Forgotten Realms Terms and Slang

[guest]

Alae (ah-Lay—“Fortunate Meeting” in elvish): greeting and assurance of peaceful intentions among travelers

Alavairthae ("May your skill prevail" in old Mulhorandi): Parting often used by Red Wizards of Thay

Aluve (drow): I/we leave you

Amarast: Farewell until we next meet; frequently used by southern sailors

Amathor: Knight; often a ruler of an elven community too small to have a Coronal

Aril'tel'quessir: Avariel, or winged elves

Axe high, friend. I go: dwarven farewell. Sometimes shortened to the terse, "I go" when speaking to strangers

Badaulder (BAH-doll-durr): *ancient-was-here*!, hogwash!

Beard!: all-purpose Lathanderite curse; contraction of the phrase, "By the beard of Omthas" (an early prophet of Lathander)

Best Face, sharp thoughts: good luck; be on your guard

Bind me (and tar me): a mild all-purpose oath; used in the same way as


Black Ones: Nickname that the wild dwarves of Otakungurua Uinta use for the dwarves of the Blacksmith Clan

Black Smith: Ancient nickname for Durgeddin, First King of

Khundrukar, and the origin of the clan's name
Blateroon: idiot

Blood of the Lady: an oath of Red Knight followers; generally equivalent to "Jesus Christ!"

Braeunk vhos trolkh! ("If you die while I'm gone, do it quietly" in Goblin): hobgoblin farewell; sometimes spoken with the addendum, "because I wouldn't want to miss the fun"

Brotherhood: Colloquial reference to the Zhentarim, which has its roots in an organization known as the Brotherhood of Zhentar

Dwarfhome: Plane of existence that is the home of the dwarven gods and the final resting place of dwarven souls

Civilized (Great Dale): weak, worthless, conniving, deceitful.

Clutchcoins: greedy merchant.

Codloose Winker: lecher

Coronal: Elven king

Cut (him dead): killed

Darburl (DAR-burl): angry

Dark (and empty): wow, *chickenwing*, jesus

Darkblade: mercenary, often lacking in principles or loyalty

Dragon: bad-tempered woman; to be feared.

Durgreos (dur-GREE-ohz—“No Quarrel”): greeting and parting used by orcs.

Eilistraee: Drow goddess of song, beauty, dance, swordwork, hunting, and moonlight; patron of good-aligned drow living on the surface

Evenfeast: dinner

Fangs Awfully: sorry

Feldurking: *bleeping*.

Following your stars: doing your own thing

Forges warm, friend: Gnomish farewell

Galad!: I’m astonished or I’m impressed
Gidig: crazy

Glim: beautiful, flashy

Glitterpockets: stupid rich people, usually out to spend a lot of money

Gods smile!: traditional halfling farewell.

Godsspit!: *chickenwing*

Grakling (Thay); gnollish expletive that has come into vulgar fashion.

Grey Riders: Seasoned rangers that patrol the lands in and around Harrowdale

Gulletfire: bad beer or wine

Haularake! (HALL-ah-rake, said very quickly): all-faiths, acceptable in polite society equivalent of “*holy frioles* it!”

Hin: halfling

Highcoin Ladies: cortesans

Hiresword: mercenary

Holy Fist: A Banite curse roughly equivalent to “Jesus Christ!”

Inner Sea: Common name for the Sea of Fallen Stars

Kathtan: Captain of the Harran Watch

Kell: try a tricky or dangerous task; often used cynically or derisively

Lalandath: agile, sleek, lithe, and is often said of dancers or women whose beauty is accentuated by their movements

Leucrotta!: general-purpose expletive

Lord of the Jungle: Title referring to Thard Harr, deity of wild dwarves.

Luminous!: brilliant! or awesome!

Ly'tel'quessir: Lythari, or shapeshifting elves

Marshairs: derivation of "marshall"; the name of the military force protecting Tasseldale

My sword is sheathed: traveler’s greeting, used to denote friendly or neutral intent

N'Tel'Quess ("Not-People" in elvish): General term for any non-elven race. Often used in a derogatory sense, but it does not necessarily imply anything negative about the subject to which it is applied

Olore: Well met or good day; used frequently by travelers in the Inner Sea Lands

Osvith!: Scram in Draconic

Otakungurua Uinta: "White Tiger" in the wild dwarf dialect; the name of Rog's tribe

Redblood: Lathanderite oath used in the same way that the British use "bloody" as an adjective

Reverie: Meditative trance in which an elf engages in mental exercises to keep his memory strong; see also the Player's Handbook p. 15

Ride High (the Hoardlands): greeting and parting used by the Tuigan

Riders: Short for "Arkhen Riders," the standing army of Archendale; often referred to as Ridesmen

Rivvim: lust or lusty

Sarking: A particularly crude all-purpose epithet, often used by adherents of Bane

Scorchkettle: woman who delivers impressively blistering words to someone in public (usually because she’s quick-tempered)

Selune: Toril's moon; named after, naturally enough, the goddess of the moon

Spurnarmor: either a woman with a spectacular figure, or a well-endowed man

Songhorn: The recorder, popular everywhere, unless someone has a hangover

Sonlinnor: Title used to refer to clergy of Moradin

Stlarn/Stlarning: *bleep-itty-bleep* (polite); often used for the verb “to *bleep-itty-bleep* up” or the adjective

Sweet Chum! (Sea of Fallen Stars): holy *chickenwing*!

