Audio Design 5 - Voice List

[Acumen]

IMPORTANT, read this first: http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=449&st=40#entry257410

NOTE: The below post is very old and the phrases needed have changed since 2003. Please use our wiki page for the latest phrases and required translations: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Audio_Voice_List

5 VOICES FOR TRANSLATION

Note: For some civilisations, words such as "lord", "liege" could be replaced with "Emperor", "King" or similar. For example, Romans might say "For the glory of the Emperor" (in Latin), Persians the same thing (in Persian), Hellenes would have the same sentence but replacing Emperor with King (in Greek language), and so on.

5.1 WORDS FOR TRANSLATION

5.1.1 Generic Male (Citizen Soldiers)

Select: "Yes?" "My lord?" "How may I serve you?" "Your orders?" "Ready, sir" "My liege?".

Move: "As you wish" "I'm coming" "On my way" "By your command" "Yes my lord".

Attack: "Attack!" "For my family!" "Cities will fall!" "*War Cry*" "To victory!".

(Death scream)

5.1.1.1 Generic Male (Infantry Citizen Soldiers)

"Build".

"Farm".

"Mine" or "Dig".

"Chop".

"Gather".

"Repair".

5.1.1.2 Generic Male (Cavalry Citizen Soldiers)

"Herd".

"Hunt".

"Capture".

5.1.1.3 Trader

"Trade".

5.1.2 Female Citizen

Select: "Yes?" "My lord?" "How may I serve you?".

Move: "As you wish" "I'm coming" "on my way".

(Death scream)

"Build".

"Farm".

"Gather".

"Repair".

5.1.3 Male Priest

Select: "Yes, great one?" "Your wish?".

Move: "By the gods" "Of course".

"Heal".

5.1.4 Female Priest

Select: "Yes, great one?" "Your wish?".

Move: "By the gods" "Of course".

"Heal".

5.1.5 Hero

Select: "At your service" "Orders, sir?" "Ready".

Move: "Move out!" "March!", "With my honour".

Attack: "Engage!" "Attack!".

5.1.6 Interface

Formation yells: "Square Formation!" "Box Formation!", etc.

Formation stance yells: "Stand into position!" "Retreat!" "Engage!" "Surround them!" "Forward to enemy!" "Advance".

5.2 TRANSLATED WORDS FOR THE CIVILISATIONS

English	Iberians	Britons	Gauls	Latin	Dacian	Persian
Yes?	Bai	ie	Ie	Quid?	Da?	Baleh, Areh
My Lord?	erregela	oes	Oes	Domine?	Tarabostes?	Sarvareh man, GhorbAn
How may I serve you?	sakatu	Beth ga I wneud ichi	Ydy	Quomodo serviam te?	@#$% pot sa va servesc?	Che khedmati mitavAnam bekonam
As you wish	zure desira	fel mynnwch chi			@#$% doriti!	Anche shomA bekhAhid
I'm coming	irten	Rydw I'n dod			Vin!	Man dAram miAm
On my way	porturatu	Ar fy fforth			Sint pe drum!	Dar raham
Attack!	oldar	Ymosodwch	Rhuthro	Cape!	Atacati	Hamleh
For my family!	familia	Am fy nheulu	Cyrchu	Pro familia mea	Pentru patrie!	BarAyeh khAnevAdeham
Build	horma egin	Adeiladwch	Adeiladu	construo	Construiesc	Saakhtan
Farm	nekazaritzako	ffarmiwch	Amaethu	exaro	Gospodarie	Mazraeh
Mine or Dig	meatze	Cloddiwch	Cloddio	effodio	Sapam Tarabostes	Madan
Chop	trontza-zerra	Torriwch	Malu	infindo	Lemne Tarabostes!	Choob boridan
Gather	kobratu	Aeddfedwch	Casglu	recolligo	Recoltam Tarabostes!	Jam kardan
Herd	ardi-azienda	Ymgynnullwch	Ymgynnull	recolligo	Nii boala!	Galleh dari
Fish	hiruhortz	Pysgotwch	Pysgota	expiscor	Pescuim Tarabostes	Mahi giri
Repair	konponketa	Trwsiwch	Trwsio	redintegro	Reparam, Tarabostes!	Tamir
Hunt	buztanzuri	Helwch	Hela	venor	Vinam Tarabostes	Shekar
Your Orders?	zure ordena	Eich Archebion?		Quid volitis?	Oronati Tarabostes!	Be farmAn shomA
Ready, Sir	prest	Yn barod		procinctu, domine	Bineinteles	AmAdeh, Sarvar
My Liege?	intsusa	Fy Arglwyd		Socius meus?	Asn Razas?	arbAbeh man
By your Command	komando	Fel eich gorchymyn			La ordin Tarabostes!	Goosh be farmAnam
Yes, my Lord	Bai erregela			Cic volitis		Baleh Sarvareh man
As you wish	zure desira			Quid, faciam?	Inainte catre inamic	Anche shomA bekhahid
Cities will Fall!	hiri-erorketa	Cwmpan/syrthian dinasoedd	Urbes caderunt	Orasul se va preda!	SharhA khrarAb khAhand shod
War Cry!					Uraaaaaaaa...
To victory!	irabazi!	I fuddugoliath		Ad victoriam!	Vom invinge!	Be suyeh piruzi
Yes, great one?	handi?	Ie, Un Mawr		Quid, domine maxime?	Da, bostes	Ari mardeh bozorg
Your wish?	zure desira	Eich dymudiad?		Quid, faciam?	Dorinta voastra?	Arezuyeh shomA
By the Gods	jainkozko ordena	Gan y duwiau		Per Deos	Pe toti zeii	Be omideh khodA
Heal	sendatu	Iachwch	mendio	medicor	Vindeca	Shafa
At your service	zure sakatu	At eich gwasanaethu		sicut volutis	La ordin Tarabostes	Dar khedmateh shomA hastam
Orders, Sir	ordena	Arbhebion			Ordonati Tarabostes	Gush be farmAnam, Sarvaram
Ready	prest	Yn barod		procinctu	Sintem gata sa murim	AmAdeh
Move out!	eraman zutabea	Symudwch allan		exite	Miscate soldat	Harekat
March!	marxa	Ymdeithiwch		incedite	Inainte mars!	Ghadam ro
With my honour	gogorrak	Gan fy anrydedd			Pe onoarea mea!	BA eftekhAr
Engage!	engranatu	dyweddio			Pe ei fratilor	Nabard
Attack!	oldar	cyrchu	rhuthro	capite oppugno	Atacati!	Hamleh
Formation	eraketa	Trefniant		cuincunx	Stringeti randurile	Meydan
Hold your position!	ixte	Sefyllwch yn eich lleodd		ad loces	Pastrati pozitia	Istadan dar jA
Retreat!	ihes egin	Enciliwch	cylio	recedite	Retragerea!	Aghab neshini
Surround them!	harrapaketa	Amgylwch			Inconjuratii!	Mohasereh konid AnhA rA
Advance!	aurrerakin	Ymlaen at gelynion	symud ymlaen	ite ad inimicum	Avansati!	Pishravi
Battle cry					"wolf howling"	Be suyeh doshman

