Bajoran language, where can I learn it?

Anyone know any good Bajoran language resources? Common expressions, maybe?

 

Oh, I have a small Bajoran dictionary, taking words from canon and non-canon novels. Bajoran appears to be a language where lexemes join together in compound words to establish more complex ideas. This seems in keeping with the "root ideograms" of their written language. I've had great fun decoding a load of Bajoran words, even the very word "Bajora". I'll post it here tomorrow or something, when I can find it.

 

Thanks!

 

Okay, here's part one!

Note that while the words are either from canon (TV) or non-canon authorized novels, and so are "genuine" the "decoding" is my own work, and may or may not be accepted, it's up to you

Bajoran words express large or complex ideas by joining smaller words and lexemes together, in keeping with their habit of using "root ideograms" to construct more complex writings.

A Prefix signifying "the", as in "The one true" or "the prime", the model example.

Aclim An era of history

Alva A yellow fruit. "va" is "source", and is found in the names of other foods like Veklava and Kava.

Amojan "The Evil One" (A-"The" Mo-"One", Jan-"Evil")

Amoran "The Banishment" (A-"The", Moran-"Banishment", to become "one", cut off from others)

Ara/Arra "Place", usually more spiritual or figurative than literal, although "the land and the people are one" as the Bajorans say, so physical and spiritual location are linked

Ashalla Capital city of Bajor. ("A"-The, prime example, "Shalla"-Social gathering of religious significance, itself from "Shal"-gather and "La"-Spiritual/community centre)

Ashla "Giant"

Asnor A fish

Avaru "Truth-seekers", a religious term from "A-The", "Va"-Source, and "Ru"-seeking truth, understood as an implied goal. E.g. Ohalavaru are seekers of truth affiliated with the teachings of Ohalu.

B' As a prefix, denotes something sacred or holy

B'hala The City of Light, the sacred city, ("B'"-Sacred/holy, "Ha"- light, "la"-spiritual or social community centre)

B'hava'el Bajor's sun. "Source and bringer of holy light" ("B'"-Sacred/holy, "Ha"- light, "Va"-source, "el"-of, in the sense of bringing, bringer of)

B'Lavael A mountain where a holy man/woman was inspired to found a city ("B'"-Sacred/holy, "la"- community centre, "Va"-source, "el"-of, in the sense of bringing, bringer of, here, inspiration for)

B'tanay "Awakening", in a religious sense, sacred vision or revelation

Bajora The people, corruption of "B'Ja'arra"- Holy Social position (e.g. "People of God") (B'-holy, "Ja"-social, "arra"-position. Once a theocratic nation, now a species name

Balik(am) "Go away", "get lost"

Bantaca Traditional spire marking co-ordinates

Bateret A plant

Batos A domesticated animal

Belaklavion A musical instrument

Bena "Joy"

Boryhas Spirits of the dead yet to depart for the Celestial Temple

Buru "Bu"-Life, "Ru"-Seeking Truth, so "life spent in search of truth" as part of a religious existence, common word in prayers

Cela A plant, leaves used in tea

D' As a prefix, signifies position, belonging, ownership

D'Jarra The old caste system. "Belonging to a social position", "D'"-belonging, "Ja"-social, "arra"-position.

Dal'Rok Demon spirit

Dara "Home", corruption of "D'Arra", literally "belonging-place", D'-belonging, "Arra"-place.

De-ram "Opening Up", the process where by collective religious passion is focused upon a designated prayer leader to help them access the Prophets more easily. Used as part of prayers. "De"-Up, "Ram"- to open.

Duran "Remembrance"

Duranja Lamp lit for a dead friend, from "Duran"- remembrance, and "Ja"- social.

El "Of, bringing"

Elipagh One who brings a spiritual message, a holy messanger, a proxy, the Emissary.

Esani A flowering plant

Eyisa An era of Bajoran history

Foraiga A delicacy

Ha "Light"

Ha'Dara "Home of Light", name of planet settled by Hirogen-built holograms, named by Iden, a Bajoran hologram.From "Ha"-light, and "Dara"-Home, corruption of "D'Arra", literally "belonging-place", D'-belonging, "Arra"-place.

Hara A feline animal. Seems to be "light-time". Hmmm, are they active at dawn?

Hasperat Mmmmm...Hasperat....spicy burrito....

Ih "Assigning, locating"

Ih'tanu Traditional coming-of-age ritual for 14-year old girls

Ih'valla A D'jarra, the artist caste. From "Ih"-assigning, "Va"-source, "La"-spiritual community centre, "assignment to the source of our community spirit" (In keeping with this caste being a high one)

Iktashu Prophecy, possibly a specific kind.

Imutta (Ih'mutta) A D'jarra, the undetaker caste.

Indurane "Ancient" Note the root "Duran"-"remembrance".

Ja "Social", as in signifying a connection between other concepts in a compund word and everyday society/people interacting.

Jal "Social freedom", an expansion of Ja, a prominent and respected social position arrived at through living in a holy manner.

Jalbador The Red Wormhole, worshipped as home of the gods by the One True Way cult.

Jalkaree The Blue wormhole, home of the Prophets. Notice "Jal"-social freedom and holy living, and "ka"-good.

Jan A different, darker kind of social freedom- "Evil". A willful moral outcast from society exhibits Jan.

Ka "Goodness"

Kai "Goodness", with an intensifier "i". Leader of the faith.

Kava A tree producing edible nuts, a staple of the Bajoran diet. "Source of Goodness", from "Ka"-goodness, and "va"-source.

Ke A personification of something, an avatar of an ideal made physical. Also a family name in some regions.

Kejal "Freedom", a name, from "Ke"-personification, "jal"-social freedom, holy freedom".

