#gallifreyan alphabet

[thatrandomnerdyouknow]

FREE PALESTINE

[heimeldat]

I've spent an inordinate amount of time parsing the few examples we have of Old High Gallifreyan text, and here at last is the result of my labors!

The Old Gallifreyan alphabet:

The alternate forms of letters may be used interchangeably with their main forms; the differences are purely cosmetic, much like the difference between cursive and print-style writing.

Now for my analysis of the existing texts. It's rather long, so I've put it below the break!

EXAMPLES OF OLD HIGH GALLIFREYAN TEXT

ITEM ONE

Supposedly from “The Five Doctors,” though I can’t spot this writing anywhere. Translation given in episode.

ORA PSYERPA

O – honorific indicating uniqueness, may be rendered with the definite article “the”

R – combined with the definite honorific, a common abbreviation of Rassilon’s name

A – an alternate version of the possessive “ya,” used only when the possessive noun is already abbreviated

Psyerpa – a general term for harps and other large stringed instruments

Thus, the full text reads:

O-Rassilon-ya psyerpa

The Rassilon’s harp

ITEM TWO

From “The Colony in Space,” across the bottom of the Doctor’s mugshot. No translation given.

QU  ETHOA TRIOUAX BRIA

Qu – This is not a complete word, merely a letter used in this case for alphanumerical file designation: note that it stands alone, separate from the main text.

Ethoa – exile

Triouax – an infinitive verb, “to persist” or “to remain in effect”

Bria – a conditional modifier used exclusively in bureaucratic contexts, implying the need for occasional update of information or policy.

This text is a record of the Doctor’s sentence, and may be rendered something like this: Exile: to remain in effect barring further review.

ITEM THREE

From “The Time of Angels.” Translation given.

JUSYMOU CAIDEU OXA OOYY MAISOM

Jusymou – An archaic greeting, roughly equivalent to “well met” or “hail.”

Caideu – self, soul, or “hearts” in a poetic sense

Oxa – prepositional suffix, “part of”

OOYY – a conceptual abbreviation that combines the two meanings of the solitary letter O (definite article + symbol of individuality) and the mathematical use of the letter Y (usually indicating a dimensional shift). Literally, this means something like the individual, shifted two dimensions. In practice, it refers to a Time Lord’s fifth dimensional aspect.

Maisom – name, designation, identification

Thus, a literal translation would read something like this: Greetings, soul-linked fifth-dimensional name!

Or as the Doctor paraphrases it: Hello, Sweetie.

ITEM FOUR

From “The Five Doctors.” Translation is given, though it’s not specified which face of the obelisk corresponds to which section of the text.

First Face:

RA NASA TO TANA EURIFSTAN OBLR ORE NATA

Ra – where

Nasa – sleep

To – in

Tana – lies, reclines, rests

Eurifstan – eternal, endless, timeless. Here it modifies the verb, so it should be rendered as an adverb.

Oblr – abbreviated form of obelar, tomb or grave

OR – the same abbreviation seen previously, “The One And Only Rassilon.”

E – an alternate version of the possessive “ya,” used only when the possessive noun is already abbreviated

Nata – a basic verb of being, is

This yields the following literal translation: Where sleep-in lies eternally, tomb Rassilon’s is.

Or as the Doctor translates it: This is the Tomb of Rassilon, where Rassilon lies in eternal sleep.

Second Face:

The text on the second face is never seen. The Doctor translates it as: Anyone who's got this far has passed many dangers and shown great courage and determination.

Third Face:

ULIREIF RAENATA TOAAN LAKI FSTA TORARO

Ulireif – to lose everything, to be utterly defeated

Raenata – an emphatic form of the being-verb nata, indicating that something really, truly, permanently is

Toa’an – to win everything, to be crowned victor

Laki – a compound conjunction combining la (so) with ki (and): “and so”

Fsta – an abbreviated form of festoa, a winner or leader

Toraro – future tense of torar, to fail or collapse

Thus: To lose all is truly to win all, and so the winner will fail.

