"Warrior caste"[1]

Midwan

"Power"[5]

Mwintuska hskjont "Pain-coddled"[1]

Nin

"Tie, knot"[5]

Ninshwodzakut

"Knotters of entrails"[1]

Nu

"I"[13]

Nun

"Me"[13]

Nuyak

"My" (plural)[13]

Nwit

"Small, few"[21]

Nwl

"Peace"[5]

Nysh

"Big, much, many"[5]

Odojinya

"Dark Side Web"[1] (not literal meaning)[21]

-oksh

Future tense verb marker[13]

-ottoi

Dative noun marker[5]

Qabbrat

"Meditation chamber"[28]

Qzoi Kyantuska

"Suppress Thought"[1] (not literal meaning)[21]

Qo

"Way, path"[13]

Qorit

"End"[5]

Qotsisajak

"Code of the Sith"[13]

Comparative particle[5]

Qysik

"The Force"[13]

Rhak-skuri

"Dream singer"[29]

Ror'jhan

"She-whose-leaves-sweat-poison"[30]

Samekh

A letter in the Common Sith alphabet[24]

Sedriss

Sith word of unknown meaning adopted by Qaga Lok as a title[31]

Shakkai

Translation unknown[1]

Sith

"Supreme", "premier", "perfect"[1]

Sith'ari

"Overlord/King", "the perfect being", "god"[1]

Saarai

"Truth"[25]

Saarai-kaar

"Keeper of truth"[25]

Shsot

"Struggle, passion"[13]

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Shin

A letter in the Common Sith alphabet[24]

Siqsa

"Demon"[5]

Sutta

"Spear"[21]

Sutta Chwituskak

"Flung Spears"[21]

Taral

"He who protects", "protector"[32]

Tash

"Lie"[13]

-tok

Ordinal number marker[5]

Tsaiwinokka Hoyakut "Reanimated Dead"[1] (not literal meaning)[21]

Tsawak

"Embodiment"[5]

Tsis

"Sith"[33]

Tsisajak

"Sith doctrine"[13]

Tsyok

"To squeeze with the hand"[5]

Tuk'ata

"Sith hound" (a species of Sithspawn) [34]

Typhojem

"The Left-Handed God" (an ancient Sith deity)[1]

Tyro

Sith trainee yet to become an apprentice to a Master (Used by the Lost Tribe of Sith , may be Keshiri in origin)[35]

Tyk

"Strength"[13]

-sh

Agentive verb marker[1]

-ut

Nominal verb marker[5]

wai

Negation particle[5]

-win

"Ergative verb marker"[13]

Wo

"One"[5]

Wodza

"Intestines"[5]

Won

"To free"[13]

Woyunoks

"Little one"[1]

Yun

"Two"[5]

Zayin

A letter in the Common Sith alphabet[24]

Zuguruk

"Engineer" (referring to a cast in the Sith society)[1]

Entertainment

Video Games

Lifestyle

Which fictional co

Known phrases
Dzworok k a yun; nyshqwai, nwiqwai. Wotok tsawak midwanottoi, yuntok hyarutmidwanottoi."Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody power, the other to crave it."
[5]

Eyah seh maat, shu k or huaan.Unknown. Something soothing.[36]

Haa, neyo la yud masur k ee, tah uhnah k ahru lur shu.Unknown. Something menacing and challenging.[36]
Ja'ak ."I am free."[37]
Na-hah ur su k a-haat. Su k a haru aat.Unknown. Most likely something as: "Lead the Sith to us if there are any here."[36]
Tak a zeech ma tok a duuwaj.Unknown. An incantation to gain access to a Sith obelisk.[12]
Ur-k aa!Unknown. Probably something such as "Halt!" or "Freeze!"[36]
Vexok savak a."Wake up, there is work to do."[37]
Zhol k ash dinora."It is done."[37]

Behind the scenes

"To that end, I imagined a toughbut not barbarouslanguage, one that could convey a k ind of confident, elegant cruelty. And Sith would have to ring with authority so you could
envision it functioning among elites of the dark side the way Latin functioned in Europe for centuries: as a repository of culture and learning."
Ben Grossblatt
The Sith language first appeared in the 1990s comic book series Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. At the time, occurrences of that language consisted
of nonsensical words, composed only of unpronounceable series of consonantssuch as Nk rttw flgk llm shprrlt mdnnq.[8] This version of Sith does
not blend well with ulterior appearances in canon, and should probably be considered an artistic licence. In Speak Lik e a Sith, Ben Grossblatt
noted that no one would even try to speak a language if it consisted of unpronounceable words like r'rhhoqtk .[5] However, in the audio drama
adaptation of Tales of the Jedi, the instances were Exar Kun speaks Sith sounded very different from their comic book counterpart, featuring a
variety of vocalic sounds.[38]
In the 2004 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Darth Nihilus was heard communicating in the same fashion as