English	Greeks	Carthaginians	Parthians	Goths	Huns	Macedonians	Old English
Yes?	Ti estì?	Ken?	NA	jái	NA	same as greek	Giese?
My Lord?	Dèspotes mu	Adoní?		fráuja		different	Min hlaforde
How may I serve you?	Pos dynamai therapèuein	Keitsád ashartekhá?		skalkinôn		pronuciation	Ic eom þin cnapan
As you wish	os epithymèis	Kirtsonkhá		gaírnjan			Ic eom þin cnapan
I'm coming	trècho	Hinéni		silba aljaþ			Ic fare
On my way		Bedarkí		wagjan			min hlaforde
Attack!	eisbàlomen	Atkíf!		slahan			Acwellan!
For my family!	pro ten patrìda mu	Lemishpakhtí!		silba fadreins			Forelosan!
Build	tèucho	Evnéh		timrjan			Betimbran
Farm	Georgèo	Ezra'		atisk			Ierthling
Mine or Dig	skàpto	Akhapór		uf-graban			Delfan
Chop	kòpto	Ekrót		asts			Holtan?
Gather	syllègo	Eqtóf		lisan			Gaðerian
Herd	nèmo	Er'eh		haírdeis			Sceaphierde
Fish	ìchthys	Adoog		fiskôn			Fiscere
Repair	siachno	Atah-kén		midumônds			Widusmid
Hunt	kynegetèo	Atsood		fôdeins			Huntian
Your Orders?	pos kelèueis?	Hora'otéikha?		izwar háitan			þin beode?
Ready, Sir		Mukhán, adoní		faúr-stasseis			Giese?
My Liege?	etòimos, o stratège	Mefaqdí?		silba fráujinônds			Min hlaforde
By your Command	òsper àrcheis èsto	lehora'atkhá		izwar faúr-biudan			Giese!
Yes my Lord	pany ge, kyrie mu	ken, adoní		fráuja			Ic eom þin cnapan
As you wish	pràsso	Kirtsonkhá		ga-láistjan			Ic fare abhebban
Cities will Fall!		'arím tipólnah		Acwellan!
War cry!	alalài						Forelosan!
To victory!	Zeus sotèr kài nìke	Lanitsakhón!		haírus			Forht min miht! or Ic bere deaþ!
Yes, great one?	prostàxe	Ken, adoní?		blôtinassus			Min hlaforde?
Your wish?		Retsonkhá?		izwar gaírnjan			Giese?
By the Gods	ma tus theùs	Beshém ha'elím		áihtrôn
Heal	iàomai	Arah-péh		lêkinôn
At your service	ypo tu prostàgmatos su	Lesherutkhá		izwar driugan			þin beode?
Orders, Sir	prostàxe, kyrie	Hora'ot, adoní		ana-biudan
Ready	ètoimos dià ten màchen	mukhán		manwus
Move out!	ypakùo	Etseh!		draúhtinôn
March!	porèuomai	Ets'ód!		£arbôn
With my honour		Bikhvodí		môdags
Engage!	èis ten màchen	Efgósh!		du-at-sniwan
Attack!	prosbàlomen	Etkóf!		dis-taíran
Formation	tàxis	utzbáh		laígaíôn
Hold your position!	katàschete ten tàxin	Imdu bamqomót!		izwar uf-haban
Retreat!	hypochorèsis	Nisgú!		haúrnjan
Surround them!	amfibàlete autùs	Haqifúhum!		fra-hinþan
Advance!	katà ton èchthron	hitqadmú!		gaggan
Battle cry	alalài, alalalài!	akharái!					Forht min miht! or Ic bere deaþ!

5.3 LANGUAGE CHOICES

Choosing the appropriate language for each civilisation was not as easy as we originally anticipated. Here is the justification for the chosen translations above:

Part I

* Romans – Latin – Easy, but many variant pronunciations.

