Memory Alpha
Memory Alpha
Memory Alpha
62,179
pages
in: Romulan language, Alternate reality
English

Romulan language

Sign in to edit
Multiple realities
(covers information from several alternate timelines)
Romulan script

Romulan script

The Romulan language was the language spoken and written language of the Romulans, used within the Romulan Star Empire and the Romulan Free State.

Written language[]

Romulan script consisted of square and rectangular letters, which could be arranged horizontally or vertically. (TNG: "The Mind's Eye", "Face Of The Enemy"; DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"; Star Trek Nemesis; PIC: "Fly Me to the Moon")

In 2370, Jean-Luc Picard identified an artifact recovered from Calder II as being from Vulcan, because the alphabet and symbology of the glyphs and pictograms on the artifact was much more consistent with early Vulcan than Romulan. (TNG: "Gambit, Part II")

Raffi Musiker could read Romulan, as on Elnor's medallion. (PIC: "Assimilation")

Spoken language[]

The Romulan spoken language had three dialects, and was difficult to distinguish from the Vulcan language to those not proficient in xenolinguistics. (Star Trek)

As of 2258 in an alternate reality, Starfleet officer Nyota Uhura was knowledgeable in all three Romulan dialects. (Star Trek)

Upon the first official encounter between Romulans and Starfleet in 2152, audio-only communications were established. Although the early universal translator initially had problems locking on to the Romulan language, Enterprise communications officer Hoshi Sato was able to translate what turned out to be an ultimatum to depart immediately. (ENT: "Minefield")

The Artifact was a joint project between the Romulan Reclamation Site and the Borg Reclamation Project, thus announcements, signage and crew conversations tended to be in both English and Romulan. (PIC: "Remembrance", et al.)

Ramdha, the foremost expert on Romulan mythology, noted that Romulan didn't have a word for "mythology" – that a better translation would be "the news." (PIC: "The End is the Beginning")

Words and phrases[]

Examples of spoken language[]

Setha-tri par trukatha.
Setha-ki par trukatha.
Setha-mille par trukatha.
(Part of a Romulan self-destruct countdown aboard a Romulan Warbird.) (TNG: "Contagion")
Uhn kan'aganna! Tehca zuhn ruga'noktan!
Uhn Kan'aganna! Tehca zuhn! Neemasta kan'aganna uckwazta!
Kuhn'ukchtacht zuhn vockwadai!
Bar'ak t'stu annankana.
(Romulan ultimatum to Enterprise NX-01 inside an annexed star system.) (ENT: "Minefield")
Shet nigosh b'bat. Gorosh.
(A crewman aboard the Narada, after Captain Richard Robau comes aboard.) (Star Trek)
Vikraneth was hrailom?
Can you keep a secret? (PIC: "Maps and Legends")
Yi wausuha was yakasha kafathret, yi dekhun faltiv vo?
If certain people requested entry… would it be granted? (PIC: "The End is the Beginning")
Nen fralevzo sus.
We are not like them anymore. (PIC: "The End is the Beginning"
Laspei n' vekris. Nefaltiv stam.
My presence is an intrusion, forgive it. (PIC: "The End is the Beginning")
Sta khut, kogagan!
Run, sisterboy!
Sha hrauraluchvos!
Bite me! [lit. "while I'm in your mouth."] (PIC: "Absolute Candor")
Zamath!
He's coming!
Laukhoqiun ut zornekhvaretviun.
Let yourself be seen. (PIC: "Absolute Candor")
Ramdha chabakgon, vidusfadorfrati was qai ganmadon?
Professor Ramdha, what can you tell us about Ganmadan?
Ganmadan n' hrai harfallatfa dra seb feth d'makhta.
Ganmadan is what our ancestors called the Day of Annihilation.
Sha vidusdor kem makhta...
When you say 'annihilation'…
D'nikhpal. D'agev vor, nikhau. Sha haswela vor, zhekhar twekh mogavlaza ekh droi sorad Seb-Cheneb.
Of everything. All life, everywhere. When all the shackled demons break their chains, and answer the call of The Destroyer. (PIC: "Absolute Candor")
Nen vrakesh.
Not for her. (In response to "Is this room available?")
Zhalmakh ne n' vramin katar.
Zhalmakh is not for round-ears.
...Ekh  kel uklat  ne  n'  vranilel.  Vichot  ut  chaltav..
...And a sub-commander's bars are not for idiots. You risk losing them. (PIC: "The Impossible Box")
Vashtaj  khot.
Kill them all. (PIC: "The Impossible Box")
Feldor stam torret.
Please, friends. Choose to live. (PIC: "The Impossible Box")
Rashant tu nen rapengenhah.
I admit… I was not expecting this. (PIC: "The Impossible Box")
Nen  ha-n' par jattu  Zhat Vash ral,  Qowat Milatgon. 
This is not how Zhat Vash fights Qowat Milat.
Yi  vi-n'  d'tav.
If that's what you are. (PIC: "Nepenthe")
Sab khut hafeth. Frazhannempal was qailefeth.
Seize today, for we know nothing of tomorrow. (PIC: "The Star Gazer")