Or as the Doctor puts it: To lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose.

Fourth Face:

KIRA ATOUNA OR TA LIRI EUKI RAATO SUTE ANAAN FEIRLIO REUNT

Kira – takes

Atouna – ring

OR – the same abbreviation seen previously, “The One And Only Rassilon.”

Ta – from

Liri – hand

Euki – a compound conjunction combining eu (then, next, afterward) with ki (and): “and then”

Ra’ato – future tense of ra’at, to wear

Sute – reward, prize, payment

Ana’an – desired, sought-after

Feirlio – future tense of feiril, to get or acquire. Note that this is an irregular verb: the last two letters switch places when adding any tense ending.

Reunt – immortality, eternity

Literally: Takes ring Rassilon-from-hand and then will wear, reward-sought will have: immortality.

Or as the Doctor translates it: Whoever takes the ring from Rassilon's hand and puts it on shall get the reward he seeks: immortality.

[anti-oneirocritic]

[poppiesforthirteen]

Died Bee-o-vay-is, France

[unpredictable-probabilities]

“tired of shit not killing me and only making me stronger”

Found this in my old files, made it way back in 2019. 

[intuitive-revelations]

Headcanon: one of the reasons why Gallifreyan is a) so complex, and b) so inconsistent, is because it's less one language and more a complex mishmash of thousands of languages and dialects.

Think about how one of the reasons English can be complex to learn is because of the mix of Germanic and romance language roots, and now take it up to 11.

While one might expect Gallifrey to be monolingual, given its age and class structure, this probably isn't technically the case. After all, why limit your culture to one language when the average citizen is effectively panlingual (to the point that TARDIS translation circuits are actually dependent on their pilots' knowledge, rather than the other way round)?

Thus, if there once were distinct languages on Gallifrey, they probably have all been merged at this point into modern Gallifrey's super-Esperanto. Add in loan words from notable civilisations across all of spacetime (but likely primarily from Gallifreyan colonies and allies like Dronid, Minyos, Cartego etc.), and it quickly becomes quite unwieldy.

It's also likely that there's a lot of overlap between these sub-languages, which can make distinguishing meaning hard to an outsider. Gallifreyans likely get around this courtesy of their telepathic connections.

TBH, given Time Lord sensibilities, it's likely that every single word variation has its own delicate meanings, derived not just from their societal uses but also from the etymology and history of each one. Canonically (though I don't have a source) we know that there are 30 different words meaning "culture shock", for example, which likely have very minor distinctions in meaning. We also know, unsurprisingly, that there's at least 208 tenses to help in describing time travel.

As an example - imagine being a Sunari ambassador at an embassy gathering and accidentally offending every Time Lord in the room because you accidentally used a definite article derived from the memeovored Old High Tersuran colony dialect, now considered low-brow by association with modern Tersuran, when you intended to use a nearly identical form of the word originating from the Founding Conflict, a triumphant post-Rassilonian intervention, distinguished by a near-imperceptible glottal stop.

It's likely that some of these Gallifreyan sub-languages/dialects may still be spoken with increased frequency under certain conditions, such as in one's own House or when visiting other city complexes. We know, for example, that Arcadia seems to be associated with a "Northern English" accent (which Nine picked up subconsciously post-regeneration, with the Fall of Arcadia being one of the last things the War Doctor remembered before DOTD's multi-Doctor event - hence "lots of planets have a north") when translated, which may indicate some dialect differences in the original language. I suspect there is a societal expectation for Gallifreyans to code-switch depending on the situation, with Citadel business generally expecting the Gallifreyan equivalent of RP, though it's relatively common for Time Lords less concerned with respectability and politicking to not comply.

One nice benefit of all this complexity, and the reason I made this post, is that there's a good argument to be made that every fan attempt to construct a Gallifreyan language can be 'canon', contradictions and all.

