40 replies to this topic

[Nudu]

It is obvious that Martin based Turkish to create Dotrakhi. Their lifestyle is smilar alot and their language. For example arakh means orakh in today's Turkey Turkish. And Khal is khan..

[FloZone]

Dothraki is as turkish as valyrian is latin. Somewhere the creators of the dothraki language stated, that it should sound like an oriental language. But for people who actually speak arabic it does not.

[Nudu]

Arabic?

[FloZone]

I think it should sound like various middle eastern languages. GRRM himself isn't a linguist like Tolkien. He may borrowed words from turkish for the books. For the show they created a dothraki that should sound middle eastern and is easy to learn. Its like with valyrian. Valyrian is defenitly not latin, but has a latinish ductus.

[Nudu]

Middle eastern speech is a desicion of HBO. Original Turkish doesn't sound like arabic. ıt sounds more like a mix of Japan and Russian. And their lifestyle are not like arabic at all. Arabic people are great traders but Turkish people more like barbarians(Of course  before they accept the islam. Then they got assimilated by Arabians.).

[FloZone]

Weren't turks and mongols more developed in the middle ages than the dothraki? The Khans sacked cities and build a fleet. I think dothraki are just stereotypical middle/central eastern people. May GRRM borrowed the words from turkish, but the dothraki culture is way more savage. And their God is the great Stallion. Didn't the ancient turks pray to Tengri? But as you did I would find it very interesting to make a comparision table of the asoiaf languages and their real counterparts.

[gussvenin]

The Dothraki are a mix of a lot of steppe and prairie people which include asian people like the Mongols but there are also for example native american influences so it's not correct to say that the Dothraki are based on any specific people. Same goes for the few words that Martin has originally created. Khal is obviously based on Khan but most words have no obvious counterpart in any natural language.

[Gradimir]

Probably Mongol way of life mixed with Turkish language & look...

[Mlee]

Please excuse my poor English.

I've checked whole Dothraki Language dictionary since I saw this topic. I saw some Turkish words but their meanings are way too different. Just one is very obvious, "khal" is "khagan". And the Dothraki language sounds more gutturalized. Actually, in my humble opinion, Hebrew have closer sounds.

Turks and Dothrakis have similar life styles, they say. And I think emigration and immigration brings all the possible similarities. Horses because of lacking vehicles, living in tents, obviously... And with that way horses have come very holy just like old Turks have had. But being a "warrior" and rebel is the really estimated. They are both barbarian under such circumstances. But I don't think old Turks are wild and rough like Dothrakis. I've not read any "heart eating" kind-stuff from old-Turkish inscriptions nor legends. Mostly they say, "Tengri (the God) gave me the power to take all", "We were descended from wolfes."

And that is a real Khagan Look: http://www.bilinmeye...KaÄŸan.jpg
I guess you all know the other one.

Edited by Mlee, 03 March 2013 - 09:01 PM.

[The_Exorcist]

I have dabbled in Russian and Japanese, and got more serious about German and Arabic.
Dothraki does not sound like any of those to me.

A central Asian flavor, perhaps, but that covers a hell of a lot of ground!
IIRC, it was made up by a committee of experts for the show, and they did a damn good job of making something that sounds like a good, if somewhat primitive, language.
Beats the pants off Klingon, that's for damn sure.

[JoePescisBoss]

Dothraki seems to me is a mix of the Mongols of Genghis Khan and the Ottoman Empire.

Edited by JoePescisBoss, 11 March 2013 - 03:06 AM.

[Mlee]

JoePescisBoss, on 11 March 2013 - 03:05 AM, said:

Dothraki seems to me is a mix of the Mongols of Genghis Khan and the Ottoman Empire.

How come they seem also a mix of Ottoman Empire? Apperance or behavior?

[StannisandDaeny]

Mongols wear lots of armour (at least, those who can afford it). They're the most well-known nomadic horse culture which is why people often think of them first when they see the Dothraki, but honestly, they share less traits with the Dothraki than you would think. For example, Mongols built an empire that lasted for some time, something the Dothraki never do. They just roam around.

Dothraki are partially derived from a mixture of various kinds of steppe people (if you look you'll know there were countless clans with horse cultures, take for example the Scythians), however, they share most traits with the Huns. The tribute to pay off an attack, for example, is something the Huns did. Martin makes the Dothraki as brutal and vicious as he possibly can. This suits the Huns as well. Trust me, they were worse than the Mongols. When their leader (Atilla) died, everything fell apart (as with the Dothraki), there was no stable empire like it was with the Mongols. Huns also wore very little armour, much like Dothraki.

Mongols were also far more advanced than Huns. Everything we see about the Dothraki is really very primitive.

Edited by StannisandDaeny, 12 March 2013 - 07:12 PM.

[indignant mushroom]

The Turkish people were nomadic in nature, then they were brought together by the Seljuk Turks (who were also nomads).
Eventually the Ottoman Empire was able to turn itself from a nomadic groups of peoples to a massive empire that spanned most of the eastern Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black seas.

[JoePescisBoss]

StannisandDaeny, on 12 March 2013 - 07:08 PM, said:

Mongols wear lots of armour (at least, those who can afford it). They're the most well-known nomadic horse culture which is why people often think of them first when they see the Dothraki, but honestly, they share less traits with the Dothraki than you would think. For example, Mongols built an empire that lasted for some time, something the Dothraki never do. They just roam around.

Dothraki are partially derived from a mixture of various kinds of steppe people (if you look you'll know there were countless clans with horse cultures, take for example the Scythians), however, they share most traits with the Huns. The tribute to pay off an attack, for example, is something the Huns did. Martin makes the Dothraki as brutal and vicious as he possibly can. This suits the Huns as well. Trust me, they were worse than the Mongols. When their leader (Atilla) died, everything fell apart (as with the Dothraki), there was no stable empire like it was with the Mongols. Huns also wore very little armour, much like Dothraki.

Mongols were also far more advanced than Huns. Everything we see about the Dothraki is really very primitive.

You might be right.

[Valyria&Essos]

It does sound like turkish when we take for example Khal and some other words;.. and since i'm arab, i noticed that some words look pretty similar to the classic arabic;  for example:
- ana khal drogo<<< Ana refers to "I" in arabic
- Keef: which means how. Drogo used it in the game of thrones season 1 scene when he asked dany how she knows s that the baby was a boy... ect

Edited by Valyria&Essos, 01 April 2013 - 01:35 PM.

[gussvenin]

Valyria&Essos, on 01 April 2013 - 01:34 PM, said:

It does sound like turkish when we take for example Khal and some other words;.. and since i'm arab, i noticed that some words look pretty similar to the classic arabic;  for example:
- ana khal drogo<<< Ana refers to "I" in arabic
- Keef: which means how. Drogo used it in the game of thrones season 1 scene when he asked dany how she knows s that the baby was a boy... ect

"I" in Dothraki is "anha" which is clearly inspired by arabic. David Peterson who created the language is a big fan of arabic.

The other example is not related to arabic however. What Drogo says is "Kifinosi yer nesi?" "Kifinosi" is the Dothraki word for "how" and it breaks down as ki-fin-osi which literally means "by-what-path". So the fact that the word starts with kif- is just a coincidence based on the words that form the compound rather than being related to keef.

[Aedan Stormrage]

You are confusing what Martin created, the small number of words in the books with David Peterson's Dothraki language. For example "anha" was created by Martin, not Peterson, also khal and arakh. Undoubtedly Martin had "Khan" in the back of his mind when creating "Khal" at least to hint at that. He read and took inspiration from history, let's not forget. Then you have David Peterson who incorporated a lot of words and who took inspiration from Arabic, Turkish and many other languages, for instance Russian, but inspiration doesn't mean it's just that language.

[Rhaenys Sand]

Turkish huh? Dothraki sounds like a mix of Arabic, Russian and German to my ears lol

[mickey117]

It sounds absolutely nothing like Arabic