Appendices[]

Appearances[]

Background information[]

Romulan dialogue was spoken by Ayel (played by Clifton Collins, Jr.) in a deleted scene from the film Star Trek. Translated into English, the Romulan he said meant, "Commander Nero. We're surrounded. What are your orders?" The Romulan dialogue written for the show was supplied by Marc Okrand, better known for creating Klingonese. "I had never done anything with Romulan before, but since Romulans and Vulcans are related, I made the Romulan language one that could be related to Vulcan – not closely, but in certain patterned ways. The two languages are heard mostly in the background as opposed to being spoken by main characters." [1]

For Star Trek: Picard, constructed language creator Trent Pehrson was hired to develop the grammar and vocabulary of Romulan language spoken in the series. Pehrson also served as a dialect coach for the language. [2] "I was given instruction on what preexisting fragments were to be considered as canon. I incorporated all of those. Essentially, those really only yielded limited phonotactic information, some vague lexical items, and a hand-full of possible grammatical morphemes. There was also some Vulcan canon, which was useful, in a historical linguistic sense, to further flesh out phonotactics, and to derive another small set of lexical items. Native Romulan orthography fragments, used in prior canon production, were aesthetically pleasing, but were clearly just a thinly disguised version of the Roman alphabet. So, I used only the visual aesthetic from that, and created a system fitting to the actual phonotactics and phonemic inventory of the Romulan language. ST:Picard, E2 recently featured a decent sampling in a scene. The rest (the majority of the language) I had to construct." [3]

Pehrson was also credited as a Romulan language consultant for episodes of Star Trek: Discovery that featured the language.

Apocrypha[]

  • In Diane Duane's novel The Romulan Way, the Romulan language is said to be related to the Vulcan language. This suggests that during the Exodus of the Romulans, they abandoned most things Vulcan. "One thing they agreed on quickly was that they could not stop being Vulcan while they still spoke the language." In order to rectify this problem, the Romulans went back to old or "High" Vulcan and "aged" the language in another direction. The resulting tongue was named Rihan, with the Romulans' name for themselves being Rihannsu in Duane's novels, meaning "the Declared", in reference to their decision to secede from Vulcan society. (This name also used to collectively refer to the novel series.) The Romulan Way includes a partial glossary for the language (reprinted in the omnibus edition Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages), and Duane reportedly intended to publish a Rihan counterpart to The Klingon Dictionary but it never materialized. However, fandom has extensively expanded on it, and it has been reused in other licensed works including the Romulan War series of Star Trek: Enterprise novels and Star Trek Online.
  • In the novel Vulcan's Heart, Spock notices Romulans cursing in old Vulcan.
  • The Romulan language font is called Kzhad, and was created by Monte Thrasher based on the shapes of LED displays.
  • FASA gaming manuals referred to the Romulan word for the Romulan language as "Romlastha".

External link[]

Español Français Italiano Polski
Community content is available under the CC-BY-NC license unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms