[Queen of Orcs 01] - King's Property (35 page)

Muth Mauk
proper noun—Orc queen.
(great mother)

muthuri
noun—A mother in the reproductive sense.
(giving mother)

muthvashi
noun—Wife.
(blessed mother)

names
Orcish names consist of two parts—a given name followed by the individual’s clan. Thus Kovok-mah is a member of the Mah clan. Children belong to their mother’s clan, and a son’s clan does not change when he marries. In the intimate form of address, only the given name is used.

nayimgat
noun—A healing herb with large, fuzzy leaves that is also a sedative.

Negation:
Thwa (not) follows the verb negated. Example: He doesn’t bathe.—Fu splufukak thwa.—He bathes not.

nervler
adjective—Sad.

Nouns:
Orcish nouns are often formed by the descriptive combination of other words. Example: “Rain,
hafalf
, combines “sky,”
ha
, with “water,”
falf
. Verb roots often function as nouns. Example:
Ma urav ur
.—I give gift. Single-consonant verb roots, such as
s
—to see, have an “ai” added to the root to form a noun. Examples:
nai
—being,
sai
—seeing, and
tai
—killing.

nuf
noun—Night.

Nuf Bahi
proper noun—Night of the full moon.
(Night [of] Eye)

orc
noun—Human word for
zimmuthi
.

orcish
adjective—Human word for
urkzimmuthi
.
Orcish,
as the term for the Orcish language, noun—Human word for
pahmuthi
.

orcs
noun—Human word for
urkzimmuthi
.

pah
verb root and noun—To speak, speech.

pahmuthi
noun—Orcish language.
(speech [of] mother)

Personal pronouns:
Orcs always distinguish between masculine and feminine among their own kind. Humans, animals, and things are genderless, the equivalent of “it.” There is no distinction between objective and nominative cases.

Plurals
are indicated by placing the prefix
urk
, which translates as “many,” before a noun. The human word for “orc” derives from the shortening of the orcs’ name for themselves,
urkzimmuthi
.

Possession
is indicated by the addition of a “z” at the end of a noun.

Queen’s Man
See “Military ranks and units.”

regiment
See “Military ranks and units.”

s
verb root and noun—To see, (noun form—
sai
) sight, vision.

saf
noun—Food.

shash
verb root and noun—To thank, thanks.
Shashav
translates as “thank you.”

shieldron
See “Military ranks and units.”

simi
adjective—Blue.

sleep
Orcs sleep sitting upright in a cross-legged position, with only a mat as a cushion. Only babies and the extremely ill rest lying down.

smell
Orcs have an especially keen sense of smell, and their language contains many terms for scents that humans cannot distinguish. They are also capable of smelling some of the emotional and physical states of others. They can detect anger, fear, love, pain, and some forms of sickness. This ability has affected their culture in fundamental ways and may partly explain why orcs do not easily grasp deception.

snaf
adverb—Also.

snoof
verb root and noun—To stink, stench.

splufuk
verb root and noun—To bathe, bath.

sun
noun—Human word for
bahriti
, which translates as “golden eye.” The eye referred to is Muth la’s.

sustolum
See “Military ranks and units.”

sut
verb root—To come.

suth
verb root and noun—To learn, wisdom or learning.

suthi
adjective—Wise.

t
verb root—To kill.

ta
preposition—With.

tahwee
noun—Bird.

tash
adjective—Cruel.

tava
interjection—Hello, greetings.

tep
conjunction—And.

tham
interrogative pronoun—Which.

thay
verb root and noun—To die, corpse.

thayati
adjective—Dead.

theef
verb root and noun—To name or call, name.

there
adjective and noun—Human word for
fa
.

these (those)
demonstrative pronoun—Human words for
kalaz
.

thrim
verb root—To have sexual intercourse.

thus
verb root—Heal.

thwa
adverb—No, not.

tolum
See “Military ranks and units.”

tul
adjective—Real, having a verifiable existence. This word approaches the meaning of the human expression “true,” although the orcs have no term for its opposite.

turpa
adjective—Proper, correct, appropriate.

ur
verb root and noun—To give, gift.

urk
Prefix that makes nouns plural. Often translated as “many.”

urkzimmuthi
noun—The orc race, also the plural of orc.
(children [of] mother)

urkzimmuthi
adjective—Orcish.

uthahi
adjective—Pretty.

v
verb root—To have.

va
preposition—Like.

vash
verb root and noun—1. To bless, blessing. 2. To marry, marriage.

vata
interjection—Good-bye.

velazul
noun—Lover. Unlike the human term, it is used only in the chaste sense.
(give love)

Verbs and verb roots:
Orcish verbs consist of two or three parts. A verb root plus an ending that inflects person and number are used to convey the present tense. Other tenses are conveyed by adding a prefix to the present tense.