Early incarnation of the Sith

the Sith holocrons kept by Atris, leading some fans to believe that the Dark Lord spoke Sith. However, when working on the Knights of the Old

language

Republic Campaign Guide, Star Wars author Abel G. Pea wrote a whole passage devoted to Nihilus' mask that was ultimately cut. It would have
notably provided two scholarly explanations of Nihilus' speech. According to that cut passage, the Dark Lord's hissings may have been the first language ever spoken in the galaxy, or
the raw dialect of the Force itself, untranslated by midi-chlorians.[39]

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In November 2010, senior editor Ben Grossblatt, who has degrees in linguistics, created a functional Sith language for the Book of Sith: Secrets
from the Dark Side. His work included Sith rules of grammar and sentence construction and a Sith runic script. More information about the
creation of this language was revealed in Speak Lik e a Sith, an article featured in the Star Wars Insider 134.[5] Sith is the second working conlang
ever developed for the Star Wars universe, the first being Karen Traviss' Mando'a. [40]
While Grossblatt's system is realistic and functional, there are conflicts between his version of the Sith phonology and Sith vocabulary established
in previous works. While the Star Wars Insider article states that the Sith has no 'e' 'p' or 'f' sounds, words or names such as "derriphan" "Ffon",
"aleph", Jen'ari, Jen'jidai, Jensaarai or "Kressh" have appeared in older canon sources. Not even "Korriban", the name of the Sith species'

Speak Like a Sith

homeworld, can be written using this system, due to the lack of 'b'. In fact, even some of the new words that were invented for Book of Sith
including "Grotthu" and "Zuguruk"cannot be properly transcribed.[1][5] Although Grossblatt did create "new" Sith words consistent with his

conlang for the caste names, they did not make it into the final version of the book.[21]

Audio
ExarKunSpeaksSith1-DLOTS.ogg (info)
Exar Kun speaks in the Sith language
Prob lems listening to the file? See media help.

ExarKunSpeaksSith2-DLOTS.ogg (info)
Exar Kun speaks in the Sith language again
Prob lems listening to the file? See media help.

Appearances
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 2: The Quest for the Sith (First appearance)
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 4: Death of a Dark Jedi
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 5: Sith Secrets
The Betrayal of Darth Revan
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan (Mentioned only)
Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
Darth Bane: Rule of Two
Darth Plagueis
Philology (Mentioned only)
A Mon Alone
Destruction (Mentioned only)
A Hero Seek s Not Vengeance (Mentioned only)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Sacrifice"
Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight

Sources

Echoes of the Jedi

The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
Shadows in the Force (Mentioned only)
The Dark Side Sourcebook
Light and Dark
Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties on Hyperspace (article) (content removed from StarWars.com and unavailable)
I, Jedi
Korriban: Planet of Lost Souls
Before the Storm (Mentioned only)
Official Darth Who Contest page
Fate of the Jedi: Omen
The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
Fate of the Jedi: Ascension
Aargau: For All Your Banking Needs on Wizards.com (original article link, backup links on Archive.org)
Arbra: Sanctuary In the Storm on Wizards.com (original article link, backup links on Archive.org)
Vergere, Master of Mystery on Wizards.com (original article link, backup links on Archive.org)
Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
The Written Word on Hyperspace (article) (content removed from StarWars.com and unavailable)
Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
Speak Lik e a Sith

Notes and references

1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
2. 2.0 2.1 Darth Bane: Rule of Two
3. Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook
4. 4.0 4.1 Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice
5. 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 5.24 5.25 5.26 5.27 5.28 5.29 5.30 5.31 5.32 5.33 5.34 5.35 5.36 5.37

"Speak

Like a Sith"Star Wars Insider 134

6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4
7.

The Written Word on Hyperspace (article) (content remov ed f rom StarWars.com and unav ailable)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Sacrifice"

8. 8.0 8.1 Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 4: Death of a Dark Jedi
9. 9.0 9.1 Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force

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