Kejelious An era of Bajoran history

Kheet'agh An extreme insult

Koss "To be", modified to "Kosst" as a title of dark religious significance, now used as a curse word by most Bajorans due to association with Kosst Amojan, The Evil One (To Be The Evil One, a self-satisfied label of extreme Jan).

Koss'moran "To be banished", to exist in a state of having been banished, also a holy text detailing the imprisonment of the pah-wraiths.

Kulloth An polar herd animal

La Signifying a spiritual/community centre, often used in the sense of a city or town.

Lita Bajoran currency, also a name, "Leeta".

Makapa A bread

Makara A medicinal herb used by pregnant women

Mandala A personal religious shrine found in most homes, centre of the family community.

Mapa A bread

Mo The number one

Moba A fruit

Morala The one faith, from "Mo"-one, "Ra"-a sense of time, and "la"-community, spiritual centre. Time will show the Bajoran mainstream to be the one true faith. "Morala" is used in some older prayers from the more rigid and authoritarian cults.

Moran Banishment, becoming "one", cut off from others.

Navarch Title invented for Li Nalas

Nerak A flower

Pagh The immortal soul, life-energy, spirit. Some possess more or stronger pagh than others. "Pah" is corrupted pagh.

Pagh'tem'fa B'tanay: "Awakening of the Sacred Vision", repressed memories return to the fore in this religiously significant event.

Pagh'tem'far A sacred vision

Paghvaram "Soul Key", from "pagh"-soul, "va"-source, and "ram"-to open. "Varam"-source of open, is "key".

Pah-wran From the dark texts, a celebration of corrupted life-energy.

Paluku Large furry spider-like animal native to the moons of Bajor.

Pate Basic unit of measurement, used in Tessipate, Kerripate, etc.

Pavrak Insulting word

Peldor "Gratitude". Peldor Joi is a greeting used in the Gratitude Festival.

Pooncheen A fruit

Prusin A plant, some are allergic to it.

Pylchyk A domesticated animal

Ra Time, as an active force in one's spiritual life (there is an Orb of Time, lest we forget).

Ram "To open". Note "ra", as time is actively invoked here.

Ran Signifies aftermath, end result of a process, outcome. E.g, used as a root in "duran"-remembrance, or "moran"-banished. Again, note "ra".

Ranjen An honorific title for monks involved in works of spiritual importance. "Anticipates aftermath", as in, working towards a satisfaction upon completion of spiritual goals

Ratamba A stew

Remla A bird

Ru "Seeking truth"

Sean "swamp"

Shalla Social gathering of spiritual importance, from "shal"-gather, and "la"-community spiritual centre.

Shafa A gambling game

Shodi A drink

Shusha Medicinal herb

Takeo Medicinal herb

Te'nari A D'Jarra

Temonis A stone, pink

Tessijen A unit of measurement, note "jen" is essentially "anticipate", a measure of distance from a goal or destination, perhaps?

Tumika An era of history

Va "source"

Vedek Senior clergy member

Veklava A food

Yavar "Tears"

Yavar ha "Tears of Light", AKA Tears of the Prophets, the sacred orbs (older label)

 

i wonder if i can get extra credit for my linguistics class doing this... >.>

 

Real linguists are probably spluttering and shaking at this, but the patterns seem there, and I had so much fun doing this!

Bajoran definitely seems a build-big-words-and-concepts-out-of-smaller-ones-language.

 

I liked how they reused the term "Balik" from "Ensign Ro" in "A Man alone" when the mob was shouting at Odo to leave.
Nice continuity moment.

 

Wow, I expected to come into this thread and read people saying, "The Bajoran language hasn't been fleshed out much," but you definitely surprised me, Deranged Nasat!

 

I'm a 'real linguist' and I'm not shaking or spluttering - that's outstanding work! *Bookmarks*

 

Thank you, Tallis Rhul! that means a lot coming from someone with an actual background in linguistics

I've edited the full list in above.

 

There's also Tessipate, which is a unit of measure for land.

 

you're a linguist, tallis rhul? that's so cool!!!!! i'm thinking very seriously about becoming a linguistics major...

 

Ugh. So basically they're Germans in space.

 

I'm not a linguist by trade, but I have studied a number of different languages including their roots (including study of the different branches of the languages "tree") and an in-depth study of grammar, parts of speech and its different forms. It's a hobby that I'm very passionate about. If you did a linguistics major then you'd kick my ass... I tried to find an Open University course, but it's a lot of money... *weeps*

So while I'm not a pro I kinda do know what I'm talking about And to be able to do what Deranged Nasat has done here you need to have some kind of an idea too! (A very good one by the looks).

It'd be interesting to see if Marc Okrand was responsible for Bajoran... does anyone know?

 

or maybe the mohawk of space... in my linguistics textbook there was this one example sentence of mohawk... a whole sentence was represented by ONE WORD... there were like a million little morphemes put together to make one long word. awesomeness.

@TR: that's still pretty cool! too bad you can't get in a college course tho.

 

I think I had that example in my General Linguistics book, too. I forgot which native American language it was, I just know it was an example of "incorporative" type of language (as opposed to isolating, agglutinative and inflective).

 

Geat work, Deranged Nasat! I can tell a lot of time and effort went into that.

 

Thank you, my friend

 

Wow!

Having done my own language work (the Cardassian language, in my case), I have to say that's pretty cool! In my case I had a lot less onscreen evidence to contend with and therefore a lot more free rein--having to reconcile that degree of onscreen evidence for what I do not think the DS9 writers were actually planning (I really get the impression of random syllables being written for the chants, Kosst Amojan passages, etc.), with the trappings of a true language would have been very tough indeed.