Some Orcish verb roots consist of a single consonant. Examples:
n
(
to be
),
l
(
to live
),
t
(to
kill
), and
s
(
to see
).

Tenses:

Past tense is indicated by adding the prefix
da
to the present-tense form.

Past perfect tense is indicated by adding the prefix
dava
to the present-tense form.

Future tense is indicated by adding the prefix
lo
to the present-tense form.

Example: sut + ak = [He] comes. da + sut + ak = [He] came.

verl
verb root and noun—To forgive, forgiveness.

wash
noun—Tooth.

washavoki
noun and adjective—Human, either male or female. The word translates as “teeth of dog” and refers to the whiteness of human teeth.

washuthahi
noun—A black, pea-shaped seed that is mildly narcotic and stains the teeth black when chewed.
(teeth-pretty)

weapons
Orcs did not make weapons before the human invasions, and their arms are adapted from human designs. Swords, axes, and maces are primarily used for combat, but orcs also carry daggers and sometimes hatchets. All their weapons are strictly utilitarian in design. They reflect the orcs’ strength, being larger and more massive than those humans carry. Spears and pikes are not unknown to orcs, but are rarely used. Although orcs use bows and arrows for hunting, they do not employ them in combat.

wife
noun—Human word for
muthvashi
.

wind
noun—Human word for
foof Muthz la
, which translates as “Muth la’s breath.”

woman
noun—An orc female is called a
muth
, but the term is not commonly applied to human females. There is no specific term for them in Orcish, although “woe man,” a corrupted pronunciation of “woman,” is occasionally employed.

yat
verb root—To go.

yes
adverb—Hai.

zar
adverb—Very.

zet
verb root—To sit.

zim
noun—Child.

zimmuthi
noun—An orc.

zul
verb root and noun—To love, love.

zus
verb root and noun—To sleep, sleep.

THE QUEEN OF THE ORCS TRILOGY

By Morgan Howell

King’s Property
Clan Daughter
Royal Destiny

Read on for an excerpt from

Clan Daughter

the second book in the
QUEEN OF THE ORCS trilogy

On sale August 28, 2007

One

Three nights of hard travel had cooled Dar’s rage. Considered dispassionately, her prospects looked grim.
One woman and five orcs
, she thought,
deep in enemy territory. I promised to get them home, and I don’t know the way.
Nevertheless, Dar didn’t regret convincing the orcs to desert. The human king had betrayed them all. The orc regiments had been slaughtered and the women who served them had perished also. Not even Twea had been spared. Whenever Dar recalled the look on the slain girl’s face, her grief returned.

It was late afternoon and Dar was awake, though the orcs still dozed. Sitting upright within a small circle, they resembled idols and seemed as placid. Dar envied the ease with which they slept, while she—despite her exhaustion—napped only fitfully. Dar studied their faces, which no longer seemed bestial or alien. Kovok-mah had saved her life and sheltered her when she was an outcast. Duth-tok, Lama-tok, and Varz-hak were virtual strangers. Kovok-mah’s cousin, Zna-yat, had tried to kill her twice.

Gazing at the massive orcs, Dar was still amazed that she was their leader. Yet she had chosen the escape route. It had been her decision to travel at night, “when washavokis cannot see.” All female orcs, who were always called “mother,” had authority among the urkzimmuthi. As long as Dar’s companions regarded her as a mother, she possessed it also. That was why she led, even if she stumbled in the dark.

Dar and the orcs were still in the hills, though far from the site of the ambush and battle. The steep, wooded slopes made walking difficult, but the rugged terrain provided safety. So far, they had encountered no one, for the hills were barren except for tangled trees whose low branches hindered every step. The journey had already taken a toll on Dar. Her legs, arms, and face were crisscrossed with scratches, her bare feet were sore, and her empty belly ached. Dar’s fatigue made the journey seem more daunting, especially considering how ill prepared she was. Their destination, the Urkheit Mountains, lay to the north, but that was all she knew. The orcs were just as ignorant of the way.