* Hellenes – Greek – Chose Attic dialect.

* Celts – Cyrmic – Basically Welsh, this is one of the only remaining Celtic tongues on the planet.

* Iberians – Basque – Basques live in the Pyrenees mountains in Spain and are very culturally independent from the rest of Spain. Their language is one of the most unique on the planet and cannot be directly tied to the Iberians. However some linguists do believe that there is a link between them and the Iberians.

* Persians – Persian.

* Carthaginians – Hebrew – Jeru has compiled this list for us. Carthaginians were a Phoenician people.

5.4 PRONUNCIATION GUIDES

5.4.1 Civilisations that do not need guides

* Celts - kor.

* Roman (Latin) – Federico.

* Dacian – Scarpelius.

* Carthaginian – Aviv.

5.4.2 Greeks

The pronunciation of vowels is similar to Spanish.

g is always like in "goat"..

ch is like German "noch".

y is like the French u.

c is always like k.

th is like in "thin".

5.4.3 Macedonians

F was pronounced as V, so, Filippos was pronounced in Mac dialect Vilippos. Linguists agree that Macedonian dialect was quite rougher and pronounced heavier. Therefore we'll use the same text as the Greeks, except perhaps use a different voice actor and have them pronounce the words a bit differently.

5.4.4 Old English/Anglo-Saxon

G's that are not next to back vowels (a, o) are pronounced as a Y.

Sc together make the Sh sound.

Ash, or æ is an English-like a sound as in hat.

A's are pronounced as English 'fAther'

E's are pronounced as English 'bAY'

dh or the OE letter, eth (ð), is pronounced as a heavy 'th' as in 'THis'.

th or the OE letter, thorn (þ), is pronounced as a light 'th' as in 'THink'.

S next to a vowel sounds like Z in English.

F next to a vowel sounds like V in English.

If H is after i or e, it makes a sound like the German (ich). Ick, with a bit of a 'ch' hangover.

If H is after a or o, it makes a sound like the Scottish (loch). (ie Loh is pronounced just like Loch).

If C is before i or e, it sounds like an English 'Ch' (ie, 'Ceaster' sounds like Chay-ast-er.

CG together sound like DG in English (ie edge is ecg in OE (like Ecgtheow, a character in Beowulf [image])).

I without an e at the end of the word is long - ie, Min is pronounced 'mine'.

Here is an example: Thine - is pronounced Thie-nay (just general pronunciation).

[Acumen]

I can only assume that HTML support hasn't been activated for this forum, since the code for the language table works elsewhere. Hopefully this should function again once we move it onto another board.

[Wijitmaker]

Ok works now Good job with the editing and formating Stuart. Feel free to take take this revised text and upadate the sound department links when you have it approved.

[Acumen]

Thanks for sorting that out, Jason. Will do.

Incidentally, AFAIK the sound guys aren't currenty able to update the documents (unless they have admin rights) since someone else created the posts (not sure if they've wanted to). We might have to get one of them to copy it all afterwards and repost so that someone in their department has control over the documentation and is able to update it.

[Quacker]

Note, two of the words under Dacian are language-blocked.

[Acumen]

Yeah, thanks, Jordan. I noticed that too. I wonder what they used to be?

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

Egads! Whom made the decision to vocalise the Iberians in the Basque language while I have developed them in the Spanish language?

BEING one of the most unique languages on earth is NOT sufficient justification for giving Basque tongue to the Iberians. What are we up to now, teaching linguistics? Personally, I want to see this game played and specifically I want to see Iberians played by Spaniards and Portuguese and Basques, all of whom will play it if in Spanish cuz they can all get along in that language... and I accept that the probability exists that the majority of those playing Carthaginians might be those who can speak Hebrew.... though Ca may have a broader appeal just because they are to well known as having been Rome's principal adversary pre-0ad... eh?

Basque? Sopmebody did some nice work there, and one of the best freinds I ever had was a Basque (an Army room mate who initially taught me the elements of speaking rudimentary Spanish...lol), but................

5.4.2 Greeks

The pronunciation of vowels is similar to Spanish.

Isn't this interesting? Here the Greek pronounciation is referenced to the Spanish language.... which appears nowhere in paragraphj 5.

[Wijitmaker]

Np, Ken, that was just a place holder till we found something better

If you got some better text, to put in its stead, go ahead and see what you can find to replace it!

Here is some good info on celt language stuff. These are some excerpts:

http://www.ancienttimes.net/cgi-ancienttim...orum=47&topic=5

Celtiberians spoke a language inherited from Continental Celtic, related to Gaulish and Lepontic. But the main distinguishing feature of the subsequent tongue they used is that Celtiberians acquired much of their phonetics and lexics from non-Indo-European Iberian languages, this reflected in placenames and names of deities. Nevertheless we can state with certainty that the language belonged to Q-Celtic, and so Indo-European *kw- grew into q here. In fact the structure of Celtiberian grammar remained completely Celtic. The nouns are inflected, having sometimes a sibilant -s' instead of Indoeuropean *-s. The language used about five or six cases (with accusative, dative, instrumental); the dative plural had the Italo-Celtic -b- suffix following the stem. The plural nominative either preserves Indo-European *-es or develops an "European" -i. There is also one strange ending for the genitive singular: -o, which is rarely seen anywhere else in the Indo-European family.

Only two verbs are known from Celtiberian, but they witness clearly that verb endings remained Indo-European, with -t in the 3rd person singular and -nti (a primary ending) in 3rd person plural.

