Research:Tehir Language

The Tehir language as presented in official documentation is a cipher. This research document is intended to clarify translation and be a repository for additional words of note (as not all words directly translated are aesthetically pleasing/pronounceable/etc).

Cipher

English	Tehir (f/m)		English	Tehir (f/m)		English	Tehir (f/m)		English	Tehir (f/m)
a	o		k	j		u	a		sp[r?]	zko
b	q/k		l	y/r		v	f		br	kr
c	g		m	l/m		w	u/q		ng/ing	r/ir
d	e(*)		n	m		x	n		pr	hr
e	i		o	u		y	a		ck	j
f	v		p	h		z	s		oo	eke
g	t/te*		q	k		ch[r?]	gt		kn	m*
h	t		r	d/b		sh[r?]	tz		gh	tt*
i	u/ie		s	z		th[r?]	zh		ght	hkt*
j	g		t	r/d		st[r?]	v		ll	--*

Words appear to keep the same gender-related letter choices throughout, so no word has a mixture of male and female when encrypted.

• D -> E is often dropped entirely, see vowels section. (Ex: teuriz = 'godless')
• G might also be encrypted as just T, if there are too many vowels after.
• KN and possibly other silent letter combinations (like gn) drop their silent letter and are translated as the sound heard (ex: kn -> n, becomes m).
• With R encrypted to d/b (or d/br), some common letter combinations such as chr, str, thr and the like may turn into unpronounceable messes using the ch, st, and th replacements above. Hence, it may be preferable to drop the R entirely (or consider it part of the substitution).
  • Supported by vur being 'strong' in official phrase examples.
• LL is dropped entirely in translation to Tehir. (Ex: 'small' is 'zlo')
• SS appears to translate to a single Z, rather than double Z.
• GH vs GHT such as with night (muttd) may be a cipher error due to mixing of gendered letters. Translation is difficult to parse in this format. Early cipher variation had GHT=HKT but it may have been dropped in later versions. Recommend retaining GHT=HKT as reverse translation of TTD combination can suggest unintended word origins.

Vowels

Specific vowel rules:

• D=E, but is omitted if preceded by a translated vowel. (Clarified by cipher creator.)
• W=U, but if two Us are preceded or followed by another vowel, omit one U, so max of two Us possible. (Clarified by cipher creator.)
  • Similar to U-rule, if two Es are preceded or followed by another vowel, omit one E.

Oddities

This section is for noting words presented in official documentation that don't appear to quite mesh with the observed cipher. This includes apparent mistakes as well as word substitutions.

• The word for 'sister' is listed as zevid, but per observed cipher should be zuvid.
• The words for 'love' and 'lover' are listed as yafi/rafir, but should be yufi/rufir.
• The word for 'marriage' is listed as lodduoji, but should be lodduoti.
• The word presented as 'skin', vyitz, is actually flesh.
• The word presented as 'see', fizum, is actually veson or vesin, possibly a mangling of 'vision'.
• The word zomjii appears to be 'tankee', and may be corrected to zhomjii (thankee).
• The word for 'goodbye', qaiteke, is actually byegood.
• The word for 'hunting dog,' tuame, is actually hound.
• The word for 'black,' gir, is actually jet.
• The word for 'bleeding,' qyekeir / kekeir translates to blooding, otherwise tankee would be zomjeke and not zomjii.
• W=U/Q vs. W=Q/U: General translations suggest things are feminine cipher and concepts are masculine cipher. But in the case of W, the cipher contains words belonging to either. Example from cipher, note the Q/U placement and error for R: Wet = Qir / Uir (would be Qir and Uid). Another error exists at Power = huid / huieb (would be huuid or huqieb). But also consider, We=Qi. Water=Qorit. Wish=Qietz, Farewell = Vobriqi. yet also these: Wife= Uvi (uuvi, double U is omitted), Wrist = Ubrav.

Grammar

I [verb]

• Uture = 'I hold', literal translation.
• Utofi = 'I have', literal translation.
• Uodi/Iebri = 'I am' (literally, 'I are')

Running together the 'I' and verb encryption appears to be a thing. This combining of pronoun and verb doesn't seem to extend to the example given for 'we went' (Qi ru-teumi).

-ing

Words ending with -ing, all official examples being verbs, appear to have 'ir' as a full substitution. This substitution is for all instances of 'ing'.

Expanded Lexicon

This section is for noting down decent Tehir words outside of those already translated in the official language documentation. Not all direct translations are worth using (example: 'puppy' is 'hahha' in Tehir).

Numbers, Counting

• one = umi
• two = ruu
• three = zhii
• four = vuad
• five = vufi
• six = zun
• seven = zifim
• eight = iuhkt
• nine = mumi
• ten = rim
• plus = hraz
• minus = riz (less)
• eleven = rim-ome hraz umi (ten-and plus one)
• twenty = ruu-ome hraz ma (two-and plus none)
• ninety-nine = mumi-ome hraz mumi (nine-and plus nine)
• zero/null = ma ('Z' is currently unknown, with no examples in documentation)
• empty = imhda
• half = torv
• full/all = va
• many = muma
• pound = huame
• light = riehkt (adjective, measurement of weight)
• heavy = tiofa

Food

• bread = krio
• dates = eoriz
• figs = vutz
• tea = rio

Nature

• cactus = gograz
• bird = qude
• sky = zja
• heavens = zhi-zja (the-sky)
• hail = tou
• sand = zome
• desert = qot-zome (big-sand)
• fluid = vyau
• wood = ueke
• tree = ro-ueke (tall-wood)
• branch, twig = ruut (twig), ahruut (up twig), zja-ruut (sky twig)
• root = deker or mudah-ruut (not-up-twig)
• shrub = tzaq or zlo-ueke (small-wood)
• flower = vyuqid (noun) / vruuib (verb)
• paper = hohid
• dark = eobj
• shadow = tzou
• night = muhkt (noun, preferred alternate of muttd)
• light = yuhkt (noun)
• bright = kriehkt (adjective)
• finger = virid
• fiery = vubrium (fire-on)
• hot = tud
• cold = gure
• warm = mud-gure (not-cold)

Directions

• up = ah
• down = mudah (not-up)
• in = iem
• out = uad
• north = mubzh
• south = zuazh
• east = iov
• west = qiv

Colors

• ivory = ufura (note the error in the cipher, should be Ufuda?)
• black/jet = gir
• green = tebriim (employs re as bri in cipher)
• red = bri
• yellow = zome
• blue = krai or ahmdir (ambiguous usage for a color of many shades)