Language

2026-08-03T18:52:00Z

47.184.102.234: /* Vocabulary */ Section about colours redundant and not accurate. Orange is "Mostib" in Dwarven, and there is no "azure". Added some clarification on some of the word entries, as some aren't official per the game's files.

{{Quality|Superior}}

There are six '''languages''' in ''Dwarf Fortress'':
{{TOC right}}
* [[Divine language]]
* [[Dwarven language]]
* [[Elven language]]
* [[Goblin language]]
* [[Human language]]
* [[Kobold language]]

==Vocabulary==
There are 3,301 words (1,738 nouns, 698 verbs, 849 adjectives, and 16 prefixes) if you count each class of the same word as a different word (for example, counting the noun "jump" as a different word than "jump" the verb).

They are sorted into 2,196 root words in the game's language files. For instance, the noun "age" and the verb "to age" are under the same root word AGE.

===Nouns===
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQB4RnwqjfLNhZ3Zq6RbNZpU3y5yWMOTPKTXeP6DFC80PmY47REqXrWosFpPoGvBUiTDIN4EYPmmkIm/pubhtml Google spreadsheet of this noun table.]
{{Noun dictionary}}

===Adjectives===
{{Adjective dictionary}}

===Verbs===
{{Verb dictionary}}

===Prefixes===
{{Prefix dictionary}}

==Alphabet comparison==

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #aaa;border-collapse:collapse;line-height:1.4;text-align:center;table-layout:fixed"
|-
!width=2% align="center"|Alphabet
!width=2% align="center"|A
!width=2% align="center"|À
!width=2% align="center"|Á
!width=2% align="center"|Â
!width=2% align="center"|Ä
!width=2% align="center"|Å
!width=2% align="center"|B
!width=2% align="center"|C
!width=2% align="center"|Ç
!width=2% align="center"|D
!width=2% align="center"|E
!width=2% align="center"|È
!width=2% align="center"|É
!width=2% align="center"|Ê
!width=2% align="center"|Ë
!width=2% align="center"|F
!width=2% align="center"|G
!width=2% align="center"|H
!width=2% align="center"|I
!width=2% align="center"|Ì
!width=2% align="center"|Í
!width=2% align="center"|Î
!width=2% align="center"|Ï
!width=2% align="center"|J
!width=2% align="center"|K
!width=2% align="center"|L
!width=2% align="center"|M
!width=2% align="center"|N
!width=2% align="center"|Ñ
!width=2% align="center"|O
!width=2% align="center"|Ò
!width=2% align="center"|Ó
!width=2% align="center"|Ô
!width=2% align="center"|Ö
!width=2% align="center"|P
!width=2% align="center"|Q
!width=2% align="center"|R
!width=2% align="center"|S
!width=2% align="center"|T
!width=2% align="center"|U
!width=2% align="center"|Ù
!width=2% align="center"|Ú
!width=2% align="center"|Û
!width=2% align="center"|V
!width=2% align="center"|W
!width=2% align="center"|X
!width=2% align="center"|Y
!width=2% align="center"|Ÿ
!width=2% align="center"|Z
!width=2% align="center"|#
|-
![[Dwarven language|Dwarven]]
|A||À||Á||Â||Ä||Å||B||C|| ||D||E||È||É||Ê||Ë||F||G||H||I||Ì||Í||Î||Ï|| ||K||L||M||N|| ||O||Ò||Ó||Ô||Ö|| || ||R||S||T||U||Ù||Ú||Û||V|| || || || ||Z||40
|-
![[Elven language|Elven]]
|A|| || || || || ||B||C||Ç||D||E||È||É|| || ||F||G||H||I||Ì||Í|| || || ||K||L||M||N|| ||O||Ò||Ó|| || ||P||Q||R||S||T||U||Ù||Ú|| ||V||W|| ||Y||Ÿ||Z||34
|-
![[Goblin language|Goblin]]
|A|| || ||Â||Ä||Å||B|| || ||D||E|| || ||Ê||Ë|| ||G||H|| || || || || || ||K||L||M||N|| ||O|| || ||Ô||Ö||P|| ||R||S||T||U|| || ||Û|| || ||X|| || ||Z||26
|-
![[Human language|Human]]
|A|| ||Á|| || || ||B||C|| ||D||E|| || || || ||F||G||H||I|| || || || ||J||K||L||M||N||Ñ||O|| || || || ||P||Q||R||S||T||U|| || || ||V||W||X|| || ||Z||27
|-
![[Kobold language|Kobold]]
|A|| || || || || ||B||C|| ||D||E|| || || || ||F||G||H||I|| || || || ||J||K||L||M||N|| ||O|| || || || ||P|| ||R||S||T||U|| || || || || || ||Y|| || ||21
|-
!#
|5||1||2||2||2||2||5||3||1||5||5||2||2||2||2||4||5||5||4||2||2||1||1||2||5||5||5||5||1||5||2||2||2||2||4||2||5||5||5||5||2||2||2||3||2||2||2||1||4
|}

==Vocabulary comparison==
See [[Language - Vocabulary comparison]]

==Observations==
===Vocabulary===
There are words for "[[pearl]]" (''kovest'') and "pumpkin" (''elbost'') both of which do not, currently, even exist in-universe.

There are no words for "dwarf", "human", "elf", or "goblin" (''or [[Names and symbols| "symbol"]] for that matter, despite extensive background reference to such concepts'') in any of the languages. (In Simon Swerwer’s “Highway to the Danger Room”, goblin translates to ''omer-ar'' which means “green flesh”.)

Some of the words in these languages (such as the prefixes, numbers, suffixes, etc.) outside of the base-game entries from the direct file of Dwarf Fortress come from the work of the user [https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=173289.0 Solitarian from this forum post].

===Morphology===
The four predefined languages (Dwarven, Elven, Human, and Goblin) have no real [[wikipedia:Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]]. So, for example, the adjective "oaken" and the noun "oak" are the same word. For another example, the verb "to dream", the adjective "dreamy", and the noun "dream" are all the same word.

==Word length and letter frequency==
<gallery>
File:Wordlengthgraph.png|Word length frequencies in all languages except Kobold.
File:Letterfrequencygraph.png|Letter frequencies in all languages except Kobold.
</gallery>
{{-}}

There are 36 words in the Dwarven language with only two characters.

==Input==
Because ''Dwarf Fortress'' does not properly translate normal Unicode input into [[character table|CP437]], the game's native character set, attempting to enter many of the letters used in the various languages, like á or ô will produce a totally different symbol instead — the symbol whose CP437 code (the bold-italic numbers in the [[character table]]) corresponds to the Unicode number of the letter entered (the unstyled numbers just above the CP437 codes, but note that these are in hexadecimal). Perusing the table will show that this in fact ''only'' lines up correctly for the NUL character (useless) and the "normal" letter/punctuation range from the space (0x20) to ~ (0x7E). Anything else will produce either the corresponding character, if there is one, or unknown results possibly dependent on the host operating system. To insert a particular character outside the "matching" range, such as Ñ, you must find its CP437 code – 0xA5 for Ñ – and insert the character with that code in Unicode - in this case, ¥. DF will conveniently misinterpret your input as the intended character. Note, however, that many character codes in the CP437 set do not correspond to printing characters in unicode – 0x7F-0x9F, for example, which covers many of the accented vowels; these won't appear on keyboards, but any kind of direct unicode input will probably still work.

== Raws ==

===language_words.txt===
In this file, all words that the game uses are listed, defined by part of speech, and then the exact form for the part of speech given (including plurals for nouns).

These words are used for naming, etc.

===language_SYM.txt===

'''[SYMBOL]''': This defines a category of words which works with the [SELECT_SYMBOL] and [CULL_SYMBOL] arguments in the corresponding [[Entity token|entity file]], using these [[Entity_token#Flavor|"flavor" tokens]] to create a list of words which your civilization will prefer to use, and those it will never use. For instance, dwarves by default have [SELECT_SYMBOL:ALL:ARTIFICE] and [CULL_SYMBOL:ALL:FLOWERY]. This means that dwarven surnames, place names and group names will tend to use words in the [SYMBOL:ARTIFICE] list (such as ''cloister'', ''hammer'' and ''steel'') and will never use words from the [SYMBOL:FLOWERY] list (such as ''butterfly'', ''meadow'' and ''velvet''). Under each [SYMBOL] heading, all possible words are listed in the form [S_WORD:word].

{{:Language_SYM.txt/Sym list}}

In addition, there are a few, more specific categories used for naming civilizations, legendary creatures, regions and sites on the world map:

*[SYMBOL:NAME_BATTLE]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_BRIDGE]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_BUILDING_HOSPITAL]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_BUILDING_KEEP]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_BUILDING_LIBRARY]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_BUILDING_TEMPLE]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_BUILDING_TOMB]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_CAVE]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_COMMON_RELIGION]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_CONTINENT]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_DESERT]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_ENTITY_KINGDOM]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_ENTITY_MERCHANT_COMPANY]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_ENTITY_TOWN_FOUNDER]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_FESTIVAL] (hardcoded used for festivals)
*[SYMBOL:NAME_FOREST]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_GLACIER]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_GRASSLAND]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_HILLS]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_ISLAND]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_ISLAND_SMALL]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_LAKE]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_MOUNTAINS]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_OCEAN]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_PEAK]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_SIEGE]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_SWAMP]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_REGION]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_ROAD]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_TUNDRA]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_TUNNEL]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_VOLCANO]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_WALL]
*[SYMBOL:NAME_WAR]

{{Language symbol}}
====See also====

*[[Symbol]] disambiguation

==Grammar==
A study on Dwarven language and grammar has been done on the Bay 12 Forums, at http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=173289

Although it is not used in the game (Dwarven words are only used in names, and in the soundtrack ''Drink and Industry'' in the Steam release), it is the most coherent and constructed grammar made so far.

{{Language}}

[[Category:Language|Language]]
[[ru:Language]]

Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

Language