Languages of A Song of Ice and Fire
Several fictitious languages are mentioned in George R.R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. These include
- the Common Tongue of Westeros, for which English is used in both the books and the television series
- the Old Tongue of Westeros still spoken north of the Wall
- the classical Valyrian (High Valyrian) of the Valyrian empire of Essos, and for a time of Westeros
- nine Low Valyrian dialects of the Free Cities and the city-states of Slaver's Bay, which descend from High Valyrian and are on their way to becoming separate languages
- Ghiscari, the extinct language of the empire of Ghis, which influenced the Low Valyrian dialects that replaced it in Slaver's Bay
- Dothraki, the language of the steppe nomads of Essos
- Lhazareen, the language of the Lhazar nomads
- Qartheen, the language of the city of Qarth
- the languages of Asshai and the Summer Isles
- a trade pidgin of the port cities of Essos
Martin created only a few words for these languages, mostly proper names. For the television adaptation, Game of Thrones, two were elaborated by linguist David J. Peterson: Dothraki and High Valyrian. As of 2014, a Low Valyrian dialect, Astapori, was also created, though not as fully. All three are used with subtitles for dialogue in the series.
References
External links
