A few years back a scholar named Sarsion made an attempt at translating the Eliksni (Fallen) language. His work was largely a success. He used the dialogue from Fallen, such as Taniks and Skolas, that Variks translated into English. From this he built a rudimentary lexicon of 87 Fallen words. Note that the Sarsion translation is not considered canon by Destiny/Bungie but where else will we get an Eliksni translator? I personally enjoy speaking in Eliksnese on the forums and always refer to this lexicon.
https://errata.ishtar-collective.net/the-fallen-language
Now before I move on I must point out that I do disagree with Sarsion’s translation of one important word. Kell. It is perhaps the most well-known Eliksni word and is obviously of alien origin. Sarsion however translates “Kell” as “Ge” (hard “g”). I believe that in this case he simply over thought the way the audio sounded and translated an alien word into, well, alien.
The High Speech of the Eliksni is a fascinating topic, one that I fervently hope will be expanded upon with upcoming stories and lore.
With the release of Forsaken we have been treated to a ton of new Fallen lore, not the least of which is Mithrax’s conversations with guardians. In his lore tabs he uses several Eliksni terms we have yet to hear. In the Queenbreaker lore https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/the-queenbreaker?highlight=Mithrax
Mithrax is asked why the House of Wolves would join their erstwhile enemy, the Queen. In response Mithrax says: Eia. Strange to do. I believe “Eia” to be an affirmative remark, like an “uh-huh” or “I agree”. Keep in mind that this is a loose translation. So my translation: Eia=a statement of agreement.
In the lore tab Misraaks we learn several new terms (Because of this linguistical dream, this tab is one of my favorite parts of Forsaken after the Book of the Loyal). https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/misraaks?highlight=Nama
First Misraaks/Mithrax says he wishes he would shrivel up like a yaviirsi fig. So this is obviously a fallen fruit, not much deciphering needed at all. Soon after this it is stated that he is dragged around like a sack of psakiks. After that he is called the “surliest psakiks sack this side of the Great Machine”. I believe this comical saying is similar to our “sack of potatoes” but with an unknown element since we obviously don’t know what kind of food/ object a “psakiks” is.
Next is the word Nama. It is used in two separate contexts as a negative comment. “Nama” is for all intents and purposes the English “no”. It is not only used in the Misraaks tab but also here: https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/lord-of-wolves?highlight=Nama
Both instances I believe firmly entrench “nama” as the Eliksni “no”. Nama=No
Onto my new favorite word, Velask. In the Misraaks tab, Mithrax and his captor, Sjur, exchange words, the latter performing a ritual Eliksni greeting. When Mithrax responds he says: “Velask, Si-yu-riks”. Likewise, Sjur replies: “Velask, Mithrax”. This implies that Velask is a traditional/formal greeting among Fallen.
The last word that I believe I have a confident grasp on is lirsoveks. When Sjur first greets Mithrax, the fallen vandal is none too happy about it (he even thinks it blasphemous). In response Mithrax rumbles “lirsoveks”. It would appear that this word is an expression of anger and/or an insult. Therefore Lirsoveks is roughly an expression of disgust or anger.
Pak, we find this word in the title given to Sjur Eido, first of Queen Mara’s legendary wraths. The Fallen called her “Siyuriks Pak Varisiis” as I sign of deep respect, regardless of sides. The title meant “The Unrelenting”, providing both the Eliksni word for “the” and “unrelenting”. The discovery of another adjective is always an exciting find, but the discovery of such an important part of speech such as “the” is a linguistic gold mine.
In the Lord of Wolves lore tab, Mithrax comments on the well known House of Wolves. He tells his guardian friends that they were once,
Mraskilaasan, or “Gentle Weavers”. This adds not only another term to the language, but provides us with a bit of unknown history regarding the Wolves. It is ironic to think that a House that once were gentle and wove wonderful things would become such a nefarious House of killers.
So in summary.
Eia—An expression of agreement. “Yes”.
Yaviirsi—Fallen fruit. A type of fig.
Psakiks sack—A fallen derogatory saying. Sack of potatoes?
Nama —A term of disagreement. “No”.
Velask— An Eliksni greeting. “Greetings/hello”.
Lirsoveks — An expression of disgust or anger. I only have a rough translation for this one. Variks says…it’s an insult…
Pak — Eliksni word for “the”.
Varisiis — “Unrelenting”.
Mraskilaasan — “Gentle weavers”.
Thank you for reading this post, I hope you find the Eliksni Language as fascinating as I do.
If anyone knows of any Eliksni words that I might have missed, please comment about them. I want to compile as much of the language as possible.