- "The cowards of the Galactic Republic banned the language of the Sith in an attempt to bury its deep truths."
- ―Darth Sidious
ur-Kittât, commonly known as Sith or the Old Tongue, was the runic language of the Sith. It was spoken by members of the Sith Order and the Sith Eternal cult as a secret language and written in a runic form.
Usage[]
- "The most sacred of the prophecies studied by the Sith Eternal were transcribed in ur-Kittât, the forbidden language of the Sith. Like the dark side itself, ur-Kittât requires mastery to decipher. A simple change in inflection can alter a prophecy completely, opening ancient doctrines to a number of interpretations."
- ―Darth Sidious
ur-Kittât was originally spoken by the Sith. It commonly adorned temples, such as the Sith Citadel on Exegol,[2] and their obelisks, such as the ones found outside the Malachor Sith Temple.[1] The writing was also in the tomb of Darth Bane[4] and the Lothal Jedi Temple.[6] The language was also used in Sith rituals.[7] The Ascendant, a cult who were obsessed with replicating the effects of the Force with technology, spoke a mantra in ur-Kittât.[8]
Amidst an effort to quarantine Sith worlds and erase Sith history,[2] ur-Kittât was considered a forbidden language under the Galactic Republic, prompting its Senate to pass legislation around 1000 BBY[9] forbidding droids from translating any texts from it.[10] Despite this prohibition, the Sith continued to use both ur-Kittât and its Balc dialect.[4] Some Jedi were also familiar with how to read and speak the language.[1]
By the reign of the Galactic Empire, ur-Kittât was known as "the Old Tongue"[1] or simply "Sith."[10] However, it continued to be spoken by Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious, who taught it to his apprentice, Darth Vader.[11] During the Imperial Era, the Ascendant Mantra came to be taught by Sava Iglan'tine Nos at the University of Bar'leth, and she had her classes translate it from ur-Kittât into Galactic Basic.[8] According to Nos, the archaeologist Kho Phon Farrus had the best translation in her class.[12]
The language later came to be etched into a dagger containing the whereabouts of the Emperor's wayfinder, which led to the hidden Sith world of Exegol.[10]
After the destruction of Kijimi, Beaumont Kin translated the Sith language of Darth Sidious on every frequency as he said, "The Resistance is dead. The Sith flame will burn. All worlds, surrender or die. The Final Order begins."[10]
Written forms[]
- "Dzworokka yun;
nyâshqûwai, nwiqûwai.
Wotok tsawakmidwanottoi,
yuntok hyarutmidwanottoi.[13]" - ―Transliteration of runic inscriptions by the Sith Eternal regarding a Force dyad
ur-Kittât was typically written in runes.[10] Several variations of its written form existed, as the text Ahsoka Tano translated outside the Malachor Sith Temple was of a very old form.[1] Line spacing, breaks, and inflection could change the meaning of certain words and sentences, as the Sith Eternal inscriptions concerning the prophecy of the Force dyad between Ben Solo and Rey were almost exactly like the inscriptions describing the Rule of Two.[2]
Although the runic forms of script were the most common varieties of written ur-Kittât, not all Sith were well-versed in the system. As such, some practitioners took to transcribing their alphabet into reflected Aurebesh characters that could only be read backwards. During an expedition of the Lerct Historical Institute[14] in 21 ABY,[15] archaeologists discovered an ancient Sith holocron that was inscribed with the system.[14]
Known vocabulary[]
Sith | Basic |
---|---|
Derriphan | "Devourer"[16] |
Krataa | "Death"[11] |
Irluuk | "Fate"[11] |
Midwanottoi | "Power"[2] |
Qûwai | "No"[2] |
Tok | "To"[2] |
Behind the scenes[]
- "To that end, I imagined a tough—but not barbarous—language, one that could convey a kind of confident, elegant cruelty. And Sith would have to ring with authority so you could envision it functioning among elites of the dark side the way Latin functioned in Europe for centuries: as a repository of culture and learning."
- ―Ben Grossblatt
The Sith language originates in the Star Wars Legends comic-book series Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, published in the 1990s. At the time the language was composed of nonsensical words, composed of unpronouncable consonants.[18] In November 2010, senior editor Ben Grossblatt, who has degrees in linguistics, created the modern functional Sith language for the Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side.[17]
Appearances[]
|
Non-canon appearances[]
Sources[]
- Star Wars Rebels: Visual Guide: Epic Battles
- "Twilight of the Apprentice" Episode Guide | Star Wars Rebels on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary (First identified as ur-Kittât)
- "R2-D2" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Star Wars Book
- Star Wars: Card Trader (Card: C-3PO - 2021 Base)
- "The Final Order and the Battle of Exegol" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- "C-3PO" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- "General Equipment (I)" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith
- Star Wars 100 Objects
- Star Wars: Timelines
- Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
- Blade of Ochi of Bestoon in the Databank (backup link)
- Malachor Sith temple in the Databank (backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Star Wars Rebels — "Twilight of the Apprentice"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ The Star Wars Book
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Sacrifice"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith
- ↑ Star Wars Rebels: Visual Guide: Epic Battles
- ↑ Star Wars Rebels — "A World Between Worlds"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Doctor Aphra (2020) 20
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lords of the Sith
- ↑ Doctor Aphra (2020) 19
- ↑ The runes translate to: There should be two; no more, no less. First to embody power, second to crave power.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Shadow of the Sith
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of Shadow of the Sith to 21 ABY.
- ↑ "The Final Order and the Battle of Exegol" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Speak Like a Sith" — Star Wars Insider 134
- ↑ Tales of the Jedi – Dark Lords of the Sith 4