Nilfgaardian language

Nilfgaardian is a language based on the Elder Speech and used in the Nilfgaardian Empire, originating from the Nilfgaard proper itself.

It is characterized by long, drawn-out syllables and hard pronunciation. Some words of the classic Elder Speech have a totally different meaning in the Nilfgaardian: for example, y which is of in classic Elder becomes and in Nilfgaardian or white, usually translated as gwen by elves while wen by Nilfgaardians.

Dictionary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Phrases

A

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
aâ'anval	attack (from Dutch: aanval)
addan, adan	dance; dancer; dancing
adhart	forward
aecáemm	to follow
aedragh	to provoke / to disturb
aen	from, to, for, with, of, in, out of, at, by, down, in, into, until, on, like, as
aep	of (mostly used for marking hereditary ties)
ard	great
arse	arse (UK), ass (US), butt, rump (Dutch: aars)
a'vean	?

B

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
belean'graec	important, something important (From Dutch: belangrijk - pronounciation is nearly the same)
bleidd	wolf (From Welsh: blaidd)
bloede	bloody, gory, damn (UK: bloody hell / Dutch: Bloederig = bloody)
bu'rac	bumpkin

C

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
calm	calm, ease
carn	tomb, grave, barrow
ceas'raet	empire (of Nilfgaard)
creasa	must, necessity, obligation, inevitability, duty
cuan	whore

D

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
daerienn	sorcerer, sorceress
deien	to serve
deith	flame
deithwen	white flame
d'yaebl	devil (From Spanish: diablo)

E

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
e'er	honor (from Dutch: eer)
eigean	necessary, must, have to (From Irish: is éigean)
eimyr	hedgehog
ess	to be, is (From Italian: essere)
esse	will be, will (From Latin: esse)
essea	I am
evgyr	?
evn'gesaen	ambassador (From German: Abgesandter)

F

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
feainn	sun; also the sixth savaed in the elven calendar
fydd	passage

G

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
geehaet	hard
gláeddyv (plural: glaeddyvan)	sword (From Welsh: cleddyf)
gloir	glory (From French: gloire)
glys	river (aevon in Elder Speech)
gvaedyn	tenacious one
gvaelded	bloodthirsty one

H

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
hael	greeting (long life to...); health (From English: hail, hale)
hanse	unit, armed group of friends, gang (From English: hanse)

I

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
iarean	to search

J

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
joc	joke

K

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
Ker'zaer	Emperor (From German: Kaiser)
kroofeir	haystack
kusse	genitals

L

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
laeke, loc	lake
larwm	alarm, alert
luned	daughter / young girl
Lyrien	Lyrian

M

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
morv	?
morvud, morvudd	enemy, enemies

N

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
na	or (From Irish: ná)
neén / ne	no, not
nordlingaen	demonym for Nordling
nyald	needle (From Dutch: naald)

P

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
pest	pestilence, plague, blight (from Dutch: pest)
piemellikkers	cocksuckers (from Dutch: piemellikkers)

Q

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
que	that / what (From Italian: che, French: quoi/que)

R

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
rach	to move (From Irish: Rachaidh)
raet	country
ratreut	to fall back, retreat
rotzak	scumbag (From Dutch: rotzak)

S

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
schijtlijster	coward (From Dutch: Schijtlijster, literally little shitbird')
se'ege	victory (From Dutch: Zege)
seiâ'fyll	formation
sheyss	dammit (From German: Scheiße, shit)
stront	shit (From Dutch: Stront)

T

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
tedd	time, age, season (From Dutch: Tijd)
thu	you (informal)
tròcair	mercy
tuvean / tuv'en	death
twe	two (From Dutch: twee)

V

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
va	to go
va'en	trip, journey
vaer'truov	to hope, to trust (From Dutch: vertrouw)
va faill	goodbye, farewell
var'oom?	what? (from German: warum / Dutch: waarom)
vatt'ghern	witcher
veloë	fast, quick; quickly (From Italian: veloce)
visse	you (formal)
vort	further, away (from oneself), still (From German: fort)

W

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
wen	white (From Welsh: Wen/wyn)

Y

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
y	and (perhaps from Spanish: y)
yn	on, over, upon, one

Phrases

Nilfgaardian dialect	English
Aâ'anval neen orde!	Attack at will!
Aecáemm aen me	Follow me
Aen Ard Feainn	By the Great Sun
Aen iarean nyald aep kroofeir	Like searching for a needle in a haystack
A d'yaebl aép arse	A devil up your arse
Bloede pest	Bloody plague (imprecation)
Deithwen Addan yn Carn aep Morvudd	The White Flame Dancing on the Barrows of his Enemies
E'er y glòir	Honor and glory (usually used as a greeting)
Esse'lath seiâ'fyll	Loose formation
Glaeddyvan vort!	Drop the swords!
Gloir aen Ard Feainn	Praise be the Great Sun
Glòir aen Ker'zaer	Glory to the Emperor
Hael Ker'zaer	Long live the Emperor
Larwm! Essea tuv'en a'vean!	?
Me hen aveen'eans aep tooraen. Me peuvt aen alvear'daeg	I am too old for wrath. All I feel is simple grief
Me voel'tocht aen geehaet va'en. Me vaer'truov, het aen belean'graec	I had a hard journey. I trust it is something important.
Neen ratreut	Do not dare fall back
N'ess aedragh a me	Do not provoke / disturb me
N'ess tedd a thu	I have no time for you
ne'esse a fydd	no passage
Ne tuv'en que'ss, luned!	Do not kill yourself, girl!
Que'ess zaighderan aep Dravograd vaen?	How many battalions are marching on Dravograd?
Que suecc's? / Que aen suecc's?	What's going on?
Se'ege na tuvean	Victory or death
Tuvean y gloir	Death and glory
va calm	at ease, keep calm
va vort	go away
Visse deien aep Ceas'raet. N'et aen vaerb'tinnea, het aen creasa	You serve the Empire. It's not your good will, it's your duty
Visse ess'spaet aep uav raet, daar'tocht aep Nordling daerienn	You spat on your country, conspiring with Nordling sorceresses
Visse gead'tocht gaedeen	You have done well

Notes

• Nilfgaardian differs from the classic Elder Speech in that much of it seems to be based on Dutch.
  • In the Blood and Wine expansion, Nazairi soldiers use a great number of Dutch profanities; these include rotzak ("scumbag"), schijtlijster ("coward"), stront ("shit") and piemellikkers ("cocksuckers"). They also use the word kusse, later explained by Regis to mean vagina (akin to Dutch kut and its older form kutte, which carry the same meaning, though it more likely came from Danish where the word means "pussy").
  • After being asked by a fan, Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz who works as a narrative designer for CD Projekt confirmed Nilfgaardian used in their games is a mix of Elder Speech and Dutch.