Sweet water and light laughter until next: polite parting generally used by elves

Sy'tel'quessir: wild or sylvan elves

Tanarukka: Plural form of tanarukk, a tiefling born of the union between demons and orcs

Tantan: The tambourine, popular with halflings and humans south of the Dalelands; disliked by dwarves, who prefer more honest percussion

Tel'Quessir ("The People" in elvish): The term used by elves to refer to elvenkind or individual elves

Thael: glad, or pleasant, or heart-lifting

Throatslake: any drinkable that takes care of thirst and doesn’t cause illness in doing so, but isn’t particularly pleasant to drink

Thunder Blessing: A "reforging" of the dwarven soul by Moradin, resulting in a dramatic rise in birth rates and the common occurrence of twins

Tiru Tel-Quessir: "Tower of the People" in Elvish; neutral site where all elven subraces come together for council

Tocken: A set of carved, oval, open-ended bells, played like a glockenspiel, particularly in underground civilizations and others whose bulidings can maximize its resonant tones

Tusker: racial epithet for orc

Waves roll in, waves roll out: que seras, seras

Well Again: Between business associates or acquaintences, this greeting is usually used; if one is annoyed, curt, or sarcastic, one usually just says "Again" (ie, "we meet again"), or "You again!"

Well Met: The most often used greeting, particularly between strangers of a different race or those of whom one is unsure

White Tiger: See the entry for Otakungurua Uinta

Wyrgrym: Wild dwarf ritual by which the son of a chieftain leaves the tribe on an aimless journey through foreign lands. The son may not take up the mantle of chieftain until he determines the nature of his destiny

Wyrmlord: priest of Tiamat

Until Next, may your sword be ever wet and your bottom dry: Farewell used by the pirates of the Inner Sea

Until Swords Part: warrior's farewell throughout the Realms

Uluvathae (Oo-loo-VAW-thay: “[May your] fortune bring you joy”)—a friendly, informal greeting and parting used by elves and half-elves to others (of any race) they welcome the company of. Between close friends, its use is an insult, or a neutral “say-nothing-we’re-being-listened-to” warning.

Vlandranna (Vlan-DRANNA: “Gods grant [approval, or that what is spoken of occurs by their will]): an old, corrupted dwarven word from the region that is today the Vast and Impiltur; now used by all trading races in The Sea of Fallen Stars.

Yarting: A guitar, growing in popularity through Faerun after coming out of Amn and Calimshan some time in the past forty or fity years

Edited to remove language against the FORUM RULES.

[Deleted]

Please do not rely on the forum language filter to catch your vulgar language. I just edited the F-bomb out of your post.

Edit: Edited out two more F-bombs I didn't see my first read through.

[guest]

Actually it is from Ed Greenwood's own writings...I just grabbed it lock-stock-and barrel from him...

[Deleted]

I don't care who's page it came from, you posted it here on this forum. If Ed Greenwood himself had posted it here it would still be against our forum rules. Please refrain.

[guest]

*sighs* Sure no problem.

[828stingstingneo]

Ooh, can we change the language filter to substitute the Forgotten Realms terms? I think that would be really cool. (except chickenwing: chickenwing is great as is, of course!)

[Lady Frost]

N'Tel'Quess ("Not-People" in elvish): General term for any non-elven race. Often used in a derogatory sense, but it does not necessarily imply anything negative about the subject to which it is applied

It is also used by drow to include the surface elves.

[EDM Entori]

Mar 30, 2009 19:15:23 GMT -5 Lady Frost said:

N'Tel'Quess ("Not-People" in elvish): General term for any non-elven race. Often used in a derogatory sense, but it does not necessarily imply anything negative about the subject to which it is applied

It is also used by drow to include the surface elves.

in the books, yes, however drow and elven are very different and the terms would be different. I think it was a little "fudging" on some author's behalf.

[guest]

Apr 4, 2009 13:03:07 GMT -5 EDM Entori said:

Mar 30, 2009 19:15:23 GMT -5 Lady Frost said:

It is also used by drow to include the surface elves.

in the books, yes, however drow and elven are very different and the terms would be different. I think it was a little "fudging" on some author's behalf.

Drow is NOT a spoken Language. So most drow would actually use the same word just in a different meaning much like Spanish is spoken in Spain and in Mexico but it is quite different.

Most drow speak Elven, Deep Speech, and a language suitable for the region in which they live, such as Abyssal, Common, Draconic or Goblin. It is quite common for the drow to learn the language spoken on the surface beneath which they live. All drow are literate except for their barbarians. Drow sign language is commonly known, and is a silent language that consists of hand signals and facial expressions. There is no equivalent written or spoken form of this language

[EDM Entori]

er.. rather undercommon.. do they speak elvish I had thought they really didn't?

[EDM Entori]

opps nevermind. wow I was really under a seperate impression

[guest]

Apr 4, 2009 17:23:15 GMT -5 EDM Entori said:

er.. rather undercommon.. do they speak elvish I had thought they really didn't?

From the sourcebook I looked at I guess they speak a form of High Elven which I would say is like speaking Auld English? That is just my take on it though from the actual quote I gave you from one of the books...

[Dawn of the Ages]

Drow speak a dialect of Elven, with a lot of words and terms having changed to match their.. outlook on life.