Celtiberians were easily assimilated by Romans in the last few centuries B.C. and their language, the product of a mixture of different language families, disappeared.

In ancient times, the peninsula of Spain was called Iberia. The indigenous Iberians there spoke a language that was not Indo-European, the latter being the broad family of languages spoken today in almost all countries in Europe. Some even speculate that the Iberian language may have resembled in some ways present-day Basque, spoken in northern Spain, and one of the few remnants of the indigenous continental languages before the Indo-European Invasions. But we don't know all that much about the Iberians, for they thrived in an age before historians chronicled events. We largely depend on archaeological traces to piece together some picture of what the ancient Iberians were like. One fascinating source is over a thousand Iberian inscriptions, written in their own script which was heavily influenced by the Phoenician alphabet. Although archeologists are unable to translate the Iberian inscriptions, they are evidence that an Iberian literature likely existed. Professor Barry Cunliffe states that the Iberians of southern and eastern Spain were a people embracing the beginnings of Mediterranean culture.

Here is a site I dug up from archive.org that has been dead for a few years:

Materials about the Iberians and Iberian Languages.

 

       § 1. Mediterranean Languages and Their Relations.

This term "Mediterranean" is not a name of a family or a group of languages connected by genetic origin. The origins of most of those languages are unknown, or only suggested, and "Mediterranean" means the grouping by location. All ancient pre-Indo-European tongues of Southern Europe and islands in the Mediterranean Sea which cannot be classified among all known linguistic families are called Mediterranean.

This group is maybe the most mysterious block of world languages. Inscriptions, glosses, substratum elements in modern European languages, personal names which remained in ancient sources - that's all we can analyze and make our opinions by. All languages which used to flourish on the shores of the South European seas, are now dead. The only one that remains alive and prospering is Basque, the Euskara language which, though studied thoroughly and deeply, cannot still be identified within any language family.

Documents of Mediterranean languages, which are found by now, were written in three types of scripts: hieroglyphic, syllabic and alphabetic writing systems. According to those sources, all such languages are divided into three potential subgroups: pre-Indo-European tongues of the East Mediterranean, pre-Romance non-Indo-European languages of Italy, and finally the languages of the ancient Pyrenean peninsula. The pre-Hellenic speech of East Mediterranean is represented by Cretan hieroglyphic script language (late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BC), the language of the pictogram script of Phaistos Disk (the 17th century BC), the language of Cretan Linear A script (the 16th century BC), Cypro-Mynoan language (15 - 14th centuries BC), and some other minor languages fixed on Cyprus and Crete among their pre-Greek population. The structure of these languages cannot yet be deciphered and analyzed, though numerous attempts are being made all the time, including different Web sites under the headings like "Linear A is solved!" and similar ones. There are, certainly, plenty of versions, but we will come to them later.

The Pre-Romance non-Indo-European languages of ancient Italy include first of all the famous Etruscan speech which we already tried to analyze somehow in one of our previous issues. The Rhaetic language and the language in which the Lemnos stele was written are believed to be close to Etruscan (see Lemnos stele), and the single "Tyrrhenian group" of languages is sometimes formed to unify these three tongues. They have evident similarities in phonetic system, noun morphology, syntax. Some scientists (e.g. I. Diakonov in Russia) suggest the same origin of the Hurrite language spoken in East Asia Minor. But anyway, Italian ancient tongues are still a problem of origin, structure and classification.

And finally the third subgroup that will be a subject of this very article: the pre-Indo-European languages of the Pyrenean peninsula. They were spoken by quite numerous groups of people, people who established powerful states and were well known in the ancient world. They had (perhaps some of them) their writing system and made quite a lot of inscriptions. But still despite all that those Pyrenean languages disappeared quite easily in the beginning of the new era, and left so few signs in modern languages of the area that we can hardly identify the very system of them, and practically unable to decipher them and to classify them.

Those languages were namely Iberian and Lusitanian, and this will be the topic for today.

 

 

       § 2. The Geography and History of Iberians.

 

The Iberian Peninsula, comprising Spain and Portugal, takes its name from them. The origin of the Iberians is still largely a matter for conjecture. Some scholars suggest that the region around the Ebro River (in ancient times the Iberus) is the most likely place of origin; others theorize that the Iberians migrated to the Iberian Peninsula from North Africa sometime between 4000 and 3500 BC. The well known theory states that the autochtonic population of South Europe all came from Africa, the the so-called Mediterranean race was common both in Europe and North Africa before Indo-Europeans came. However, cultures of Africa and Europe do not show much in common.

The first historical references to the Iberians, made by Greek colonists settled along the Mediterranean coast of the peninsula, date from the 6th century BC. But the first to contact with them and told the world about the Iberian civilization, were Phoenicians who began to colonize the shores of Iberia already in the 11th century or even earlier. Phoenicians established a great number of colonies along the coast for trading purposes and set up friendly merchant relations with ingenious people of the country. Some believe the very word "Hispania" derives from the Semitic stem "hidden, concealed, remote". Phoenicians were the greatest factor of fast development of the Iberians who used to be wild tribes and now began to turn into a civilized nation. Especially it concerned the southernmost tribal communities of them, which had wider contacts with Phoenician colonies. The writing, introduced by Phoenician, was acquired by Iberians, then reconstructed later with the help of the Greek alphabet, and this is the way Iberian scripts appeared.