Greencook Gallifreyan? A formal evolution of Pythian prophecy scripture into the post-Intuitive Revelation era (based on its similarities with the Visionary's scrawling in The End of Time).

Sherman Gallifreyan? A modern katakana-like phonetic alphabet for the rapid-onslaught of new loan words following President Romana's open academy policies. Recently adopted by the Fifteenth Doctor for writing human proverbs.

Teegarden Gallifreyan? An archaic but recognisable near-Capitolian dialect from the Prydonian mountains, once spoken by Oldblood houses like Lungbarrow and Blyledge.

Or, in a nutshell, the state of Gallifreyan conlangs (and maybe in-universe Gallifreyan dialects):

I guess the dream project would be to accept the complexity and create some sort of grand modular "meta-Gallifreyan" conlang, merging as many fan interpretations as possible with their own distinctions and overlaps, that can continue to be updated as new ideas come up and new stories are released...

[twojamie-o-clock]

(Click for quality) Hi I’m back w art ☹️ I’ll try to draw more later I’m just tired rn. Rambling below the cut

I wasn’t really happy w how this came out bc I liked the idea but I gave up halfway through, and this is my all-time-favorite audio (queen of time) so..yeah. I’ll def be doing like a Hecuba reference sheet, I’ll probably change her appearance later I just got lazy and went off how she was described in p1.

Notes: twojamie wedding rings cause …..yeah. the golden figure in the background is the little Dutchboy statue!! They don’t name the tale in the audio I don’t think? But I believe it is the Hero of Haarlem. Here is the background without any characters:

Emphasis on the grandfather/cuckoo clocks & the sun dial because that’s what Hecuba threatened to turn the crew into!!! The gallifreyan is all squiggles I didn’t bother looking into using the fan made alphabet except for some number “2” ones here and there. I tried to draw a telescope in Zoe’s cuckoo clock but it didn’t really come out well lol.

And of course some hourglasses for when Jamie & Zoe get trapped. They are jumping over the hand of the clock from the beginning etc.

Anyways I’m only disappointed bc I envisioned this piece as much more detailed with more attention and care but like I said I got bored of it so. I may draw more of this tardis crew experiencing Hecuba but we will see.

[gallifreyanhotfive]

Random Doctor Who Facts You Might Not Know, Part 62

While looking back on her adventures, an older Susan reflected that by Gallifreyan standards she had just been a baby and that the First Doctor had been an adolescent. (Audio: Here There Be Monsters)

Some Gallifreyans can fly. The Third Doctor took to flying for a while after he learned how to out of a book. (Comic: Levitation)

The Eighth Doctor has such sharp reflexes that he can use a pistol to shoot bullets out of the air. (Novel: Trading Futures)

The Twelfth Doctor once made a sonic spoon when he was locked in The Prison (on a trumped up charge.) (Novel: The Blood Cell)

Autumn Tace was head of astronomy at one of the most impressive observatories ever. She had feelings for Adric but ended up being seriously injured while saving Nyssa and Tegan. She died in Adric's arms. The Fifth Doctor had to explain to Adric that he cannot go back in time and change this because it was part of established events. (Audio: The Star Men)

The Fifth Doctor's sonic screwdriver and a vial full of plague virus survived the Great Fire of London. It eventually comes into the possession of Deakin, someone who collects alien technology, in the 21st century in a Mayan temple in Belize. Deakin mentioned that sonic screwdrivers were not incredibly unique as the Doctor has lost so many over the years. Indeed, he also knew of the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver, abandoned in a hospital. (Audio: The Tactics of Defeat)

Indeed, a damaged sonic screwdriver was also found in Leadworth, eventually making it to San Juan. UNIT had sent Charlie Sato to collect it, but the Eighth Doctor claimed it and threw it in a drawer in his TARDIS. (Audio: The Turn of the Screw)

Gallifreyan blood contains temporal platelets, allowing them to recover from injuries much faster than humans do. (Audio: The Bride of Peladon)

