Gallifreyan (language)

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Various forms of written Gallifreyan were used. By the time of the Doctor, the archaic Old High Gallifreyan language spoken in the days of Rassilon had given way to a more contemporary form of the language. (DW: The Five Doctors) This later "vulgate" was presumably the Doctor's native language.

Examples

Old High Gallifreyan

File:Ohg.jpg
The phrase "Hello, Sweetie" in Old High Gallifreyan. (DW: The Time of Angels)

Old High Gallifreyan was the ancient language of the Time Lords. It was not known by many; by the Doctor's era, it was virtually extinct, superseded by modern Gallifreyan. The Eleventh Doctor claimed that Old High Gallifreyan once possessed immense power when correctly harnessed, such as raising empires or destroying gods. (DW: The Time of Angels) The truth of this statement is unknown.

The written form of Old High Gallifreyan resembled, to human eyes, a mixture of Greek letters and mathematical symbols.

In The Time of Angels, Amy asked what writing in Old High Gallifreyan meant, implying that the TARDIS did not translate it. River Song, in A Good Man Goes to War, confirmed that the TARDIS could or would not translate Gallifreyan.

Modern Gallifreyan

File:Written gallifreyan1.jpg
An example of Gallifreyan script written by the Fourth Doctor. (DW: The Deadly Assassin)

While Old High Gallifreyan was the original language of the Time Lords, it had evolved into a later form by the time of the Doctor. (DW: The Five Doctors)

This implies that the Renegade Daleks knew how to read Gallifreyan writing.

Circular Gallifreyan

An example of the interlocking/overlapping circles. (DW: Utopia)

External links