The 9th century was the time for the Tartessian culture to appear and soon to become one of the most developed powers in Europe of that time. Tartess has always been considered as the mystery number one in Spanish history. This state existed until the 5th century BC, and was developing under the strong influence of Phoenicians, their culture and traditions. Some linguists used to suggest last century that Iberians were just the mixture of Phoenicians and aborigines, but now this theory is left, I think fairly. It seems probable that Tartessians were not immigrants but a local nation, though in this period some of them could mix with Syrians, Phoenicians, Achaeans. That was the time of "Sea Peoples" migrations in the Mediterranean, and Tartessians could be one of these peoples. V.Poulter mentions the name from the bible sounding like Tarshish , and that's another theory.

Tartessians used writing since the 8th century, according to Strabo, had their written laws, coins, wide trade with all Mediterranean countries, Britain and northern Europe. But all that began to decline with the rise of Carthago, which developed as a great trading sea power and occupied all trading ways that used to be Tartessian profits. In 500 BC Tartess was no longer a serious power, and Iberians had to get back to their original tribal life, though more civilized than before.

Later data, recorded mainly by the Romans, who gained possession of the peninsula as a consequence of the Second Punic War, reveal that by the 3rd century BC the Iberians had become mixed with Celtic invaders from the east, producing the so-called Celtiberians; the present-day Spanish are in part descended from these Celtiberians. Celtiberians did not have broad contacts with Tartessians and their higher culture and that's why remained tribes until Romans came here. Celts were the first Indo-Europeans who came to settle in Hispania, and the mixture making Celtiberians was really a strange language conglomerate that needs to be studied deeper (see Celtiberian language description). Anyway, Celts pushed Iberians from the northern and central Hispania, and also assimilated them in southern France where Iberians used to live as well (Iberian inscriptions and remains of settlements were found there).

Knowledge of the Iberians of Spain has been gained mainly from cross-dating of their coins and pottery. Iberian pottery has been uncovered in parts of France, Italy, and North Africa, brought there originally through trade and travel.

It is widely supposed that the Iberians were generally short and dark-skinned; their anthropological type is sooner African than European; but they were of the white race for sure - just take a look at the famous Elche's Lady, one of the most beautiful Iberian sculptures. Primarily they were agriculturists (some were also miners and metalworkers); that quite possibly they lived in and around politically independent city-states; and that undoubtedly they possessed a sophisticated written literature. Their culture, although earlier indebted to the Carthaginians and Greeks who had colonized Spain before the Romans, had reached a high level by the time of the Roman conquest. Little of it survived the overpowering influence of Rome.

In the 1st century AD Strabo described Iberians and told that Turdetanes were the most cultured among them, "they know writing and have documents devoted to their history, poems and laws written in verse, as they say, 6000-year-old". Strabo mentioned the majority of the tribes that you can see on the map here, but at that time they were all under Roman rule, though often rebelled. In about a century they were gradually assimilated, lost their language and became history. Tacitus tells us about an Iberian citizen who spoke to Romans in his mother-tongue, after he killed a praetor. This was the last sign of using Iberian language in the literature.

 

 

       § 3. The Iberian Language and Its Origins.

 

The Iberian language is witnessed in inscriptions dating back to the 4-3th centuries BC. It is not clear whether it had many dialects or not. Strabo says Iberians spoke different languages, but as he again said their writing was also different we can suppose there were just dialectal differences - the fact is that writing has several varieties but they are all forms of one script. The inscriptions represent at least two main dialectal groups of the language - the north-eastern, on the territory along the Mediterranean coast from France via Valencia and then deeper in Castile, and southern (mainly in Andalusia). The Iberian script was made to suit both single phonemes and syllables, so we can trace all sounds of Iberian phonetics.

The language had vowels a, e, i, o (that's a pity for those who would like to relate Iberian with Etruscan and Rhaetic, because they both did not have o sound.). No diphthongs can be found in it. As for consonants, Iberian used sonants l, r, m, n, voiced explosives b, d, g, their unvoiced counterparts p, t, k, aspirated consonants h and th, and finally spirants - s, s', z. Aspirated were not so numerous as in Etruscan, palatals were not so numerous as in Basque, and in general the phonetics does not find any correspondences among European known tongues.

There is not much known about the morphology. All we know is forms of the verb eban or ebanen with unclear grammatical meaning and semantical meaning like "died, was buried" or something like that. Anyway, burial stones practically always mention this stem. It seems like Iberian was agglutinative and formed morphological categories by postfixes adding directly to the stem. Of them, the postpositive element mi is known with the supposed meaning of possession, and not only "my", but "his", "her", "their" etc. It is believed to act somehow like English possessive case (e.g. Gargori mi = Gargoris's). Iberian was much more analytic than Latin, as some Roman historian mentions Iberians could not understand Latin numerous inflected forms.

The Lusitanian (or South Lusitanian) language left some inscriptions written also in Iberian script. It should be related o Iberian, but the structure of the language remains unknown. All ancient authors identify Lusitanians as an Iberian tribe, so we can suppose their languages were similar.

The Iberian origins are not defined, and an argument between various theories has not turned into the truth yet. The majority believe Iberians could come from North Africa and spread in Hispania, Southern France, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily. Ancient Sardinian language and languages of Sicelian tribes in Sicily are not studied deeply enough to judge for sure, but the ethnic features as ancient documents witness give us a chance of unifying them in one language group. So Iberians could be immigrants in Europe from Africa, who came here and assimilated autochtonic population. The Iberization did not touch the north-west of the Pyrenean peninsula, where Basques (Vascones) used to live at the moment and continue to live nowadays. All attempts which have been made since the 19th century in linguistics to prove any genetic similarity of Basque and Iberian seem to have been unsuccessful. The most probable variant is that Basque nation is the synthesis of aboriginal tribes who used to be more numerous in Europe in a very ancient epoch. Anyway, the contacts of Iberians and Basques were history already when Greeks came here in the 6th century BC.

