Sycoraxic
Sycoraxic, or simply Sycorax, (AUDIO: The Harvest of the Sycorax) was the language of the Sycorax and the only language that they used, believing that other languages were "primitive bile". UNIT was able to create a program that could translate it. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
Words
Titles and statuses
The following are titles and names given to members of the Sycorax and to the Doctor. (COMIC: The Widow's Curse)
- Fadros Pallujikaa - Tribal Leader
- Haxan Craw - the name given to the wife of the Tribal Leader, meaning "The Witch Bitch". The Haxan Craw referred to Donna Noble as the "Human Haxan Craw".
- Gilfane Craw - the name given to the female technician in the female tribe.
- Practeel chiff cha - the name given to the Doctor by the Haxan Craw, meaning "Happy Murderer".
Miscellaneous
Below is a short list of some useful transliterated basic words in the Sycoraxic language. (PROSE: Doctor Who Files 4: The Sycorax, TV: The Christmas Invasion, AUDIO: Harvest of the Sycorax et al)
| English | Sycoraxic |
|---|---|
| Aboard/Onboard | Foraxi |
| And | Vel |
| Another | Col |
| Astrophia | Astrofaaa |
| Black box (of ship) | Foraxi yox |
| Blood | Sinon |
| Cattle/Hostage | Pantak/Katsaa |
| Choice | Kodsyla |
| Clever | Gilfana |
| Die | Jak chiff |
| Final | Daa bataa |
| Funny | Prakchilo/Praktil |
| Half | Katros |
| Happy | Practeel |
| Murderer | Chiff cha |
| Next | Bataa/Baktaa |
| No | Non |
| Of | Kon/Da |
| Offer | Kastriik |
| Open | Talvaan |
| Or | Kol |
| Property | Pantak/Katsaa |
| Slave | Velis |
| Slavery | Velisikol |
| Stolen | Stapeen |
| Summon | Kelprak |
| Surrender | Jalvaaan |
| Sycorax Armada | Sycorafan Staa |
| Third | Koska |
| Tribal leader | Fadros Pallujikaa |
| Unless | Pel |
| Very | Gan |
| Yes | Ta |
| You (are) | (Ka) soo |
| You [plural] | Soodra |
| Vault | Gralta |
| Wasteland | Belvash |
| We | Kodra |
| We are | Kodrafee |
| We know | Konafee |
| Weak | Jak |
| Welcome | Padskaa |
| Who | Vo |
| Words | Vol |
Other
Below are some other words mentioned by two tribes of Sycorax. (PROSE: Doctor Who Files 4: The Sycorax, COMIC: The Widow's Curse)
- Kiskfaa - a unit of distance used by the Sycorax
- Slinkjaak - an object received by the Sycorax as a reward after a trade
- Kojux-flap - the small technical panel on the outside of a Sycorax ship
- Torkfish - a small, skeletal creature that wrapped around a prisoner's neck. It only released its grip when it had killed its prey.
Phrases
Below is a short list of phrases used by the Sycorax during their invasion of Earth in Christmas 2006, that were translated into English. (TV: The Christmas Invasion, PROSE: Doctor Who Files 4: The Sycorax)
| English | Sycoraxic |
|---|---|
| Yes, we know who you are. | Ta, konafee tedro soo. |
| Sycorax strong! Sycorax mighty! Sycorax rock! | Sycora jak! Sycora telpo! Sycora kaar! |
| Surrender, or they will die. | Jalvaan, kol jak chiff. |
| Half are sold into slavery or one third dies. | Katros ka vendi velisikol koska jak chiff. |
| Bring it on board. | Krel stat foraxi |
| We are the Sycorax. We stride the darkness. | Kodrafee Sykora. Gasak tel felika. |
| Will the leader of this world stand forward? | Vekaan soo Fadros Pallujikaa pelda pelomnik? |
| If you wish to live, surrender your vault to us now. | Soo gralta jalvaan mi kodrakon kaas. |
| You are our property. Choose. Surrender the vault or die. | So[o] kaa da kodra pantak. Kod syla! Gralta jalvaan got jak chiff. |
| What is wrong with your species? Your blood is weak! | Vasprin diisaa? Soodra da sinon jak! |
| You must give us access to your vault. | Gralta jalvaan, gralta rashtaak. |
| And who is next? | Vel vo sii bataa? |
| We don't care. | Kodra fiinon paseek. |
| You are a very funny slave. | Soo gan praktil venis. |
Insults
There is at least one insult in the Sycorax community. It is as of yet unknown what is means, however, it seems to be very hurtful. The Tenth Doctor, having been newly regenerated from his previous incarnation and therefore become a whole new man, challenged the leader of the Sycorax to a battle for planet Earth. To push the Sycorax leader's anger even further the Doctor used this insult against him.
| Sycoraxic |
|---|
| Kralak pel gasak kree salvak |
Behind the scenes
Grammar
From a linguistic point of view, Sycoraxic shares similarities to Welsh, in the fact that it has no indefinite article, such as "a" or "an". Furthermore, it also uses no definite articles, such as "the".
- Soo gan praktil venis.
- You are [a] very funny slave.
- Kelprak venis Iisaak.
- Summon [the] slave called Ishak.
It appears that some adjectives have different forms depending on whether they are in front of a noun or alone. Prakchilo and praktil both mean 'funny', however prakchilo has been observed to change to praktil when used before a noun.
Following the theme of missing words, Sycoraxic is a context based language. It relies on the listener and speaker both understanding the situation so that they can both ignore the need of an auxiliary or basic verb to form compound tenses and basic sentences.
- Soo kodsyla.
- You [have] [a] choice.
- Soo gralta jalvaan [...]
- You[r] vault [will be] surrendered.
