Romanization of the Nchuand-Zel Stone

As a disclaimer, I know that the words have been mostly romanized before now. However, I wanted to do this to immerse myself in Dwemer and Falmer script, so I figured I’d at least post it here. Most of this is useless unless you can read Dwemer anyway, but I’ll provide a rough translation at the end.

chun thuamer arkngd chend duathand, th ahvardn btham. amz thuamer ahrkanch kemelmzulchond aka mora, th thuangz ahrk, th duum melz thuabtharng, th kanthaln duabcharn mzin thuastur, btharumz thuamer zel. abakch duumarkng tuathumz amakai, th abakch avatheled kagr tuamkingth mzan. du chal fahl ngark, che du fahl bthun ur. du chal fahl ngalft, che du bthun ur. du abak chal thu abazun nchur duabthar, nchul duanchard. th ur thuanchuth irknd, ur irkngth eftardn, thunch fahlz. bthun abak dua mzual th nchuan duarkng, chun fahlbthar thuanchardch anum ralz, th eftar thuachendraldch kagren thua vanchningth.

I will not even pretend to know what that means. I postulate, since all meric languages came from Aldmeri, “mer” appears to be a common word, leading me to conclude that “thuamer” may have been the Dwemer word for Snow Elf. Furthermore, “aka” is a very specific word that is almost always associated with dragons. Seeing it next to “mora” denotes that (if mora is indeed a common meric word) it is referring to “dragon” and “Forest”, perhaps a reference to the Nords of Atmora, who, with the roaring voices of dragons drove the Falmer deep underground to trust themselves into the twisted mercy of the Dwemer.

Some random words that stuck out because they reminded me of things were: “irkngth”, “fahlbthar”, and “kagren”. Irkngth and Fahlbthar stuck out because they’re similar to the names of two Dwemer ruins in Skyrim, Irkingthad and Raldbthar, and Kagren because it’s most of Kagrenac’s name.

On to the Falmeri portion. I bolded the words we can translate with some degree of accuracy and left the untranslatable words unbolded.

ye sa sou meldi calne tarn va molagnensaliye trumbi nou bala ilpen av sou meldi nagaiale as guntumnia spantelepelaelia arani morae ye sou liebali racurane ye nu rautane sye ye nu hautalle nou buroi gune sou gravuloi sa metane sye garlis frey as gondra doemera tarcel lane sou agea silya nu hecta sou arcten rias nu nemalanta ge nu hecta sou epe gandra rias ne nemelauta ge nu frey sepe sye arcta varlor denai cullei noue staneiaye ry sou alasil auta ry loria shenta abagaiavoy malautavoy fey nou darre ye alata rou malae asma maraga sou anyamis av serven ye getheng sou wend riarilia vey emeratu sou oia besia.

Now, one thing that should stick out for anyone who’s big into the Ayleid culture is that a ton of the Falmeri text has meaning in Ayleidoon. So, viewing that in light, we can translate a good bit of the Falmer text.

and so your driven … pass in our halls of fire … our power … of your driven … by … … kings of the wood and your (…-stones, or untranslatable) … and you … … and you … our slaves … your … so … … … … by … … woods of … (time-never, perhaps never a time?) your (lore or wisdom) … you … you (acknowledgement, most likely acknowledge) … you … … … … you … gifts … you … … you … … … acknowledge cast-dark … … … … as you … … as darkness … I do not fear the (High-…, or untranslatable) … our … and … … high by what … your life of … and … your … … … … your eternal …

Now we leave what leave what little certitude we had and stray into conjecture.

IF both the Dwemer script and the Falmer script have the same meaning in two different languages, it’s fair to say that it was written by the Dwemer. It would appear to be written after the Dwemer enslaved the Falmer, and it has a very “history to the victors” feeling to it.

It appears to describe the fall of the Falmer Empire, how the Nords (kings of the wood, aka-mora) drove the Snow Elves (thuamer) underground, to the “halls of fire” belonging to the Dwemer, where the Dwemer recount their enslaving of the Falmer. It specifically mentions “acknowledge” and “dark” several times, leading me to believe that the latter half is the story of the Dwemer forcing the Falmer into slavery by their blindness, or forcing their blindness upon them. The Dwemer brag a bit at the end, calling themselves “eternal”, perhaps “eternal masters”.

It’s always baffled me why this Rosetta Stone exists, until now. The Dwemer wrote this, and I would bet they wrote others like it, to remind the Falmer of how they got into this state. The lower of the two scripts is the stylized and beautiful Falmeri script, easily recognizable due to the intricacies of each letter. Falmer who passed by could likely read it as braille, which also explains why the Falmeri portion of the text reads like someone telling someone “this is your lot in life”. The use of “you” and “your” is incredibly telling, and shows just how sadistic the Dwemer could be. That was rubbing moon sugar into an open wound, if you will. It’s no wonder the Betrayed rebelled and hate all living things now. If I had to change one of my previous guesses, I would change “thua” to mean “you” or “your”, because it seems to be saying “you elves got defeated, now you are our slaves, we are your eternal masters” and so on. I’d also hazard a guess that “kagren” means “master” simply from the context of the piece.

Now then, for any who want to learn the characters of Dwemeri and Falmeri themselves (along with Daedric, Draconic, and one other I can’t identify), here is a link to download a pack of True Type font files that were mined out of the game files of Skyrim.