Sav’aaq: A linguist’s take on the Gerudo language

The Hylian tongue has taken many forms across the Legend of Zelda series. When it first appeared in A Link to the Past, it was an entirely meaningless string of symbols. In the following games, however, it began taking the form of a cipher, in earlier games for Japanese Kana and later for the Roman alphabet (i.e. one Hylian letter assigned to each Kana/Roman letter), with the first Romanized cipher appearing in Skyward Sword.

Hylian has been broadly separated into six scripts by the Zelda community, with the most recent appearing in A Link Between Worlds and Breath of the Wild. It would seem that Hylian is the common tongue with which most, if not all, communities, tribes, and collectives use to communicate with one another. However, additional languages have also surfaced in Zelda games, with possibly the most developed being the Gerudo language. Though we’ve still only seen a minimal amount of this language (and heard even less), here, we’ll be taking a dive into what we do know, as well as what it can tell us about the Gerudo tribe and wider Hyrule.

---

Breaking Down the Language

Spoken

The Gerudo language has appeared in three mainline Zelda games: Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Breath of the Wild. Unlike the Hylian language, its alphabet has remained consistent across the games, with the script comprising of 26 symbols, each corresponding to a Roman alphabet letter. That said, Breath of the Wild was the first instance of the language actually being spoken by the Gerudo tribe. Furthermore, with the addition of voice acting in recent titles, players can actually hear a handful of words and gain insight into how the language sounds.

As for known, canon lexis (words), we truly only have a handful to work with. Most of what we do know consists of greetings and pleasantries:

• Vasaaq (Welcome)
• Sarqso (Thank you)
• Sav’otta (Good morning)
• Sav’aaq (Good day)
• Sav’saaba (Good evening)
• Sav’orr (Good night)
• Sav’orq (Goodbye)

There is also a small number of nouns:

• Vure (Bird)
• Vaba (Grandmother)
• Vai (Woman)
• Voe (Man)
• Vehvi (Child, infant)

Finally, just one exclamation:

• Sa’oten (e.g. Good heavens/Oh my!)

Taking apart the language further, we also notice that each of these words starts with an “S” or a “V.” The /s/ and /v/ sounds are both fricatives produced at the front of the mouth, characterized by a narrow airflow that lends a “hissing” nature to the beginning of each word. With such a small lexicon to analyze, it’s difficult to draw certain conclusions about whether the language as a whole uses fricatives this frequently in the onset unit of each word (i.e. the first sound in a word). However, we can make educated guesses to help broaden our scope.

Looking at the known translations, it seems safe to assume that the [sav’] prefix means “good.” If this is true, then we can conclude from the word “sav’otta,” that “otta” means “morning.” Using this same rule, our small dictionary can expand slightly to include the following:

• Otta (Morning)
• Aaq (Day)
• Saaba (Evening)
• Orr (Night)
• Orq (Bye)

It cannot be said for sure whether these can be standalone words, but if they are, it would mean that we also have evidence of words starting with vowels “A” (/ɑ:/) and “O” (/ɔ:/) alongside fricatives /s/ and /v/.

In terms of grammar, a pattern can be observed for phrases that contain an adjective plus a noun. For instance, “Good morning” is a two-worded phrase in English. In Gerudo, however, the adjective becomes a prefix to the noun, combining them into one word: “Sav’aaq.” From the voice acting provided in the game, we also know that the stress is put on the second syllable.

The final feature of note here appears only in “Sav’saaba.” This is an unstressed vowel sound, known in linguistics as a schwa, that appears following the “v” in “Sav.” While other words seem to seamlessly flow between parts, this makes “Sav’saaba” seem a little more broken up. For example:

• Sav’otta. Pronounced: /savɒtə/ or /savɒta/ (sa-vo-ta)
• Sav’saaba. Pronounced: /savəsaːbə/ (sav-uh-saah-buh)

That /ə/ (“uh”) sound is what is being referred to here. There is one potential reason why it only appears in “Sav’saaba”: This is the one word where the second element begins with a consonant. By adding in an unstressed vowel, the word becomes a little easier to say and feels much more natural.

Written

The written version of the Gerudo language is considerably simpler to break down. The alphabet consists of 26 letters, each corresponding to a letter in the Roman alphabet, effectively making it one of the cipher alphabets mentioned earlier. It also has been seen to include two numbers (1 and 5) and three types of punctuation (exclamation point, question mark, and semicolon, plus a period and comma inferred from said semicolon). The inclusion of only two numerals has led to some theories about the Gerudo counting method, for instance, 11 would be written as “5 5 1.” Alternatively, it may be similar to the Roman numeral system that uses “I” and “V.” However, it cannot be known for sure whether “5” and “1” really are the only numbers used, or whether they’re just the only ones we’ve needed to see so far.

