Orcish/Common lexicon?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Apparently, Races of Destiny doesn't have an Orcish lexicon as a counterpart to the ones in Races of Stone. Did Dragon ever post one?

I'm specifically looking to translate "bloody knuckles" or "bloody fist" or something comparable.

 

[Ripzerai]

Nope. As far as I know, the only lexicons to be published were:

Heaton, Clyde. "Old Dwarvish is still new to scholars of language lore." Dragon #66. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1982.

Locsin, Aurelio. "Thieves' Cant: A primer for the language of larceny." Dragon #66. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1982.

Reynolds, Sean K. "A Dwarven Lexicon." Dragon #278. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.
-----. "An Elven Lexicon." Dragon #279. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.
-----. The Scarlet Brotherhood. Renton, WA: TSR, 1999. (contained a lexicon for the Suel language)

Rogan, A.D. "Language rules leave lots of room for creativity in your campaign." Dragon #66. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1982.

Stephens, Owen K.C. "By Any Other Name: The Drow." Dragon #267. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.
-----. "By Any Other Name: Dwarves." Dragon #261. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.
-----. "By Any Other Name: Gnomes and Halflings." Dragon #262. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.
-----. "By Any Other Name: Races of the Underdark." Dragon #281. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.
-----. "Dragontongue: A Draconic Language Primer." Dragon #284. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.

Winninger, Ray. Giantcraft. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995. (giant language)

We've never really gotten a orc-themed sourcebook in D&D, which seems odd to me. You might want to check out Denizens of Earthdawn Volume Two from FASA and Orkworld by John Wick, though.

Using the lexicon in Orkworld, I see the following possibilities. Fana is "hand" (also "advantage"), and there are a bunch of different names for wounds. Balana is gangrene, basha is a clean wound, beeta is tetanus, and doonda is an infected wound. Tanda is an arrow wound. Shayla is a wound from a weapon that isn't an arrow.

My guess is that you'd want Fana basha, a clean wound to the hand, not (or not necessarily) caused by a weapon.

 

[Lord Crimson]

I'd just use Klingon if I felt the need to have a "Orcish" words.

Seriously, man. They have a whole dictionary.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think I'll be going with "Fana Basha" for my Tyler Durden intelligent warhammer. Thank you!

 

[Lancelot]

Nope. As far as I know, the only lexicons to be published were...

Good info on other sources, but actually incorrect. There was an orcish lexicon printed in the classic Dragon #75: "Even Orcish is logical" by Clyde Heaton.

The only challenge is that it's not a "naming" lexicon - it's more like a "Tourist's Dictionary". It has many of the words you'd need for sentence structure, but it doesn't have "bloody" or "fist" (or anything similar to them). But, if you'd like an orc to yell out that his commanding officer ordered him to climb a wall, you'll be hearing "Jeddar jen
dotad teg kokad dagada".

It's interesting to note that the language described in this article (very guttural) is extremely similar to that devised for the giak race in the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks, back in the 80's. The giaks were basically re-skinned orcs anyway, so that makes sense. If you're looking for a great English-Giak dictionary, my Google-fu suggests the following link:

DL's Lone Wolf Oasis--Giak Lexicon

...and that's much more of a "naming dictionary" than the Dragon article. You've got "blood" in there, and "claw", and a whole lot more besides. Plus, as mentioned above, giak and orcish (as described in Dragon #75) sound almost identical, so you could probably mix and match.

 

[Lancelot]

...and specifically, if you were looking for "blood hammer" in giak, it'd be Adez Moggador.

 

[Ripzerai]

Good info on other sources, but actually incorrect. There was an orcish lexicon printed in the classic Dragon #75: "Even Orcish is logical" by Clyde Heaton.

Oh, thanks! I didn't know about that one (Edit: that's an archdevil issue! I should have remembered).

(Double edit: Oh, he's the same guy who wrote the article on Old Dwarvish)

[/I]It's interesting to note that the language described in this article (very guttural) is extremely similar to that devised for the giak race in the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks, back in the 80's. The giaks were basically re-skinned orcs anyway, so that makes sense. If you're looking for a great English-Giak dictionary, my Google-fu suggests the following link:

DL's Lone Wolf Oasis--Giak Lexicon

Extremely cool.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"Blood Claw" in Giak would be "Adez Hag." Interesting. Now I'll have to weigh my two (very good) choices. A good problem to have!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"Bree yark!"

Oh, wait ... that's goblin.