Basques can sooner be close to Aquitans who lived in South France until Romans came. Aquitans, who spoke also an unknown language, were very short and black-haired, the same as Iberians, but the toponimic names do not show similarity in Iberian and Aquitanian. And nowadays linguists are able to choose Iberian loanwords in Basque and in Spanish to prove, that those three languages were different.

Another interesting theory gets us to Caucasus. The phonetics and syntax of Iberian, as well as Basque, are much alike some processes in South Caucasian languages, especially of Kartvelian group. Greeks called today's Georgians also Iberians. In general Caucasian tongues play important role in the studies of Mediterranean languages - many linguists referred to them as the related languages: Etruscan can be related to Hurrite, Cretan languages show something in common with Hatti, and Hatti - with Georgian. The same goes with Iberian, but the material is too scarce to prove something.

 

 

       § 4. The Iberian Substratum in Spanish, Portuguese and Basque.

 

The Roman conquest delivered a completely new civilization to the peninsula. Romans came with their language, an Indo-European Italic tongue which began to influence strongly native tongues of the country. It is supposed that local languages of Spain and Portugal could not but leave some elements in later speech. And not only the vocabulary is subject to such mutations, but the phonetics and the morphology as well. Do not forget that Celtic languages of those who came to Iberia and became Celtiberians then changed greatly due to aboriginal influence (see Celtiberian language description). In Spanish there is a number of different phenomena the nature of which cannot be explained within the development of Latin and Romance linguistics, and that's why such processes are often said to mean Iberian traces in Spanish.

The Spanish s sound is somehow special and dissimilar to correspondent phonemes of other Romance tongues. The palatal Iberian consonants which influenced Celtiberian and turned its s into š (compare Gaulish noun endings -os, -es, -abos with Celtiberian -oš, -eš, -uboš), must have influenced also Spanish which led to this specific s. Another thing, now concerning the morphology, deals with Spanish word productive suffixes, some of which are really unique.

But certainly the most visible trace the Iberian language left in the vocabulary. The question about this substratum lexics is very complicated, because the very definition of pre-Romance substratum is based on the similar words in Spanish and Basque and their absence in all surrounding languages. Here is the list of words which are defined by linguists as certain Iberian substratum:

 

abarca - leather shoes (Gascon abarque, Basque abarka)

arrugia - underground way (Modern arroyo)

artica - uncultivated plain

balsa - pool, swamp (Old Portuguese balsa - vat)

balucem, baluz - gold sand (the word was mentioned by Plinius in Roman times)

bruja - witch (Portuguese bruxa)

cachorro - puppy, cub

calambre - cramp

cuscolium - holly fruit (Modern coscojo)

esquín - little salmon  (Basque izoki - salmon)

García - family name

gusa - a worm (Basque usan, uzan, Berber akuz, takuzt, takust)

helecho - a fern (Basque hiratz)

izquierdo - left (Portuguese esquerdo, Basque ezkerr)

lama - swamp, mud

lancea - a spear (Modern Spanish lanza)

lausia - burial stone (Modern Spanish losa, Potuguese lousa)

légamo - silt

loco - crazy

manteca - lard

mozo - a surf

muga - border

nata - cream (Catalan mato)

nava, Basque naba - a mountain valley (Navarra comes from here)

páramo - empty plain, valley

pestaña - eye-lash (Portuguese pestana)

rebañe - herd

sabandija (from *sege-andere-a - girl-snake) - leech (Basque sugandilla, suangilla - lizard)

sapo - toad

sarna - itch

sarralia - lettuce

ura, Basque ur - water, stream

vega, Old Spanish vaica, Basque ibaiko - a river bank

 

Here we mentioned Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, Gascon (dialect of Occitan) and Catalan languages, of them the last is the least influenced by Iberian; Catalonia was inhabited partly by Celts, then Roman colonies were much stronger there, closer to Gaul. But the fact is that complete Iberian vocabulary (including toponimics, personal names, glosses and word stems) makes about 1,000 words. And practically no cognates from other language groups - Iberian remains mysterious and strange.

Once a powerful civilization, which conducted war with Egypt, raided the shores of Asia Minor, once a leading trading power which sent its ships to Britain and Syria, traded with Europe, Asia and Africa, once a strong and wary people which made the best units of Gannibal's army on the field of Cannae - Iberians then disappeared, taking their secrets with them. But still they could not take their culture, their traces, their language. I am sure that the language will be finally interpreted, all inscriptions deciphered, and we will write another page of ancient European linguistics and its relations with Indo-European languages of Europe.  

Some other random links:

http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib8b_en.htm

http://web.quipo.it/minola/euskara/language.htm

http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~philo/about/gen_...itex_kruman.pdf

[Acumen]

Yeah, the content of the Audio DD is very very old. Language translations sections, I left virtually untouched (was primarily concerned with new unit sets, etc).

Please indicate what you'd like the new text to be, and I'll make the update.

[Fire Giant]

LOL, look at the Carthargian translation of "Yes, great one ?":

Ken, adoní?

That seems to be linked to the qualities of our lead designer and proves his superiority

[Jeru]

1. I found the Hebrew translation of "formation": utzbáh

2. I thought of a good battle cry: akharái! ("After me!")

[Wijitmaker]

Found, this, thought it might be usefull at some point in time.