When the TARDIS is in Artron II Recharge Mode, other people (but especially humans) cannot be inside. The Thirteenth Doctor remembered that doing so caused David Bowie's eye to become dilated. (Short story: Press Play)

There is a box-room on the TARDIS full of boxes of objects the Doctor has collected. The Sixth Doctor once found a spaceship full of refugees in his box-room after the TARDIS must have materialized around them at some point. (Comic: Exodus)

The Old High Gallifreyan alphabet is actually called the 'omegabet.' (Novel: The Gallifrey Chronicles)

At one point, Gallifrey had a third moon called Botoya. Inside this moon, there was a device capable of rewriting history dramatically; thus, the moon was hidden. It became a legend on Gallifrey. (Audio: The End of the Beginning)

While at the Academy, the Doctor kept a poster of Marcella Retaxus, a reverse fusion engineer and singer, on his dorm room wall. (Audio: Time in Office)

Socra, a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency who took part in the Second Doctor's trial, helped decide to send the Third Doctor in search of the Doomsday Weapon, and was present for the First Omega Crisis, was eaten alive by one of the Rani's giant rodents. (Short story: The Legacy of Gallifrey).

One time, Nyssa was captured and experimented on. They gave her anesthetics, cut her open, and sewed crystals of anti-matter into her stomach. She turned into an anti-woman (an anti-matter monster with red eyes.) This procedure left a scar on her abdomen. (Novel: Zeta Major)

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[queerestqueertoeverqueer]

do young time lords get given circular gallifreyan alphabet spaghetti

[bl-sensei]

It took me a very long time but I finally finished my masterpiece!

I'm a new Doctor Who fan (been watching for 2 months now) and my favourite Doctor is 9! Never got over The Parting of the Ways...

I recently discovered that there was an official Gallifreyan alphabet, so, of course, I had to use it to write my favorite ship: Nine x Jack x Rose.

P.S.: If you're wondering, I wrote "Captain Jack Harkness" because I think "Captain" is a very important part of his name (the Doctor didn't like it when Rose called Jack "Captain").

Also, I noticed that people usually write "Tyler" with the consonant "y", which is, I think, unfit, so I used the vowel "i" instead. AND, I accidentally wrote Ro-SSe instead of Ro-Ze.

Also, the circles in "Doctor" represent the solar system, with the empty circle at the top being the Earth. The empty extra circle in the center represents Gallifrey.

I wondered if I should put them all in one big circle or not. I didn't do it because they didn't/can't stay together forever, they parted ways.

[gotyouanyway]

leela and literacy.... i think it's safe to assume the tesh and sevateem spoke a version of english because of the way their names evolved, but we later see the doctor teaching leela how to write her name in the latin alphabet. which i guess could mean they used a different alphabet but more likely implies the sevateem didn't read and write (goes hand in hand with their use of oral tradition). in gallifrey s4 there's a scene where leela reads a sign in gallifreyan by sounding out the syllables. so it's pretty likely that 1. leela speaks gallifreyan on gallifrey instead of relying on translation technology and 2. she can at least kind of read and write in it, and it's probably the first language she's learned to read and write in

[musicals-and-mushrooms]

LOOK WHAT MY COUSIN GOT ME!! its from the 11th doctors era ( i think end of 11 right before 12 started) so i need to watch that!! im highly considering adding my own annotations (BECAUSE THEY DID MARTHA DIRTY WITH HER DESCRIPTION ALSO THERES NO GALLIFREYAN ALPHABET ALSO CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THE CIRCLES ON THE FRONT IS ACTUAL READABLE GALLIFREYAN OR JUST FOR LOOKS) but im not sure yet i think it would be cool though!

[picnokinesis]

hiii its godteeth ao3 again :) im reading roads for the first time (i LOVED the first two parts and then life got busy so im finally picking it up again) but the gallifreyan images in part 3 chap 2 r gone :( wanted to know if u had those anywhere bc this is literally my thoschei hc and id love to see them haha sorry if this is weird

Ahh hello!! Oh my days, I'm so glad that you're enjoying the story so far :D Thank you so much!

