Gorean is written, as it is said, as the ox plows. The first line is written left to right, the second, right to left, the third, left to right, and so on. I had once been informed by my friend, Torm, that the whole business was quite simple, the alternate lines, in his opinion, at least, also being written forward, `only in the other direction.' ---Players of Gor, page 243
The Gorean alphabet has twenty-eight characters, all of which, I suspect, owe their origin to one or another of the alphabets of Earth. Several show a clear-cut resemblance to Greek letters, for example, "Sidge", o the other hand, could be cuneiform, and "Tun" and Val" are probably calligraphically drifted for demotic. At least six letters suggest influence by the classical Roman alphabet, an seven do , if we count"kef", the first letter in "kajira". "She is represented by a sign which seems clearly oriental in origin and "Homan", I speculate, may drvie from Cretan. Many Gorean letters have a variety of pronunciations, depending on their linguistic context. Certain scribes have recommended adding to the Goreans alphabet now letters, to independently represent some the these sounds, which, now, require alternative pronunciations, and context-dependent, of given letters. Their recommendations. it seems, ar unlikely to be incorporated not formal Gorean. Explorers of Gor, page 9
"See," said Bosk, who was examining the necklace, "the most frequent combination of colors is blue and red."
"So?" asked Samos.
"In Gorean," said Bosk, "the most frequently occurring letter is Eta. We might then begin by supposing that the combination of blue and red signifies an Eta."
"I see," said Samos.
"The next most frequently occurring letters in Gorean," said Bosk, "are Tau, AI-Ka, Omnion and Nu. Following these in frequency of occurrence are Ar, Ina, Shu and Homan, and so on."
"How is this known?" asked Samos.
"It is based upon letter counts," said Bosk, "over thousands of words in varieties of manuscripts."
"These matters have been determined by scribes?" asked Samos.
"Yes," said Bosk.
"Why should they be interested in such things?"
"Such studies were conducted originally, at least publicly, as opposed to the presumed secret studies of cryptographers, in connection with the Sardar Fairs," said Bosk, "at meetings of Scribes concerned to standardize and simplify the cursive alphabet. Also, it was thought to have consequences for improved pedagogy, in teaching children to first recognize the most commonly occurring letters."
"I was taught the alphabet beginning with Al-Ka," smiled Samos. "As was I," said Bosk. "Perhaps we should first have been taught Eta."
"That is not the tradition!" said Samos.
"True," admitted Bosk. "And these innovative scribes have had little success with their proposed reforms. Yet, from their labors, various interesting facts have emerged. For example, we have learned not only the order of frequency of occurrence of letters but, as would be expected, rough percentages of occurrence as well. Eta, for example, occurs two hundred times more frequently in the language than Altron. Over forty percent of the language consists of the first five letters I mentioned, Eta, Tau, Al-Ka, Omnion and Nu."
"That seems impossible," said Samos.
"It is true," said Bosk. "Further, over sixty percent of the language consists of those five letters plus Ar, Ina, Shu and Homan."
"We could still try all possible combinations," said Samos.
"True," said Bosk, "and, in a short message, which this appears to be, we might produce several intelligible possibilities. Short messages, particularly those which do not reflect statistical letter frequencies, can be extremely difficult to decipher, even when the cipher used is rudimentary."
"in the Gorean spelling, is a 'kwah' and not a 'kef'. The 'kwah' in Gorean, which I think is possibly related, directly or indirectly, to the English 'q'..." Mercenaries of Gor, page 13
The Gorean alphabet has twenty-eight letters including: al-ka ("a"), ba-ta ("b"), delka ("d" shaped like a triangle), eta ("e"), homan ("h"), ina ("i"), kef ("k"), mu ("m"), nu ("n"), omnion ("o"), kwah ("q"), ar ("r"), shu ("s"), tau ("t"), sidge ("c"*), tun, val("v."*), altron ("l"*). The last four letters are not explained in the books so it is only guesswork* as to what they may represent. There are nine vowels in Gorean, four of which have been identified. A complete alphabet is not listed in the novels.
Some Gorean Words from the books
"Lo Sardar" - "I am a Priest-King." Priest-Kings of Gor page 220.
"Lo Rask," said he. "Rarius. Civitatis Trevis." "I am Rask," he said, "of the caste of warriors, of the city of Treve." Captive of Gor page 266.
She was kneeling down and I knelt across from her. "La Kajira," said Eta, pointing to herself. "Tu Kajira," she said, pointing to me. Slave Girl of Gor page 80.
"One of the traces of Earth influence on Gorean, incidentally, in this case, an influence from Latin, occurs in the singular and plural endings of certain expressions. For example, 'kajirus' is a common expression for a male slave as is 'kajira' for a female slave. The plural for slaves considered together, both male and female, or for more than one male slave is 'kajiri.' The plural for female slave is 'kajirae.'" Magicians of Gor page 436-437.
"She must learn Gorean," said Kamchak to me." Teach her 'La Kajira'." "You must learn Gorean," I told the girl. She tried to protest, but I would not permit it. "Say 'La Kajira'," I told her. She looked at me, helplessly. Then she repeated, "La Kajira." "Again," I commanded. "La Kajira," said the girl clearly, "La Kajira." "What does it mean?" she asked. "It means," I told her, "I am a slave girl." Nomads of Gor page 40.
"Then, with her finger, moving them on their string, she indicated the tiny, colored wooden beads. 'Da Bina,' she said, smiling. Then she lifted a necklace, looking at it. "Bina," she said. I then understood that ‘Bina’ was the expression for beads, or for a necklace of beads." Slave Girl of Gor page 81.
"Har-ta!" said Imnak to the girls." Har-ta!" The expression ‘har-ta’ is Gorean." Faster! Faster!" Beasts of Gor page 191.
At this point the helmeted warrior began to descend the aisle. We watched him approach. In moments he stood, too, on the block, facing the crowd. He struck the butt of his great spear on the heavy wood. "Kajira canjellne!" he said. "Slave girl challenge!" Slave Girl of Gor page 435.
"Kajira is perhaps the most common expression for a female slave. Another frequently heard expression is Sa-Fora, a compound word, meaning, rather literally, Chain Daughter, or Daughter of the Chain." Nomads of Gor page 30.
"Tal," I said, lifting my right arm, palm inward, in a common Gorean greeting. Outlaw of Gor page 28.Tor-tu-Gor: Light upon the Home Stone
"The more common expression for the sun was Tor-tu-Gor, which means Light Upon the Home Stone." Tarnsman of Gor page 28.alia: festival or celebration
"More commonly, though never in the context of time, the sun is referred to a Tor-tu-Gor, or Light Upon the Home Stone." Outlaw of Gor page 178.
ko-lar: collar
kurt: 5-bladed slave whip
sar: king
semnium: meeting place
sa`ng-fori: Without Chains, freedom or liberty
sa: life
rarius: Warrior