[Jeru]

Please replace the current Carthaginian equivalent for "formation", merubá', with utzbáh and the current equivalent for the battle cry, hal'áh la'oyév! with akharái!.

[Acumen]

Okay, done. Thanks.

[AnthonyL]

The Gallic language is reconstructed well enough to be employed for Gauls and Britons. Modern Welsh is light years away from what Britons would've sounded like prior to the Roman conquest. Likely is that they'd sound more akin to Gauls, who's language is closer to ancient Greek and Latin than it is to later Welsh.

Iberians would almost invariably be speakers of early-Q (the languages from which stem modern Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic). That's reconstructed enough for this as well (minding I would again recommend against using a modern language as reconstructions of the actual languages are common). If I could find it, there's also a Punic dictionary available, the actual language Carthaginians spoke (related to Hebrew but still a seperate language).

If needed, I'll see what I can do for Celts.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Thanks Anthony. Properly spoken ancient tongues will bring that added "umph" to the accuracy of the game.

[AnthonyL]

Okay, here we go. Proto-Q should work for Iberians and be more realistic. Some parts are conjecture based on other reconstruction. Mind that I write things in simplified phonetics, largely because many of these spellings are complicated or odd, and also because it's just easier to convey the idea for sounds;

Yes? - Eh-sha?

My lord? - Ma-ree-dek-tee?

How may I serve you? - Tay-oo es-sah?

As you wish - Eg-li-ar-ma!

Attack - Lam-bot/Ob-dal

For my family - Mel-gee-ot too-ah-oh!

Build - El-im-bee-ah-eg-ah

Farm - Tree-ov-ah cam-bull-ah

Mine - Klad-ee-jo

Chop - Ser-ah-mag-oh

Gather - Ko-brig-du

Herd - Tree-ga-sah ul-vull-ah

Fish - Eer-oo-ortz

Repair - Sem-ull-eko

Hunt - Est-em-glee-orm-ak

Your orders? - She-boo mat-em-ak?

Ready, sir. - Ves-tah.

My liege? - Ma-ree-ok-tee?

By your command. - In-glee-es ma-tak.

Yes my lord. - Eh-sha ma-ree-dek-te.

As you wish. - Suv-ell-ee.

Cities will fall - Ed-oo nee Brig-oh

War cry - Possibly 'abo', that's an oldy, repeated over and over.

To victory - Bwad-ah tee-oh!

Yes, great one? - Mah-tee?

Your wish? - Dim-blee-ar-ah?

By the Gods - Dah-go dee-am-oh

Heal - Sen-blak-uh

At your service - In-glee-es sem-ul-ee

Orders, sir - Mat-em-ak mah-tee?

Ready - Ves-tah.

Move out - Ma-rah!

March - Ma-rah sem-bok!

With my honour - An vel-gin-see-oh.

Engage! - Spo-kah!

Attack! - Lam-bot/Ob-dal

Formation - Roo-tah

Retreat! - Too-dah!

Surround them! - Ak-or bah-dee men-glee-arm!

Advance! - Or-re-rah-ten

Battle cry - Abo would work again. It's a Galaecian cry actually.

Then...Celts could use one set. P-Celtic as we recognize it now was not predominant amongst the major British tribes and kingdoms except for Brigantia, and even they wrote on religious objects in Gallic. Gallic MAY have been a P-Celtic language, but it doesn't look or sound remotely like Welsh or similar languages, so I'm rather doubtful of that theory, and support a three-branch split (Q, P, and Continental, or K). So, I'm presenting a continental Celtic reconstruction here. See what you think. Again, very simple phonetics, cause no one ever pronounces these right. Mind that for their actual voice they'd almost sound Greek or Latin to an untrained ear; this is because continental Celtic languages were influenced by, and had great influence on both at different times.

Yes? - Tay?

My lord? - May rix?

How may I serve you? - Gob-rim mah-gos?

As you wish - Esh-os may rix!

Attack - Am-ee-no

For my family - Ay-ee-og-os may too-tis!

Build - Al-am-bee-oh

Farm - Ge-or-tos

Mine - Saff

Chop - Ver-em-nos

Gather - So-tay-dos

Herd - En-see-os

Fish - Mar-ah ben-ooh

Repair - Tee-da-al-am-bee-oh

Hunt - Am-bak-et-tos

Your orders? - May rix tay?

Ready, sir. - Bul-gos.

My liege? - May arr-jo?

By your command. - Tay may arr-jo, nee-mam-os.

Yes my lord. - Tay may rix.

As you wish. - Is-kee-os.

Cities will fall - Op-ah-de-um urv-ah gull-es can-ten-tum!

War cry - Here's a barrel of fun left unexploited. Gauls wrote many cries and warsongs on religious objects. Ay-EE Bazv (Aii basv; 'Cause death', pretty much literally) is a good one. There's the more heroic sounding, En-see-os tek-um vall-oh may too-tis (Ensios tecum valo me teutis; 'For home, realm, and my family/tribe'). Songs were extremely common, usually just repetitive noises rather than words, with instruments like hand drums, bronze and iron horns (not the carnyx, they're specifically for battle commands and cannot produce notes), and stringed instruments, probably accompanied with banging shields; they helped the men keep step in formation.

To victory - Bell-oh tos an-dros!

Yes, great one? - May gob-rim?

Your wish? - Kee-os?

By the Gods - Day-os ven-ee-mum

Heal - Siv

At your service - Kee-um nay am-ah.

Orders, sir - Bol-tem-nee?

Ready - Bul-gos.

Move out - Ab-ee-do!