And agh yes, believe it or not I've been meaning to do the admin on those pictures for AGES and not gotten around to it! Basically what happened was I was hotlinking from discord in order to host the images somewhere without having to post them somewhere publicly before the chapter was out, but since then discord has made it so image links only work for twenty-four hours rip. And then I was like 'ugh I just need to make a post on tumblr about it and sort it out' but I've just not gotten around to it. But now, you've provided me the PERFECT place to post the images to restore them into their rightful places in the actual fic! It'll take me a couple of minutes to actually sort that, but for now:

This is the first one, which says 'TARDIS'. I picked the word TARDIS because I just needed a simple word that the Doctor would use in-character, but that also had multiple lines and a variety of different letters amongst the vowels and consonants.

Then we have the word 'everything' - again, this word was picked because it was perfect for showing what I needed to explain in the story, but it's also a word that was in the two-page spread that Koschei wrote, which as you know the Doctor is attempting to translate. So, probably, what happened here is that the Doctor saw the word 'everything' elsewhere on the page and got annoyed about how Koschei wrote it hahaha. So first we have how the Doctor writes it, followed by how Koschei writes it:

And then we have the two different ways of structuring a sentence, to show how the Doctor writes left-to-right in a line across the page, whereas Koschei structures his sentences in a circle going anticlockwise - which, of course, is what we would recognise as your standard Gallifreyan as it would be seen in the show. The sentence here actually reads 'my name is the doctor', if you were interested! (Although, actually it technically reads 'my name is the doktor' because, along with the Doctor, I think the symbol for 'c' is REALLY ANNOYING)

Fun fact: there are a huge number of fan-made Gallifreyan writing systems out there, and they are technically all symbol ciphers because they are just a bunch of symbols used as representations of the Latinate alphabet, rather than being it's own language system. This one in particular is the Sherman Gallifreyan system, which is most commonly used (and has actually been included in the show if I remember right haha), and it's a really nice one to use and turns out looking really nice. Apart from the letter C hahaha

Anyway!! Hope that was interesting, and I really hope you enjoy the rest of the story!! 💜💜💜

[yaminerua]

whoever first dreamt up the design of circular gallifreyan as an alphabet system was so galaxy brained

I really dig the aesthetic and love that the circles manage to simultaneously evoke both Time AND Space. They look like planets and planetary systems but they also kind of remind me of the inner workings of a clock or watch, like interlocking mechanisms.

It’s so satisfying ;;;

[obrienpolycule]

Hey did BBC actually contact Loren Sherman before making their Gallifreyan Alphabet Canon?

[somethinglikethatyeah83]

MASTERLIST:

Requests Are Open

Tenth Doctor:

VERA STORIES (can also be read as x reader):

Coordinates — The Doctor is alone again, too dangerous to have company, but then an old friend calls. Who is he to pass her up?

Wedding — Vera and Ten get stranded on a planet that worships marriage and relationships, how else would they get back to the Tardis other than marriage?

Comfort — Death will always surround the two of them, and worries will always arise, but she always found it hard to open up

SFW Alphabet — A safe-for-work alphabet for our two favourite timelords

Us Again — A near ending to the Family Of Blood episodes but with Vera in place of Joan.

Two Doctors — The last episode of Season 4, Journeys End rewrite but with Vera and a very jealous Rose

Theta, Vera — Vera was just trying to get back to her own Tardis, but it didn't go according to plan.

Language — A short drabble about Ten and Vera and Gallifreyan... he's missed speaking it, that's all

Alec Hardy:

X READERS:

You're Alright — Alec comes home from the office after a bad day, what can you do to help? Be with him.

He Got Away — You know who Danny's killer is, but only because he comes to have a word with you...

Campbell Bain:

X READERS:

I'm Here — Campbell is always there to help out when you need it <3

Gifts — Reader has trouble verbally expressing their love so they turn to gifts for Campbell