---

Why do the Gerudo Speak Hylian?

It’s now more than apparent that the Gerudo have their own language, so why have we seen so little of it? Well, the seemingly obvious reason is that the player needs to understand the NPCs, hence they will speak whatever language to which the game is set — though, within the world of The Legend of Zelda, we will call it the common Hylian language.

A tribe where the wider community resides within a walled town would initially appear to have no reason to speak any language other than their own. However, a closer look at their way of life within those walls reveals why bilingualism would be a significant advantage.

As Gerudo Town is inhabited entirely by women (with the exception of one man born every 100 years), it becomes essential for many Gerudo to travel outside of the town in search of romantic partnership. In Breath of the Wild, we can meet Gerudo travelers journeying right across the map and even find them settled into other communities. Rhondson, for example, moves to Tarrey Town as part of the “From the Ground Up” sidequest and ends up betrothed to a Hylian construction worker, Hudson. So, not only will fluency in common Hylian be useful for traveling the kingdom, but as any future husbands (or wives) will not be of Gerudo descent, speaking a common language will be essential for communication. 

Searching for love is not the only reason Gerudo women leave home — many venture beyond the desert to find work. Ramella, for example, is a Gerudo jewel merchant who practices her trade in Goron City. That said, there are also a number of merchants found within Gerudo Town as well as at the Kara Kara Bazaar. With regular visitors from out of town, Hylian would be the go-to language to make a sale. 

Any Gerudo chief would also benefit from speaking the common tongue to maintain smooth relations with other Hylian leaders. We know that the Queen of Hyrule and Lady Urbosa had a close friendship, so naturally, using common Hylian would allow them to converse in a mutually intelligible way.

---

Does a Full Gerudo Language Exist?

It’s a little difficult to say whether the fully-fledged language has prevailed through Hyrule’s history, but we can safely assume that one does exist, even if only a handful of words and phrases have made it to the Breath of the Wild era.

There are, however, clues that point toward the Gerudo language not just being the distant mother tongue of the tribe but also the first language of its members. Maike, one of the merchants at Kara Kara Bazaar, has two lines of dialogue that indicate Hylian is her second language:

“Good…evening… Heh, that’s how you say it where you’re from, isn’t it? Here, we say “sav’saaba”.”

“Well…come… Did I get that right? Isn’t that how you say it where you’re from? Here, we say “vasaaq”.”

Again, we’re not sure what the extent of the Gerudo language looks like in the later stages of the timeline. Perhaps the Gerudo are fully bilingual, speaking fluently in Gerudo with one another but switching to common Hylian when required. Alternatively, Hylian may have become the dominant language even within the walls of Gerudo Town, suppressing the native language until its presence is only indicated by the occasional word or phrase. From the above dialogue, though, we can at least tell that in the latter case, such words and phrases are still heavily present in Gerudo culture to the point that their Hylian translations are a foreign alternative.

As with many languages in fiction, dedicated fans have stepped in to fill the gaps in the canon themselves. Keen conlangers (creators of constructed languages, such as this one), have taken the time to expand the vocab, phonology, and even grammar of the Gerudo language to help flesh it out. Naturally, the creation of an entire language is an enormous undertaking and many conlangers work on projects in their spare time as a hobby, but through collaboration and languages getting picked up and learned by enthusiasts, they can grow and evolve surprisingly naturally.

One of the most well-known constructed languages is the Star Trek universe’s Klingon; though it canonically consists of around 3000 words, with plenty of people learning and conversing in it, it’s constantly growing and developing. While the Gerudo language is not at this stage, with some more canon input from Nintendo, it certainly has an audience dedicated enough to participate.

If you’re interested in taking a look at some of the fan-made language developments, you can find some notes posted here.

From its first appearance in Ocarina of Time to its spoken form in Breath of the Wild, the Gerudo language is certainly a fascinating tongue. While its development within the games is limited, there are still a number of clues scattered throughout the canon that can help players draw their own conclusions.

Any language, whether real or fictional, has intricate ties to culture and identity, and the Gerudo tribe is certainly rich in both. The language also adds depth and history to the already abundant lore of Hyrule, as well as the specific community whence it came. While we regretfully still have little insight into what’s in store for the next Legend of Zelda installment, any expansion on Hyrule’s languages, Gerudo or otherwise, would be most welcome.