March - Am-ro!

With my honour - En-glay-dos vor-ect-um bor-num.

Engage! - Sum-ee-dee!

Attack! - Am-ee-no

Formation - Klan-doh

Retreat! - Fay-oh!

Surround them! - Kirk-el-tee tu-os!

Advance! - Ab-an!

Battle cry - Again, lots, here. Wordless sounds ('voh-loh-loh-loh-loh', though I've heard it complained by gamers it sounds weird, though I think it's cool), taunts like iato (ya-toh; a vulgar shout), and they were also noted for shrieking and whooping a lot when charging.

Hope any of that helps or can be of some use.

[Wijitmaker]

Awesome - perfect! The Phonetics will help so much (even then it would be good if you could listen to the audio files once they are made to make sure the emphasis is placed on the correct syllables)

It is true the Celts do sound a bit Latin to my ear as I was trying to speak the words aloud. I think it has to do with the numerous phrases that end in -os.

[Tilanus Commodor]

Salvete!

mihi nomen est ... nah, let's leave that ^^ I'm your voice performer and I was told to record Celtic and Greek sounds, however, I've some problems with some pronunciations, they're sadly not as clear as they should be.

Greek

How may I serve you? - Pos dunamai therapèuein

The last word therapèuein is a bit tricky, is it: therapè u e in?

...pèu e in? (poi e in)

...pèu ein? (poi ain)

The word kurie: is the last syllable ie like ee or i e (ee ye[ah])?

I guess I'm right, but nonetheless I'm asking to be safe, the grave accents (è, à ... ) means that one has to put an emphasis (speaking longer/accented) on this word, correct?

tèucho: te ucho or teu-cho?

Celts

I'm not sure how to accent Tay properly, is it really that English or more like tai?

Ar fy fforth - Very funny guys, very funny I get the pirate arrrrr and the fy (fee, fi) is also okay, but how to speak out two fs? Just one long f? And the r in fforth seems to be a rolling r, is that right?

Am-ee-no, I know this has been written for native english speaker, but I need my 200%, sorry Is it Am like in America or more like German am like in Amme?

rest should be fine

cheers

Edited September 2, 2009 by Tilanus Commodor

[Jeru]

English Carthaginians

Yes? Ken?

My Lord? Adoní?

How may I serve you? Keiṣád ašarteḫá?

As you wish Kirṣonḫá

I'm coming Hinéni

On my way Bedarkí

Attack! Tkóf!

For my family! Lemišpaḥtí!

Build Bnéh

Farm Zraʿ

Mine or Dig Aḥapór

Chop Krót

Gather Qtóf

Herd Erʿeh

Fish Dug

Repair Takén

Hunt ṣud

Your Orders? Hora'otéikha?

Ready, Sir Muḫán, adoní

My Liege? Mefaqdí?

By your Command Lifqudatḫá

Yes my Lord Ken, adoní

As you wish Kirtsonḫá

Cities will Fall! ʿarím tipólnah!

War cry! Aḥarái!

To victory! Laniṣaḥón!

Yes, great one? Ken, adoní?

Your wish? Reṣonḫá?

By the Gods Bešém ha'elím

Heal Rapéh

At your service Lešerutkhá

Orders, Sir Lifqudatḫá, adoní

Ready Muḫán

Move out! ṣ'u!

March! kadíma ṣ'ád!

With my honour Bikhvodí

Engage! Hista'aru!

Attack! Tkóf!

Formation Timrún

Hold your position! Bamqomót!

Retreat! Sgú!

Surround them! Haqifúhum!

Advance! Hitqadmú!

Battle cry Aḥarái!

Consonants transliterated by this standard.

Vowels & stress are as in Spanish.

[Ykkrosh]

Someone (from OGA) said

14:39 < BartK> speaking of dabbling, I picked up a middle-end sound recorder

14:39 < BartK> and a shotgun mic

...

14:39 < BartK> I'm going to do some voice recording.

...

14:42 < Philip`> If you ever have the opportunity to record lots of phrases in ancient Greek/Latin/Persian/etc, I know a project that might be able to make use of them ;-)

14:42 < BartK> My wife knows ancient greek

...

14:50 < BartK> Anyway, get me a list of phrases and I'll see if I can get my wife to record them.

So I was thinking it might be good to move this list and the relevant pronunciation information onto the Trac wiki, so they're public, and see if some people can do some recording. We don't need voices urgently but we can make use of them now - if they're good quality then they'll add some nice variation to our current lone Greek male, and they don't need to be perfect since we can always replace or add to them later if we change the list of phrases.

[Jeru]

I am in favor. Nimrod Mor or I can get someone to record Carthaginian sounds.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Jeru

[Mythos_Ruler]

Nice. We need some female sounds.

[Pureon]

Nice. We need some female sounds.

Could you guys let me know what phrases we need a female voice actress to say in Greek? I'm assuming we won't need 'War cry' or 'Attack' etc.

I'd like us to have a Greek female voice for alpha 8 - rather than the groan we currently have. Also would it matter if the voice actress wasn't Greek, and just read the Greek phrases with a Greek accent?

[Mythos_Ruler]

Could you guys let me know what phrases we need a female voice actress to say in Greek? I'm assuming we won't need 'War cry' or 'Attack' etc.

I'd like us to have a Greek female voice for alpha 8 - rather than the groan we currently have. Also would it matter if the voice actress wasn't Greek, and just read the Greek phrases with a Greek accent?

I think ideally the pronunciation should be authentic, but the actress doing the voice does not need to be ethnic Greek.